Rare Narnia book sold in Cornwall charity shop sells for £1k

A rare first edition of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe has sold for £1,000 after it was spotted at a charity shop.

The 1950 copy of the first of the Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis was identified by a sharp-eyed volunteer at the Oxfam bookshop in Truro, Cornwall.

The children's fantasy novel was put up for sale on the charity's online selling portal and was quickly snapped up.

Store manager Barnaby Attwell said: "It's great to know that money will be going to help people in need."

The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven novels - the most famous being The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - published between 1950 and 1956.

They have been the subject of multiple screen and stage adaptations, most recently a Netflix production of The Chronicles of Narnia.

Jane Rickard said she had been sorting through some newly donated books when she came across the rare volume "completely by chance".

"It looked like an old copy of it, I looked inside to see if it was a reprint, and it wasn't, and I got quite excited," she recalled.

"So I checked online for what a first edition would look like and that's when I thought, 'It's a first edition!'"

The volunteer worker said "my jaw dropped" when she realised what the book might be worth, adding: "For us, it's very unusual.

"We do get some excellent donations, and it's not that rare to have a £30 book, a £50 book, but £1,000 has never happened.

"I can only think it was the magic of Narnia because there was no reason for me to even be looking at that section - I'm normally behind the counter or in the shop. It just looked like a small hardback book."

Barnaby Attwell, manager of Oxfam Books Truro, said he was amazed "when Jane plucked the book out amongst many other similar-looking books".

"Another volunteer looked it up and saw that, even without a dust jacket, a first edition is worth over a thousand pounds.

"A couple of other volunteers checked it too and we all agreed.

"Another volunteer wrote a description of it, and I photographed it and put it online for £1,000. So it was a real collaborative effort."

Attwell said "we were all over the moon" when the book sold.

"I haven't stopped thanking Jane, and gave her a bunch of flowers at our shop general meeting recently," he said.

"It's great to know that money will be going to help people in need."

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