Auctioneum sold a 1937 first‑edition Hobbit discovered in a Bristol house clearance on August 6, 2025. The book, one of 1,500 printed that year, had slipped into a lawyer’s desk after the owner’s death.
Originally listed with a £10,000 to £12,000 estimate, the auction drew fierce bids that pushed the hammer to £43,000—about 3½ times the upper estimate. The winning bid came from a private collector based in the United Kingdom, who paid a total of £52,030 once fees were added.
The volume’s provenance added intrigue: it belonged to botanist Hubert Priestley, a former Oxford scholar who may have crossed paths with Tolkien through C.S. Lewis. Auctioneum noted a possible connection, but no documented correspondence exists.
Only a few hundred of the original 1,500 copies survive, and the absence of a dust jacket usually depresses value, yet the book’s condition—apart from a slightly discoloured spine—was praised as ‘absolutely beautiful’ by specialist Caitlin Riley.
Auctioneum will catalogue the book for future sales, and collectors are already eyeing similar finds that surface from private estates. The buyer plans to keep the copy in a private collection, potentially setting a new benchmark for unsigned first editions.