<P> Once illustrations were approved for the book, Tolkien proposed colour plates as well . The publisher would not relent on this, so Tolkien pinned his hopes on the American edition to be published about six months later . Houghton Mifflin rewarded these hopes with the replacement of the frontispiece (The Hill: Hobbiton - across - the Water) in colour and the addition of new colour plates: Rivendell, Bilbo Woke Up with the Early Sun in His Eyes, Bilbo comes to the Huts of the Raft - elves and a Conversation with Smaug, which features a dwarvish curse written in Tolkien's invented script Tengwar, and signed with two "þ" ("Th") runes . The additional illustrations proved so appealing that George Allen & Unwin adopted the colour plates as well for their second printing, with exception of Bilbo Woke Up with the Early Sun in His Eyes . </P> <P> Different editions have been illustrated in diverse ways . Many follow the original scheme at least loosely, but many others are illustrated by other artists, especially the many translated editions . Some cheaper editions, particularly paperback, are not illustrated except with the maps . "The Children's Book Club" edition of 1942 includes the black - and - white pictures but no maps, an anomaly . </P> <P> Tolkien's use of runes, both as decorative devices and as magical signs within the story, has been cited as a major cause for the popularization of runes within "New Age" and esoteric literature, stemming from Tolkien's popularity with the elements of counter-culture in the 1970s . </P> <P> The Hobbit takes cues from narrative models of children's literature, as shown by its omniscient narrator and characters that young children can relate to, such as the small, food - obsessed, and morally ambiguous Bilbo . The text emphasizes the relationship between time and narrative progress and it openly distinguishes "safe" from "dangerous" in its geography . Both are key elements of works intended for children, as is the "home - away - home" (or there and back again) plot structure typical of the Bildungsroman . While Tolkien later claimed to dislike the aspect of the narrative voice addressing the reader directly, the narrative voice contributes significantly to the success of the novel . Emer O'Sullivan, in her Comparative Children's Literature, notes The Hobbit as one of a handful of children's books that has been accepted into mainstream literature, alongside Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World (1991) and J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series (1997--2007). </P>

How many versions of the hobbit are there