Shropshire charity shop selling rare James Bond book
A rare first edition copy of a James Bond novel published more than 50 years ago has been handed in to a Shropshire charity – and could net it a welcome cash boost.
The 1961 edition of Thunderball, by Ian Fleming, is currently on display at the Severn Hospice bookshop in Craven Arms and is available to walk-in buyers for £150.
If it is not sold in-store, it will be auctioned off to the highest bidder in a Brightwells sale later this year.
The book became one of the most loved Bond films, featuring Sean Connery.
And store assistant manager Patrick Cox urged people to snap up an "absolute bargain".
He said: "Normally the first edition of these books go for somewhere in the region of £300 and £400, but there is a very slight bit of damage on the dust jacket of this one, hence the reduced price.
"But it is still a heck of a bargain. We don't actually know where it came from other than that it was a donation.
"We get a lot of books coming in boxes and anything that looks antiquarian gets filed in a separate section, with one particular volunteer going through them roughly once a week to see what we have.
"The last time we had a first edition Fleming some years ago it came from a house clearance, but it's impossible to say with this one."
Thunderball was the 9th Bond novel penned by Fleming, preceded by Casino Royale (1953), Live and Let Die (1954), Moonraker (1955), Diamonds Are Forever (1956), From Russia, With Love (1957), Dr No (1958), Goldfinger (1959) and For Your Eyes Only (1960).
