Rare first Bible in Chinese donated to Oxfam sells for over £56,000 at auction

The first complete Bible in Chinese, which was donated to an Oxfam shop, has sold for over £56,000 at auction.

The rare book, which is dated 1815-1822 and translated by John Lassar and Joshua Marshman, was originally found in a pile of donations at Oxfam’s Chelmsford bookshop in Essex.

Spotted by some eagle-eyed volunteers as potentially valuable, the Bible was put up for Bonhams’ auction and valued at between £600-£800. After two weeks of bidding, it sold for an astonishing £56,280.

Nick Reeves, Oxfam Chelmsford’s bookshop manager, said: “The Bible was originally found by some of our brilliant volunteers, Chris Tyrrell and Eleanor Atack, in a pile of donations, who suspected it could be worth something.

“When it was put up for auction, it was originally valued at a few hundred pounds, so we never imagined it might go for this much.

“We were sat watching the bidding and just seeing it go up and up. When it finally ended, I was in complete shock. We were absolutely speechless.

“It’s amazing to think that a donation from our shop could help raise that much money Oxfam. It’s just wonderful.”

The Bible was among 23 other books donated to various Oxfam shops which were at Bonhams’ auction this week, which have raised over £105,000 in total for Oxfam, which will go towards tackling poverty and inequality around the world.

Some of the bestselling Oxfam books included:

• A first edition of Charles Dickens’ famous novella A Christmas Carol for £16,640
• A Charles Dickens’ autograph quoting from A Christmas Carol for £12,160
• A 17th Century manuscript prayer book, Prayers of the Lady Pakington for £10,880
• A first English translation of Karl Marx’ Manifesto of the Community Party for £7,040
• A first edition of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice ‘Peacock edition’ from 1894 for £2,560
• A first edition of J.R.R Tolkien’s 3 Volume Lord of The Rings for £2,048
• A signed copy of Roald Dahl’s Matilda from 1989, which sold for £2,304
• A first edition of Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows for £1,792

Ian Falkingham, Oxfam’s Donated Goods Strategy Lead, who specialises in books, said: “We are absolutely blown away by the sales at Bonhams’ auction today.

“We are so grateful for all our donations at Oxfam, and the many incredible, rare and unique books we are donated. The money raised from these books will go towards helping tackle poverty and inequality across the globe, at a time when it is needed most.

"It just goes to show that you never know what you might find in our wonderful shops. Thank you so much to Bonhams for their auction and to everyone who has ever donated to Oxfam.”

Dr Lorenza Gay, Bonhams Associate Specialist - Books and Manuscripts, said: "For more than twenty years, Bonhams has proudly worked with Oxfam bookshops, and we are thrilled that we've been able to use our expertise and platform once again to deliver brilliant results for the charity.

“The Lassar and Marshman Chinese translation of the Bible was an exceedingly rare item, which we could not trace at auction previously. We hoped it would exceed the estimate, but it definitely surprised us with the final price achieved. This remarkable outcome is great news for the important work Oxfam does around the world."

ENDS

Notes to editors

• You can find your local Oxfam bookshop here.
• Pictures of the books are here.