In a stroke of luck, a charity shop in Dundee, UK stumbled upon a literary treasure among its donations—an incredibly rare first edition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved fantasy novel, “The Hobbit.” Cancer Research UK, the charitable organization managing the shop, auctioned the book on eBay and raised a staggering £10,099.50.
Cancer Research UK’s shop manager, Adam Carsley, made the remarkable find while organizing stock in the backroom of the Dundee superstore. The manager initially believed the book’s pristine condition might render it unsuitable for sale on the shop floor, as the store’s items are typically priced at £5 or less.
Recognizing the book’s potential value, Carsley decided to send it to the charity’s eBay team, hoping to secure a modest sum of £500 at most. Little did he know that the rare edition would ultimately fetch over £10,000.
“I opened the first page to see it was a first edition and thought it may be worthy of sending to the eBay team,” he said. “I thought we’d get a maximum of £500 if we were lucky so I couldn’t believe it when I heard a few months later it had sold for over £10,000.”
Published in 1937, this first edition of “The Hobbit” is one of only 1,500 copies from the original run. What sets it apart are the captivating black and white illustrations by the author himself, J.R.R. Tolkien.
During an auction held in London in 2015, another remarkable first edition of “The Hobbit”, featuring an inscription in Elvish penned by Tolkien himself, fetched an astonishing £137,000, surpassing the previous record set in 2008 when a first edition sold for £60,000.
“To my knowledge this is one of the most valuable items donated to our stores. Most definitely the highest price achieved on our eBay site for a single item,” said Carsley. “Donations like these help to fund lifesaving research across the whole of the UK.”
This recent sale of the first edition of “The Hobbit” aligns with a trend of valuable children’s books finding new homes through auctions. Just last month, a first edition of J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” sold for £10,500 at auction. It was part of a limited run of 500 copies published by Bloomsbury in 1997 and was acquired by a collector from Staffordshire for a mere 30p after the book was withdrawn from use by a library.
As literature continues to inspire and unite people worldwide, the magic of books extends far beyond their pages, transforming lives through generosity and research-driven progress.
