An Extremely Rare First Edition of ‘The Hobbit’ Goes up for Auction
- A rare first edition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, one of only 1,500 copies, has been discovered in Bristol and is currently up for auction with a highest bid of $25,000 (£19,000).
You'll need more than a few silver coins to snag this literary treasure.
An extremely rare first edition of J.R.R. Tolkien's legendary 1937 work The Hobbit has just hit the block via U.K. house Auctioneum , with the current highest bid at $25,000 (£19,000). The tome was discovered unexpectedly during a routine visit in Bristol, where Auctioneum's book specialist Caitlin Riley was called in to appraise the collection of the home's deceased owner.
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The novel was hidden away in a bookcase filled with otherwise unremarkable works and is one of only 1,500 copies initially printed upon the book's release almost 90 years ago.
"Nobody knew it was there," Riley said in a statement on Auctioneum's website. "I couldn't believe my eyes! There are a few key details to look out for when spotting one of the first editions, and as I looked into each one, they were all there. When I realized what it was, my heart began pounding. It's an unimaginably rare find!"
The copy hails from the family library of Hubert Priestley, a famous botanist in the 1930s who had strong connections to the University of Oxford, where Tolkien was a professor for 34 years and a Fellow at Pembroke and Merton Colleges. Both shared mutual correspondence with The Chronicles of Narnia author C.S. Lewis, and it's likely the pair knew each other.
Of those 1,500 first editions, only a few hundred are believed to remain. This particular copy is bound in light green cloth and features black and white illustrations by Tolkien—the only printing to do so, as later editions colorized them. The price has already exceeded pre-auction estimates of around $13,000 to $15,000 (£10,000 to £12,000), and bidding is set to close on Wednesday evening.
Other first editions of The Hobbit have fetched steep prices at past auctions. An inscribed copy, given by Tolkien to a student, sold in 2015 for around $182,000 (£137,000). The sale more than doubled the previous world record for a copy of the author's first novel, which was set in 2008 at £60,000 —equal to around $122,000 at the time. Few are in as pristine condition as the recently recovered copy, which London rare bookstore owner Oliver Bayliss thinks could fetch over $67,000 (£50,000), The New York Times reported.
"The popularity of The Hobbit has only grown since its first publication," Riley said . "The subsequent Hobbit film series in the mid-2000's only further cemented its appeal . . . We're expecting world-wide demand for this rare first edition."
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