Stolen First Edition Lord Of The Rings Books Returned To Charity Shop Following Public Plea

Fortunately, a valuable set of first editions of The Lord of the Rings trilogy of books have been anonymously given back to the charity shop from where they were stolen following a public plea.

The set is worth approximately $2,000 and was stolen from inside a locked cabinet in the St. Richard's Hospice in Worcester, United Kingdom on December 19th. "For this to happen less than a week before Christmas, and during a difficult time for all in the charity sector, is especially upsetting," said Dan Corns, commercial director at St Richard's Hospice, in an interview with the BBC. The trilogy had the first-edition text of the beloved fantasy that was released in 1954, but the books themselves were published in 1957, making them an exceptionally rare find. The price of the product would have gone to the support of adults with progressive illnesses, too, so there was a two-fold loss from the theft.

Here's the trailer for The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, an upcoming and unique take on the complicated character where players must navigate the two sides of his personality.

It's cheering news, then, that the person who took them has chosen to return the trilogy to the charity shop this week. "Obviously someone has thought about it and through their conscience has decided perhaps they didn't do the right thing," said Corn to The Times. "While saddened by the theft of these beautiful, valuable books, we've been heartened by the response from others sharing our story and willing the items to be returned to us." And, as the cherry on the cake, the trilogy has been bought today by The Lord of the Rings mega fan Martin Clark. All's well that ends well, eh?

Following the threads of "previously unexplored stories" in the world of Middle-earth, the show (in the works with Amazon Studios) has moved production from New Zealand to the United Kingdom for the second series. We won't be seeing a lot of familiar faces though as the story is set in the Second Age, thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Be that as it may, it's been reported that Isildur will be played by Maxim Baldry. Details are understandably under wraps for now and the adaptation is scheduled to premiere on Prime Video on September 22nd.

Yet, it's not been smooth sailing for the show. Among the stunt performers who worked on the project, one individual suffered a serious concussion and needed emergency surgery to treat an aneurysm. Another sustained a rotator cuff injury following a backflip that went wrong as a result of industry-standard practices that were omitted from the preparation for the stunt. "Amazon Studios takes the health, physical and emotional welfare of our cast and crew extremely seriously," said a spokesperson after these allegations emerged. "As a top priority, the production team continues to be in full compliance with the mandated WorkSafe NZ Safety and Security government regulations. Any allegation or report that activities on set are unsafe or outside of regulations are completely inaccurate."

Featured Image Credit: New Line Cinema

Topics: The Lord Of The Rings