Overview

• Auctioneum sold a 1937 first edition of The Hobbit for £43,000 on August 6 after international bidders drove the final price to four times the house estimate.
• Only 1,500 copies were printed in the original run and experts believe just a few hundred survive, cementing its status among the most sought-after modern literary works.
• Rare books specialist Caitlin Riley called the result “a wonderful outcome for a very special book” and noted the volume still contains Tolkien’s original black-and-white illustrations.
• The copy was uncovered during a Bristol property clearance and traced to botanist Hubert Priestley’s family library, revealing ties to Tolkien’s University of Oxford circle.
• The sale highlights the escalating market for Tolkien first editions, not least after a 2015 Sotheby’s inscribed copy reached €187,000.