Trivia! Significance of today, 70 years ago

"The Hobbit"--English writer and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien's coming-of-age fantasy about a comfort-loving "hobbit" (a smaller relative of Man) who joins a quest for a dragon's treasure--was first published on September 21, 1937. Originally begun about 1930 as a story to entertain his four children, "The Hobbit" included pictures drawn by the author (an accomplished amateur artist), and was so popular that its publisher asked for a sequel. The result, 17 years later, was Tolkien's masterpiece, "The Lord of the Rings".