Frst edition of JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit, Dallas, Texas, USA - 06 Oct 2020
The cover of the first edition.
A rare first edition of JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit which has numerous spelling mistakes has sold for £46,000 ($60,000) after sparking a bidding war.
Some 1,500 copies of the middle earth fantasy novel were published in September 1937, selling out by the end of the year.
The book contains 16 misprints which were corrected in later editions by the publishers George Allen & Unwin Ltd.
This example, which is in its colourful original dust jacket, was sold with Heritage Auctions, of Dallas, Texas.
It had been expected to sell for £15,000 but fetched three times its estimate.