A rare Bible donated to an Oxfam charity shop in Chelmsford, UK, has sold for an astonishing £56,280 ($115,000) at auction. The Bible, which was translated between 1815 and 1822, holds the distinction of being the first ever written in Chinese.
The book was dropped off at the Oxfam store, and volunteers, suspecting it could be valuable, decided to put it up for auction with an estimated value of £800. However, to the astonishment of shop workers, the final sale price exceeded all expectations, leaving them “absolutely speechless.”
Nick Reeves, the shop manager, described the moment as “amazing” and expressed his surprise at how much the Bible raised for Oxfam. “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,” he said. “It’s amazing to think that a donation from our shop could help raise that much money for Oxfam. It’s just wonderful.”
The Bible, translated by John Lassar and Joshua Marshman, was among 23 books donated to Oxfam shops, which were auctioned off last week. In total, the books raised over £105,000, with the proceeds going toward Oxfam’s global efforts to tackle poverty and inequality.
Other notable sales included a first edition of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol for £16,640 and the initial English translation of Karl Marx’s Manifesto of the Communist Party for £7,040.
Bonhams’ books and manuscripts specialist Lorenza Gay explained that the Lassar and Marshman Chinese Bible was an exceptionally rare item. “We could not trace this particular translation at auction previously. We hoped it would exceed the estimate, but it definitely surprised us with the final price,” Gay said. “This remarkable outcome is great news for the important work Oxfam does around the world.”
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