Staff at a Stirling charity shop have said they are “thrilled” after an extremely rare edition of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit fetched a record £3,000.
The much-loved classic was tucked among a pile of old children’s books that was donated to the Oxfam bookshop on Murray Place.
While most were well-worn school titles, one caused a “real buzz” among staff: an unusually scarce Longmans edition of The Hobbit, published as part of the Pleasure in Reading series aimed at primary school libraries.
Only about 1,500 copies of the edition were ever printed across two impressions, and it is believed fewer…
Staff at a Stirling charity shop have said they are “thrilled” after an extremely rare edition of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit fetched a record £3,000.
The much-loved classic was tucked among a pile of old children’s books that was donated to the Oxfam bookshop on Murray Place.
While most were well-worn school titles, one caused a “real buzz” among staff: an unusually scarce Longmans edition of The Hobbit, published as part of the Pleasure in Reading series aimed at primary school libraries.
Only about 1,500 copies of the edition were ever printed across two impressions, and it is believed fewer than 50 survive today.
After being listed for sale on Oxfam’s online shop, the volume became the highest-priced book ever sold by the branch when it found a buyer over the Christmas period.
Shop Manager Neil Paterson said: “When we realised what we had, there was a real buzz in the shop.
“It’s a beautiful old copy with its own bit of mystery and magic about it; the sort of find every bookseller dreams of.
“A regular customer told me it was the version they had at school, so it clearly sparks fond memories as well as serious collector interest.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled that one generous donation has turned into thousands of pounds to help Oxfam’s work tackling poverty and injustice around the world.”
It is the first of two impressions of the edition, which were printed in 1968 and 1970, and features Tolkien’s iconic maps of Middle Earth on its endpapers.
The cover is adorned with a brightly-coloured illustration of Smaug the dragon torching some buildings, with the silhouette of a mountain looming in the background.
In a 2024 social media post about the cover, Blackwell’s Rare Books asked “Has there every been a cuter Smaug?”
The post added: “The scarce 1968 Pleasure in Reading edition of The Hobbit, aimed at primary-school-aged children, with an adorably goggle-eyed version of the dragon, the cover artist sadly unknown”.
Other books in the same series include The Magician’s Nephew by CS Lewis and Tarka the Otter by Hendy Williamson.
Mr Paterson said the book was an example of the treasures that can be found among the books donated to charity shops.
“Every book has a story waiting to be discovered, and sometimes hidden gems like this Hobbit can completely take your breath away,” he said.
“Donating to Oxfam gives these books a second life, and browsing our shelves is a bit like stepping into a treasure hunt: you never know what extraordinary find might be waiting for you.”