A rare Peter Pan book, which was donated to an Alderley Edge charity shop, has fetched £1,700 at auction.
Katie Robb, manager of the Oxfam Book Shop, discovered the rare book while sorting through a bin bag of donated books and bric a brac. The bag had been left at the shop by an anonymous donor a couple of weeks ago.
The first edition of the J.M. Barrie classic, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, was auctioned by TV antiques expert and local Oxfam supporter Adam Partridge as part of the Alderley Edge Community Book Festival on Sunday, 16th September.
The buyer was Simon Fox, a 37-year-old office worker from Bury. The father of seven-year-old Jack and five-year-old Nathan bought the book partly as in investment, but also for his two boys because they love Peter Pan and traditional children's literature.
The 1906 limited first edition, illustrated with around fifty colour plates by Arthur Rackham, is one of just 500 copies signed by Rackham himself. It was expected to fetch between £600 and £800 at auction.
Photos: Oxfam Bookshop manager Katie Robb, with the rare classic Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. Courtesy of Della Batchelor.
