Oxfam hopes till will 'ring' after rare book find

It's a long way from Hobbiton in The Shire to Troon, in Ayrshire but a rare edition of J.R.R Tolkien's Lord of the Rings has found its way to the Oxfam bookshop there. Eagle-eyed volunteer Tracy Coleman spotted the rare edition amongst a set of books that had been donated to the shop. Having done some research into this edition of Lord of the Rings, Oxfam reckons it is worth nearly £1000.

The book is one of only 250 printed by Harper Collins to mark the centenary of the author's birth. It is signed by the artist Alan Lee who was commissioned to do illustrations for the special edition. As a result he was asked to provide artwork for the film of the Lord Of The Rings. He has since won an Oscar for the third film in the series, Return Of The King.

Julie McCulloch, manager of the Oxfam shop in Troon said, "Whether you are a wizard, a hobbit, an elf or simply a Lord of the Rings fan this is a great buy and is a real collectors' item.

" We hope it is Oxfam's till that that will be 'ringing' when we sell this book to raise vital funds for our work tackling global poverty. "

Speaking of the find Tracy added, "I know a bit about rare books and when I saw the copy of 'Lord of the Rings' I knew it was a bit special. However, I didn't realise how special it was until I did my research & realised just how rare it was. This is something that book collectors will really treasure.

"One of the wonderful things about volunteering for Oxfam is you never know what gems are going to turn up amongst the donations."

The book is now up for sale at the Oxfam bookshop in Troon at 9 Church Street, Troon

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