Rare book donated to Oxfam could feed 5,300 families

Fundraising | Niki May Young | 19 Apr 2010

A rare book donated to an Oxfam book store has raised £37,200 when sold at auction last week. The windfall represents the largest sum ever accrued through the sale of a donated item at auction by Oxfam.

A Trip To The Highlands of Viti Levu, is a photo documentary of two scientists’ quest to find their long-lost brother in Fiji in 1881. Written by Gerard Ansdell, it consists of 44 remarkable portraits of Fijians, and was self-published in 1882, before eventually finding its way via anonymous donor to the Teignmouth Oxfam bookshop in Devon in late 2009.

The £37,200 raised by auction at Bonhams in London last week would be enough to buy 1,500 goats, feed 5,300 families or provide safe water for 41,000 people, said the charity.

The sum is almost £19,000 more than the previous top-selling book donated to Oxfam. In 2005 a 17th century economic treatise raised £18,000, as did a rare Graham Greene book in 2008.

Suzy Alder, books project manager at Oxfam, said: "This was an unprecedented discovery, but it shows that our bookshops are great places to find all kinds of hidden treasures sitting alongside the racks of bestsellers."

Oxfam is Europe’s biggest retailer of second-hand books and the third biggest book retailer in the UK, raising around £1.6m through book sales each month. The average sale price of a second hand book in Oxfam stores is just £1.60.

Last week also saw the donation of a rare copy of the first ever Beano annual to Cancer Research UK. The near-mint annual, published in 1939 is thought to be one of only ten in existence and could raise £5,000 at auction. It was donated to a Cancer Research UK charity shop in St Andrews, Fife.

Directory: Cancer Research UK (CRUK) | Oxfam
Who's Who: Niki May Young

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