There is a 1st for sale by Oxfam if anyone wants to burn £4500. TCG gets a mention here also.

https://onlineshop.oxfam.org.uk/the-ho ... 02829646?sku=HD_302829646

Trotter wrote:

Does it have library stamps in it?

On the outside of the pages, yes - along with a stamp on the title page. Inner pages themselves though are clean and in good condition.. I'm considering a restoration job of sorts if I can find the right craftsman.

Twenty years or so I had one, in rather bad condition. I did not know that it was rare, I just bought it in a bookstall in Canterbury because I thought it looked funny. But I gave it away to someone who wished to give a child _The Hobbit_ to read in English. And I do not remember who it was.

It's a fascinating edition. I'd imagine many would have picked it up and thought it was just some quirky, insignificant edition.

I paid £500 and that seemed a crazy impulsive buy at the time. But I've seen copies go for £1500/£2000.

Tall Hobbit wrote:

It's a fascinating edition. I'd imagine many would have picked it up and thought it was just some quirky, insignificant edition.

I paid £500 and that seemed a crazy impulsive buy at the time. But I've seen copies go for £1500/£2000.

I think these days, £1500/£2000 would only make sense for an essentially as-new copy. There were a few surprisingly high prices a couple of years ago, but I'm not sure those same sales for those same copies would be sustained in today's market. I think there was a bit of irrational exuberance!

The late Stu wrote:

Tall Hobbit wrote:

It's a fascinating edition. I'd imagine many would have picked it up and thought it was just some quirky, insignificant edition.

I paid £500 and that seemed a crazy impulsive buy at the time. But I've seen copies go for £1500/£2000.

I think these days, £1500/£2000 would only make sense for an essentially as-new copy. There were a few surprisingly high prices a couple of years ago, but I'm not sure those same sales for those same copies would be sustained in today's market. I think there was a bit of irrational exuberance!

Couldn't agree more, what we saw those few (pretty used copies) go for in 2022-23 was jaw dropping. £1500 for a these in poor condition (which many are) is just insane IMO. Last one to sell, that I saw, went for £800 and it was in pretty good shape.