The sale price of a Bible that was donated to a charity shop has left workers “speechless” after it achieved £56,000 at an auction.
The sale was a fortnight after the rare book, the first completed Bible in Chinese, came to be spotted by volunteers in a pile of donations in Oxfam’s Chelmsford bookshop.
The rare volume, dated to between 1815 and 1822, was put up for auction at Bonhams and was initially valued at a modest £600 to £800 after it was found in the shop in Essex. However, the book, translated by John Lassar and Joshua Marshman, eventually fetched £56,280.
Nick Reeves, Oxfam Chelmsford’s bookshop manager, said: “The Bible was originally found by some of our brilliant volunteers, Chris Tyrrell and Eleanor Atack, in a pile of donations, who suspected it could be worth something.
“When it was put up for auction, it was originally valued at a few hundred pounds, so we never imagined it might go for this much.
“We were sat watching the bidding and just seeing it go up and up. When it finally ended, I was in complete shock. We were absolutely speechless.
“It’s amazing to think that a donation from our shop could help raise that much money. It’s just wonderful.”
The Bible is among 23 books sold at Bonhams’ auction last week that collectively raised more than £105,000 for Oxfam. Among them was a first edition of Charles Dickens’s novella A Christmas Carol that went for £16,640. A signed copy of Roald Dahl’s Matilda from 1989 reached £2,304.
Oxfam’s donated goods strategy lead, Ian Falkingham, hailed the discovery and results at the auction as “great news”.
Mr Falkingham, who specialises in books, said: “We are absolutely blown away by the sales at Bonhams’ auction today.
“We are so grateful for all our donations at Oxfam, and the many incredible, rare and unique books we are donated. The money raised from these books will go towards helping tackle poverty and inequality across the globe, at a time when it is needed most.
"It just goes to show that you never know what you might find in our wonderful shops. Thank you so much to Bonhams for their auction and to everyone who has ever donated to Oxfam.”
Dr Lorenza Gay, Bonhams associate specialist – books and manuscripts, said: "For more than 20 years, Bonhams has proudly worked with Oxfam bookshops, and we are thrilled that we've been able to use our expertise and platform once again to deliver brilliant results for the charity.
“The Lassar and Marshman Chinese translation of the Bible was an exceedingly rare item, which we could not trace at auction previously. We hoped it would exceed the estimate, but it definitely surprised us with the final price achieved. This remarkable outcome is great news for the important work Oxfam does around the world."
Other Oxfam lots sold at the auction included a Charles Dickens autograph quoting from A Christmas Carol for £12,160 and a first edition of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice in the Peacock edition from 1894 for £2,560.
