Rare book worth nearly £1,000 turn up in Shropshire charity shop
Only 25 copies were ever printed – and number two off the press has shown up in a charity bookshop in Shropshire.
The extremely rare "presentation edition" of George Radford's treatise on river walks around Yorkshire was published in 1886 and 130 years later has been found casually nestling between other second-hand books in a donated box.
The copy, thought to be worth nearly £1,000, turned up at the Renaissance Centre in Tower Street, Ludlow – a store selling second-hand books, furniture and other items to raise funds for South Shropshire Furniture Scheme, a charity involved with various community and poverty-relief schemes around the south of the county.
Rambles by Yorkshire Rivers was a popular book which went into a number of editions, but only a tiny number of the special edition were ever printed.
It is thought to be most valuable donation the Renaissance Centre has ever received. Richard Carpenter, co-ordinator at the centre, said: "It's very difficult to tell where it came from – they come from all over, we take donations in person, we collect large loads and we have drop-off points, too.
"A lot of books come from house clearances and things like that. It would be very difficult to track down who it had belonged to." Elaine Duggan, marketing director for SSFS, said: "This one appears to be a specially-prepared presentation edition.
"It is printed on hand-made paper, bound in vellum, gilt edged, with 12 finely-drawn etchings by J Ayton Symington printed on silk and tissue guarded.
Very few other copies have ever been offered for sale, and none known with such an interesting back story.
"We would very much like to know how this one came to Ludlow."
The books is now on display at Renaissance in Tower Street, Ludlow, at a suggested price of £900.
