Only 15 copies of this J.R.R. Tolkien book exist and one is for sale

By Madeleine Evans and Lauren Beavis

An antiquarian bookseller was left "trembling" when he picked up an incredibly rare book by J.R.R. Tolkien — which he is now selling for £65,000.

"Songs for the Philologists" is the rarest book by legendary Oxford author J.R.R. Tolkien — with just 15 copies thought to be in existence.

One of them is now sitting safely in Tom W. Ayling's antique shop in Howberry Park, Wallingford, Oxford.

Tom, who will be bringing the book to the market for the first time since 2014, said: "I have been looking for a copy of "Songs for the Philologists" for so long that I had nearly given up on finding one.

"It is thought to survive in as few as 15 copies; but as 12 of these are owned by institutions like the Bodleian Library and British Library, there are only a handful that remain in private hands and ever likely to come to market.

"When it arrived I could not believe I was finally holding a copy of this rarity in my hands.

"I even trembled a little picking it up.

"I know it might be the only copy I will ever handle, so it is a privilege that my rare bookshop in Wallingford can offer it for sale to our worldwide client base of Tolkien collectors."

Tom is an antiquarian bookseller who specializes in the work of Tolkien, the writer and philologist who penned "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" series — much of which he wrote while living in North Oxford.

"Songs for the Philologists" contains 13 poems by the legendary author, written while he worked at Leeds University with E.V. Gordon in the early 1920s.

Typewritten copies of the verses were given to students at University College London in the 1930s, to print on their Elizabethan Press as an exercise by Dr. A.H. Smith.

However, when Dr. Smith realized he had not asked Tolkien's permission to reproduce the poems, he did not distribute them, and many of the poems left in the printing room were later destroyed in a fire.

It is thought that just 15 copies survive, 12 owned by institutional collections in the U.K. and U.S. like the Bodleian Library and British Library — leaving "vanishingly rare" opportunities for collectors to get their hands on one.

The last copy to come up at auction was in 2003, and in the 23 years since, only two other copies have publicly come to market, both in 2014.

Tom said: "For Tolkien collectors, the chance to acquire a copy can be once in a generation, and going forward future opportunities will be even fewer, as remaining copies enter major collections."

The rare book dealer tracked down a copy in Australia two weeks ago, which had been taken there by Professor Arthur Brown (1921-1979), who taught literature at University College London and was an associate of Tolkien.

He shared the Oxford professor's interests in Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic literature, and alongside his copy of "Songs for the Philologists" — probably obtained during his tenure at UCL — Prof. Brown also owned Tolkien's original illustrated manuscript for Visio de Doworst.

Tom added: "It was sent to me by courier from Australia, and due to the war in the Middle East it had to take a circuitous route to reach me, travelling from Australia to China, then India, and then France, before finally reaching Oxfordshire."

The first edition was printed privately in 1936 and is bound in the original printed paper wrappers and described as an "exceptional copy of a legendary rarity."