J.R.R. Tolkien, Using a Tape Recorder for the First Time, Reads from The Hobbit for 30 Minutes (1952)

"Tolkien begins with a pas­sage that first describes the crea­ture Gol­lum; lis­ten­ing to this descrip­tion again, I am struck by how much dif­fer­ent­ly I imag­ined him when I first read the book. The Gol­lum of The Hob­bit seems some­how hoari­er and more mon­strous than many lat­er visu­al inter­pre­ta­tions. This is a minor point and not a crit­i­cism, but per­haps a com­ment on how nec­es­sary it is to return to the source of a myth­ic world as rich as Tolkien's,"

"These read­ings were part of a much longer record­ing ses­sion, dur­ing which Tolkien also read (and sang!) exten­sive­ly from The Lord of the Rings. A YouTube user has col­lect­ed, in sev­er­al parts, a radio broad­cast of that full ses­sion, and it's cer­tain­ly worth your time to lis­ten to it all the way through. It's also worth know­ing the neat con­text of the record­ing. Here's the text that accom­pa­nies the video on YouTube:"

J.R.R. Tolkien recorded readings from The Hobbit in 1952, including a passage that describes Gollum. The recording makes Gollum seem hoarier and more monstrous than many later visual interpretations. The 1952 session was in two parts and marked the first time Tolkien read his own work on tape. The sessions also included extensive readings and songs from The Lord of the Rings. A YouTube user compiled the radio broadcast into several parts for listening, and the compilation supplies accompanying background information. The recordings reward listening and underscore the value of returning to the original presentations of Middle-earth.

Read at Open Culture