The rare edition of The Hobbit was bought by a privatre collector in the UK. The is one of 1,500 original copies that were published in 1937, of those only "a few hundred still remain" according to the auction house Auctioneum.
The rare first edition was reportedly found in a home in Bristol. They unearthed the book during a routine house clearance after the owner had passed away. "Nobody knew it was there," Caitlin Riley said. "It was just a run-of-the-mill bookcase." She continued to say that "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."
Bidders from around the world drove the price up four times more than the auction house had expected. "It's a wonderful result, for a very special book," said Auctioneum rare books specialist Riley. She continues to say that she couldn't believe her eyes, calling it an "unimaginably rare find."
The original copy is bound in green and contains rare black and white illustrations by Tolkien, which were created whilst he was a professor at Oxford University. The book was passed down in the family library of Hubert Priestley, a botanist that was connected to the University.
The Hobbit, which was then followed by the series The Lord of The Ring, has sold more than 100 million copies worldwide. The book was also adapted into a film trilogy in the 2010s.
