Rare first edition of 'The Hobbit' sells for record £43,000 ($57,707) at UK auction

A rare first edition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s 'The Hobbit' has sold for £43,000 at a UK auction after being discovered in a Bristol home.

The volume was spotted by chance during a routine house clearance in Bristol, where it had been tucked away on a bookcase. Auctioneum’s book specialist Caitlin Riley identified the early edition by its green cloth cover and black-and-white illustrations.

It had belonged to the family library of Hubert Priestley, a botanist associated with the University of Oxford. Auctioneum believes Priestley and Tolkien may have known one another, as both corresponded with author C.S. Lewis.

The book, one of only 1,500 printed in the novel’s first 1937 run, was listed with an estimate of £10,000 ($12,672) to £12,000 ($15,206). It ultimately sold online for £43,000 ($57,708) to a private UK collector after attracting global bids. Auctioneum said this is likely a record price for a first edition of “The Hobbit.”

“Some of the most sought-after books in modern literature,” is how the auction house described surviving copies from the original print run, of which only a few hundred are thought to remain.

“Nobody knew it was there,” said Riley. “It was clearly an early Hobbit at first glance, so I just pulled it out and began to flick through it, never expecting it to be a true first edition… When I realised what it was, my heart began pounding.”

Tolkien created the world of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” while teaching at Oxford. Together, the books have sold more than 250 million copies and inspired the hit film series of the 2000s, according to Euronews. 

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