The Quest of Erebor

"The Quest of Erebor"
Author	J. R. R. Tolkien
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Fantasy
Published in	Unfinished Tales
Publisher	George Allen & Unwin
Publication date	1980

"The Quest of Erebor" is a work of fantasy fiction by J. R. R. Tolkien, posthumously published by his son Christopher Tolkien in Unfinished Tales (1980). This work explains how and why Gandalf arranged for the retaking of the Lonely Mountain (Erebor in Sindarin), an adventure recounted from the perspective of Bilbo Baggins many years before in Tolkien's The Hobbit.

The term Quest of Erebor can also refer to the quest told in The Hobbit. For more on the quest itself, see the synopsis in the main article on The Hobbit.

"The Quest of Erebor" was originally written in the 1950s to be a part of The Lord of the Rings Appendices, but Tolkien decided not to include it due to space limitations, and only a very abridged version of the tale occurred in Appendix A, III "Durin's Folk". Though none of the original manuscripts were dated, it can be deduced that the story was written no earlier than September 29, 1953—the date Tolkien first received page proofs for The Fellowship of the Ring. A note in the earliest known draft referenced a page number in Fellowship.

There are multiple manuscripts extant of the work. The first published form of the story appeared in Unfinished Tales (1980), compiled by Tolkien's son Christopher. At the end of this version, Christopher included extracts from an earlier and longer manuscript, which was later published in its entirety in The Annotated Hobbit. The earliest known draft was later found and published in The Peoples of Middle-earth (1996) as part of the history of Appendix A's development.

"The Quest of Erebor" is written in the first person, from the perspective of Frodo Baggins. However, nearly all the text consists of narration by Gandalf, who was telling the story at the request of Frodo in Minas Tirith after the coronation of King Elessar.

...
Wikipedia