'Rare' Tolkien books fail to sell at auction
Getty ImagesAn auction house has said it is "shocked" that three books containing J.R.R. Tolkein's signature, linked to a family who holidayed with the author, failed to receive a single bid despite being expected to fetch thousands of pounds.
The volumes - The Two Towers, The Return of the King, and The Hobbit - each contain a Tolkien signature which has been cut out and pasted in, and came from the estate of the late Brenda Jocelyn Walden.
They were said to represent a rare opportunity for collectors, but failed to sell at Quire Auctions in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire on Wednesday night.
Collectively they were expected to fetch between £17,000 to £23,000.
"It's a real shame, particularly when we know that the market and demand for Tolkien is on the up," said Caitlin Riley, director at Quire Auctions.
The books were owned by the late Brenda Jocelyn Walden.
Walden's parents, Kathleen and Henry George Walden, were friends with Tolkien and his wife, Edith, and the families holidayed together in Bournemouth.
The signature in The Two Towers, which was expected to sell for up to £8,000, is believed to have been removed from a longer letter sent by Tolkien to Kathleen, who referred to the author simply as JRR.
A second signature, carrying the same estimate, was found in The Return of the King and was written on the reverse of a postcard of the Hotel Miramar.
The hotel in Bournemouth was Edith Tolkien's favourite, and is where the families stayed together.
The third signature, discovered pasted into The Hobbit, had a slightly lower estimate of up to £7,000 and had been coloured in by Kathleen and Henry's daughter.
Quire AuctionsPrior to the auction, Mark Skipper, another director at Quire Auctions, said it was "quite remarkable" to have three works by Tolkien featuring his signature.
"We'll hold onto them and they'll be in a future auction," Riley said.
"We'll see what happens next time."
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