Burglar wants a good job, plenty of Excitement and reasonable Reward, that’s how it is usually read. You can say Expert Treasure-hunter instead of Burglar if you like. Some of them do. It’s all the same to us. As for your side-question, The Hobbit was written at a time when Tolkien's ideas about Middle Earth weren't as fleshed out yet.
The dwarves trust the competence of a professional burglar selected by Gandalf. The burglar will need to see the configuration of Smaug's cave, especially the side door, before deciding anything.
Read the story at least 30-40 years ago. Book was in English, read in USA, probably a paperback. The story follows the career of a female cat burglar in Europe (?; I think she was French or Italian...
Q&A for scholars and enthusiasts of literature Questions related to the American crime writer Lawrence Block (born 1938) and his work. Block has written several series of novels, for example, those around the private investigator Matthew Scudder and those around the gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr.
What's the deal with Bilbo being some kind of "burglar"? I may only be 37 pages into The Hobbit, re-reading it after 20+ years, but several things already confuse me. First of all, and this is what I'm mainly asking about, Bilbo is casually mentioned as ...