A TWYFORD charity shop had a magical surprise when it was donated not one but three highly collectible Harry Potter books.
Mercy in Action received first edition hardback copies of The Half-Blood Prince and The Deathly Hallows in two separate donations to its shop on Wargave Road.
And it was also given a rare early print run paperback edition of The Prisoner of Azkaban, containing mistakes corrected in later versions.
The books have been priced at £150 for the hardbacks and £50 for the paperback.
Retail supervisor Nicole Golding, based at the charity’s Theale store, is a Harry Potter book enthusiast.
“First edition Harry Potters are sold for a lot of money at auction, and so whenever we receive them, they are put aside for me to assess,” she explained.
“I know what I am looking for in the books, but because we are a charity we try to price them fairly.
“There is a lot of interest in books like this and sometimes they sell within a day of us putting them out.
“Some people don’t believe it when they see the price though. Before Christmas we had a hardback of The Prisoner of Azkaban which sold for £200 because it was in such good condition.”
First edition books, particularly hardback copies of the earlier titles in JK Rowling’s series, can fetch high prices at auction. A signed first edition of The Philosopher’s Stone in exceptional condition sold for £80,000 at an auction in North Yorkshire last June.
Mercy in Action was founded by Allison and John Todd in 1995, to support projects working with street children in the Philippines.
The Twyford shop opened seven years ago. Since reopening after lockdown, manager Angelika Lenz and assistant manager Soma Mandal have noticed that things have been picking up.
“We are seeing a good volume of donations coming through and people are buying,” Soma said.
“Sometimes storage is a bit of a problem, so we do like people to ring ahead and check with us if they can.
“But we do not have an appointment system for drop offs.”
For more information on the charity, visit: mercyinaction.org.uk
To enquire about the current Harry Potter first editions at the Twyford store, call: 0118 934 9145
