THE PILOTS' TRANSLATION OF THE HOBBIT, SIGNED BY ALL TEN OF THE ISRAELI AIR FORCE PILOTS

(ISRAEL) TOLKIEN, J.R.R. The Hobbit. Tel Aviv: Zmora, Bitan, Modan, 1977. Octavo, original pictorial paper wrappers.

First edition of the so-called "pilots' translation" of The Hobbit into Hebrew, completed while the pilots were jailed in an Egyptian prison and still considered to be the finest Hebrew translation of Tolkien's novel, signed on the half title by all ten of the Israeli Air Force pilots who participated in the translation.

Following the Six-Day War, tensions remained high between Israel and Egypt. Instead of commencing negotiations, the Arab League issued the "three nos" policy, barring peace, recognition or negotiations with Israel. Given that stance, Egypt decided that the only way to push Israel out of the Sinai was war. While the war began with small-scale grappling in the Sinai, it didn't stay that way. President Nasser soon came to the conclusion that he would need to undertake a larger-scale war using shelling, aerial warfare, and commando raids. By 1969, the War of Attrition was fully underway. During this period, Egypt captured 10 Israeli pilots and corpsmen that they put together in a miserable cell in Cairo's Abbasiya Prison. Despite being interrogated and tortured, the ten men attempted to set up a kibbutz-style society in the cell, even holding classes in which each man would teach a particular skill to others from mathematics to sewing. They also offered to teach their illiterate captors how to read and write Arabic, eventually laying hands on a number of small blue notebooks that would later prove handy in their translation efforts. After a period of captivity, the brother of one of the pilots, an American, sent him a copy of Lord of the Rings. The prisoners—at least the English-speaking ones—devoured the book, enjoying its black-and-white morality. The prisoners discussed the books and realized that they wanted a copy of The Hobbit. While waiting, they began summarizing and translating chapters from the Lord of the Rings on Friday nights. However, this eventually became boring, so when The Hobbit finally arrived, they immediately decided to do a paper translation—in the blue notebooks they had wrangled months earlier. All ten airmen worked together on the translation and it became a core part of each day. The English-speaking airmen translated the work into Hebrew, but the community decided that only the native Hebrew-speakers were capable of perfecting the Hebrew. Although there were four pilots central to the process doing things like arguing over word choices or explaining English concepts to one another, the kibbutz system meant that every man contributed to the translation in some way. The translation was ultimately signed by the entire group of ten as a result. The prisoners were ultimately released by a Red Cross official after the Yom Kippur War. Before leaving, one pilot grabbed the seven notebooks containing the translation. Upon returning home, he sought a publisher. While another translation had been published, the publisher agreed to take on the pilots' translation. In 1977, this first edition was published. The Israeli Air Force gave out 5000 copies of it as gifts and it came to be a staple in Israeli homes and bookstores. Although a professional translation was published in 2012 before the movie came out, many Israelis still favor the pilots' translation.

Usual slight toning to interior, a bit of wear mainly to extremities. A most desirable multi-signed copy.