Hidden Literary Treasure Found on Bookshelf in Bristol
In a discovery worthy of Bilbo Baggins himself, a rare first edition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit from 1937 was unexpectedly found in a home in southwest England and sold at auction for an impressive £43,000 (approximately $57,000). The book, one of just 1,500 copies printed during the original release of the British author’s now-legendary fantasy novel, was purchased by a private collector based in the UK.
The valuable volume was uncovered during a routine house clearance in Bristol by Auctioneum, an auction house that specializes in rare books and antiques. The book had been quietly resting on an ordinary bookshelf in the home of the late Hubert Priestley, a botanist once affiliated with the University of Oxford. Auctioneum believes that Priestley may have personally known Tolkien, citing mutual correspondence with Tolkien’s friend and fellow Oxford scholar, C.S. Lewis.
Caitlin Riley, a rare books specialist at Auctioneum, was the first to spot the treasure. “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,” she said. “I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was an unimaginably rare find.”
Bidding War Boosts Price of Tolkien Classic
Though Auctioneum had modest expectations for the auction, the discovery sparked a global bidding war, ultimately driving the final sale price to more than four times the original estimate. “It’s a wonderful result for a very special book,” Riley commented after the sale.
The first edition is bound in light green cloth and includes black-and-white illustrations by Tolkien himself. These early copies, especially in good condition, are among the most coveted books in modern literature. Only a few hundred of the original 1,500 are believed to survive today.
Published in 1937, The Hobbit introduced readers to Tolkien’s immersive world of Middle-earth. It was later followed by The Lord of the Rings trilogy and has since sold over 100 million copies worldwide. The beloved saga also inspired a blockbuster film franchise in the early 2000s.
Notably, another first edition of The Hobbit, featuring a handwritten note in Elvish by Tolkien, fetched a staggering £137,000 at a Sotheby’s auction in 2015.
