A first edition of the novel The Hobbit From the British writer J. R. R. R. Tolkien, discovered by chance during the storage of a house in Bristol, in England, must be sold at auction on Wednesday evening, announced the auction house Actioneum.
The starting estimate had been established at 10,000 pounds (around $ 18,345 CA) but the work reached 23,000 pounds (around $ 42,200 CA) Wednesday at midday, during these online auctions which are completed on Wednesday evening.
He is one of the 1,500 copies printed in 1937, during the first edition of what has become a world sales success, which is also known in French under the name of Bilbo le hobbit.
The book comes from the family library of Hubert Priestley, a botanist who has probably
Known the author, according to Auctioneum.
“The Hobbit” is the first published work that explores the world of the environment, on which Tolkien has been working for twenty years.
Photo : Auctioneum
A find of unimaginable rarity
No one knew that the book was there
assures the expert Caitlin Riley, quoted in the press release from the House of Sales. It was she who made the happy discovery in the house during a storage room.
I didn’t believe my eyes […] It is a find of an unimaginable rarity
she said.
With its pale green cover, the book includes black and white illustrations by the author. All the editions that followed have color illustrations, specifies Auctioneum.
The book includes black and white illustrations by Jrr Tolkien.
Photo : Auctioneum
The Hobbitwanted at the base as a children’s book, tells the adventures of Bilbon Sacquet (or Bilbo Bessac in the translation of Quebecers Daniel Lauzon) and a group of dwarfs, who left to reconquer the kingdom of Erebor and a fabulous treasury, fallen between the claws of Smauug, a dragon fire.
In 2015, an original edition with an Elven language dedication was sold at auction at 137,000 pounds (around $ 251,365 CA), by Sotheby’s in London.