The library of Watership Down author Richard Adams, who died in 2016, was sold at auction in December. Among the books for sale was a complete set of first editions of Jane Austen, with an estimated value of up to £80,000, a Bible once owned by Charles II, and a 1632 Shakespeare Second Folio. There were also first editions by Charles Dickens, George Eliot, and Anthony Trollope, and from a rare copy of Lycidas, Milton’s epic poem.
Auctioneer Dominic Winter commented that Adam’s collection was ‘a proper library. There wasn’t a special place for the more valuable books – they weren’t under lock and key, they were there to be enjoyed. I was amazed when I first walked in.’