--- title: Hobbit History: How College Kids Made Tolkien's Book a Hit description: Sept. 21, 1937: 'The Hobbit' is published canonical: https://time.com/4036987/hobbits-at-college/ author: Jennifer Latson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-21T10:00:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T10:59:29.539Z article:section: History og:title: How American College Students Made 'The Hobbit' a Hit og:description: Sept. 21, 1937: 'The Hobbit' is published og:url: https://time.com/4036987/hobbits-at-college/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde295eed47d13ead/698863e735ba6f45f3c0f312/hobbit.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Hobbit Auction og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How American College Students Made 'The Hobbit' a Hit twitter:description: Sept. 21, 1937: 'The Hobbit' is published twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde295eed47d13ead/698863e735ba6f45f3c0f312/hobbit.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How American College Students Made _The Hobbit_ a Hit by [Jennifer Latson](https://time.com/author/jennifer-latson/) ## Jennifer Latson Sep 21, 2015 10:00 AM UTC  A Bonhams employee examines a copy of the 1937 first issue of the first edition of 'The Hobbit' by author J.R.R. Tolkien on display at the auction house in London, in March 17, 2008\. That copy went on to set a new world record price at auction for an inscribed copy of the book. A Bonhams employee examines a copy of the 1937 first issue of the first edition of 'The Hobbit' by author J.R.R. Tolkien on display at the auction house in London, in March 17, 2008\. That copy went on to set a new world record price at auction for an inscribed copy of the book.Sang Tan—AP by [Jennifer Latson](https://time.com/author/jennifer-latson/) ## Jennifer Latson Sep 21, 2015 10:00 AM UTC If anyone can appreciate a character who throws frequent parties, eats [six meals a day](http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/12/09/249827551/elevenses-and-then-some-how-to-prepare-a-feast-fit-for-a-hobbit), and “whiles away his ‘tweens’ — the ‘irresponsible twenties between childhood and coming of age at thirty-three,’” as [TIME once encapsulated](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,806987-1,00.html) the essence of a Hobbit, it’s the American college student. This demographic proved to be J.R.R. Tolkien’s best audience, and the one that elevated him to the status of literary celebrity. While Tolkien’s first novel, _The Hobbit_, was published on this day, Sept. 21, in 1937, Hobbits didn’t become household names — at least in the U.S. — for roughly three more decades. By the mid-1960s, however, Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, the reluctant heroes of _The Hobbit_ and _The Lord of the Rings_, had taken college campuses across the country by storm. In 1966, when the paperback edition of the _Rings_ trilogy [sold half a million copies](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,907919-1,00.html) in the U.S., one freshman’s mother noted, according to [TIME’s report](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,836021-2,00.html), “Going to college without Tolkien is like going without sneakers.” TIME, on the other hand, felt that the fantasy novels had more in common with drugs than athletic wear. The 1966 article observes: --- > “” --- Students weren’t Tolkien’s only fans, of course. In its [1938 review](http://www.nytimes.com/1938/03/13/movies/LOTR-HOBBIT.html?%5Fr=0), the New York _Times_ called _The Hobbit_ “one of the most freshly original and delightfully imaginative books for children that have appeared in many a long day.” In 1954, [TIME described](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,806987-1,00.html) _The Fellowship of the Ring_ as a fairy tale for adults, fueled by a “strong and unorthodox” imagination. But it took the college crowd to make the series a cultural phenomenon. [TIME charted](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,907919-1,00.html) Tolkien’s literary journey shortly after his death in 1973, noting: --- > “” --- There was, naturally, a backlash among the academic elite when Tolkien’s tale took off. “Then, with such popularity,” TIME explains, “the story was denounced as escapist fantasy, its success owlishly attributed to ‘irrational adulation’ and ‘nonliterary cultural and social phenomena.’” Tolkien took these sour grapes in stride. He did, however, offer a defense that explains why fairy tales attract serious adults—and college students—as well as children: They appeal to the universal desire, in a dangerous and unjust world, for the “consolation of a happy ending,” or what he called Eucatastrophe. Eucatastrophe, he wrote, provides “a catch of breath, a beat and lifting of the heart, a piercing glimpse of joy and heart’s desire.” It’s the payoff—better than sneakers, and perhaps even LSD—that lures so many readers into the Hobbit hole. **_Read more about the 1960s_** **Hobbit** **_craze, here in TIME’s archives:_** [The Hobbit Habit](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,836021-1,00.html) Hobbit History: How College Kids Made Tolkien's Book a Hit ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4036987/hobbits-at-college/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4036987/hobbits-at-college/"},"headline":"How American College Students Made The Hobbit a Hit","datePublished":"2015-09-21T10:00:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T10:59:29.539Z","description":"Sept. 21, 1937: 'The Hobbit' is published","url":"https://time.com/4036987/hobbits-at-college/","keywords":["Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde295eed47d13ead/698863e735ba6f45f3c0f312/hobbit.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jennifer Latson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jennifer-latson/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde295eed47d13ead/698863e735ba6f45f3c0f312/hobbit.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Hobbit Auction","caption":"Hobbit Auction","creditText":"Sang Tan—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4036987/hobbits-at-college/","name":"How American College Students Made The Hobbit a Hit"}}]}] ```