Unexpected Tolkien Treasure Fetches $51,000

First edition, second printing of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien with dust jacket designed by the author, 1938.The staff of the Oxfam store in Harborne, Birmingham, England, thought they had a “fairly ordinary” donation of old books. To their surprise, the donation included a first edition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit.Manager Julian Grist told the BBC, “By the time I’d realized what we had, the donor had already left. I would have loved the chance to tell them just