The new owner of the book, which is one of the 1,500 copies printed in 1937, is a “private collector”.
Published
Reading time: 2min
A first edition of “Hobbit“From the British writer Tolkien, discovered by chance during the storage of a house in Bristol in England, was sold at auction on Wednesday August 6 for 43,000 pounds (around 49,300 euros), announced the auction house Auctioneum.
The starting estimate had been established at 10,000 pounds (around 11,500 euros) but the work was finally bought more than four times more expensive by a “Private collector in the United Kingdom”, According to Auctioneum. “It’s a fantastic result for a very special book”, Who attracted auctions from all over the world, welcomed the expert Caitlin Riley, quoted in a press release.
The book is one of some 1,500 copies printed in 1937, during the first edition of what became a world bestseller. He comes from the family library of Hubert Priestley, a botanist who has “probably” Known the author, indicates the Maison Actioneum. “No one knew that the book was there,” had assured Caitlin Riley, before the sale. It was she who made the happy discovery in the house during a storage room. “”I did not believe my eyes (…), it is a find of an unimaginable rarity “, she said.
With its pale green cover, the work includes black and white illustrations by the author. All the editions that followed have color illustrations, specifies Auctioneum. The Hobbitwanted at the base as a children’s book, tells the adventures of Bilbon Sacquet and a group of dwarfs, who left to reconquer the Kingdom of Erebor and a fabulous treasure, fallen between the claws of Smaug, a dragon fire of fire. In 2015, an original edition with an Elven language dedication had been sold at auction at 137,000 pounds (187,000 euros) by Sotheby’s in London.
