Headlines: New Gromit sculpture trail characters revealed
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Bristol Live has spoken to readers who say there is a "foul stench" in Castle Park.Swindon's bus shelters have received a modern facelift with digital screens providing up-to-date information, the Swindon Advertiser reports.And Punchline reports on a new initiative in Gloucestershire launched to crackdown on modern slavery.
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New characters in the upcoming Gromit Unleashed sculpture trail in Bristol have been released, including what they'll look like.A lot of people in Bath are chatting about preparations for the Robbie Williams gig in Royal Crescent on Friday and Saturday.And Longleat has released a video of some of the sounds heard from nature during sunrise.
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The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
First edition of The Hobbit sells for a ‘record-breaking' £43,000
A rare first edition of JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit that was found during a house clearance has sold at auction for a 'record-breaking' £43,000. Bought by a private collector in the UK, the book is one of 1,500 original copies of the seminal fantasy novel that were published in 1937. Of those, only 'a few hundred are believed to still remain', according to the auction house Auctioneum, which discovered the novel without a dust cover on a bookcase at a home in Bristol. Bidders from around the world drove the price up by more than four times what the auction house expected. Caitlin Riley, Auctioneum's rare books specialist, said: 'It's a wonderful result, for a very special book.' Riley added: 'Nobody knew it was there. It was just a run-of-the-mill bookcase. 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.' The copy is bound in light green cloth and features rare black-and-white illustrations by Tolkien, who created his Middle-earth universe while a professor at the University of Oxford. The book was passed down in the family library of Hubert Priestley, a botanist connected to the university and the brother of the Antarctic explorer and geologist, Sir Raymond Edward Priestley. 'It is likely that both men knew each other,' according to Auctioneum, which said Priestley and Tolkien shared mutual correspondence with author CS Lewis, who was also at Oxford. The Hobbit, which was followed by the epic series The Lord of the Rings, has sold more than 100m copies worldwide and was adapted into a film trilogy in the 2000s. A first edition of The Hobbit with a handwritten note by Tolkien in Elvish, a family of fictional languages, sold for £137,000 at Sotheby's in 2015.
BBC News
6 hours ago
- BBC News
'Astonishingly rare' The Hobbit book sells for 'record-breaking' sum
An "astonishingly rare" first edition of The Hobbit has sold for a "record-breaking" £43,000 at copy of JRR Tolkien's novel is one of only 1,500 copies that were printed in 1937. It was discovered without a dustcover on a bookcase during a home clearance in was sold to a private collector in the UK through an online auction at Auctioneum in Bath, Somerset, Riley, the book specialist from the auction house, said: "It's the quintessential auction story. Everyone dreams of finding a rare item hidden in plain sight, and here we are." The book, which was only expected to fetch between £10,000-£12,000 at auction, attracted hundreds of bidders from all over the Riley said the book is in "absolutely beautiful condition" and she believed it sold for a record price for a first edition without a dustcover."House clearances can be tricky, stressful and troublesome... this could have so easily been sent to landfill, or disposed of by someone who didn't realise it was there," she added. The book came from the family library of Hubert Priestley who was a famous botanist in the 1930s and brother to the Antarctic explorer and geologist, Sir Raymond Edward Priestley. Priestley had strong connections to the University of Oxford where Tolkien stood as Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon and a Fellow of Pembroke men knew fellow author C.S. Lewis and it is likely that they knew each other."It's the connection to Tolkien and the important provenance that makes this book so special. It's not just any first edition; it belonged to someone who very likely called Tolkien an acquaintance," Ms Riley added it was astonishingly rare to find a first edition in such good condition. "Being a children's book, most of them have seen children's hands, children's colouring pens in some cases, so to have one that appears to be completely unread and never enjoyed is really, really astonishingly rare," she said. The Hobbit is one of the most successful children's novels, with more than 100 million copies story is set in the fantasy world Middle-earth and follows the hobbit Bilbo Baggins on a quest to find rare edition that was sold also includes rare drawings by Tolkien himself.
Daily Mail
6 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Copy of The Hobbit sells for massive £43,000 after being found in Bristol house clear out
A rare first edition of The Hobbit has fetched an eye-watering £43,000 at auction. The copy of JRR Tolkien's 1937 book was found on a bookcase at a home in Bristol during a routine house clearance. It is one of only 1,500 copies initially printed in September 1937 and had never come onto the open market before. Although it didn't have its dustjacket the copy was in almost immaculate condition. It had been expected to fetch about £10,000 at the auction in Bath but attracted huge interest which drove the price up. The book eventually sold for a hammer price of £43,000. With auctioneer's fees added on the total price paid was over £52,000. It smashed the previous record for a first edition copy without its dustjacket which stood at £19,000. The sale was held at Auctioneum in Bath and the book, that has never come on to the market before, includes rare drawings by Tolkien himself including a map with Germanic writing. The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, is a children's fantasy novel and one of the best-selling books of all time, with more than 100 million copies sold. It is set in the fantasy world Middle-earth and follows the hobbit Bilbo Baggins on a quest to find treasure. Caitlin Riley, of Auctioneum, said: 'The majority of examples you do see come to the market are a bit tattered and tired looking. 'With this one, nobody's opened it, nobody's touched it, so it was just so exciting.'
