AUCTIONEERS Greenslade Taylor Hunt deservedly have an excellent reputation regarding considered book sales put together by experienced valuer Dr Peter Rixon. The next chapter will take place tomorrow (Thursday, May 3) when an interesting selection of books and maps will go under the hammer.

Important past discoveries by Dr Rixon, have included a first edition of Thomas Malthus’s Essay on the Principle of Population (1798). This emerged from a group of damp children’s annuals in a garden summer house to sell for £31,500 and a first edition copy of A Tale of Two Cities (1859), by Charles Dickens, in its original red cloth binding, which made £5,500.

Somerset County Gazette: LIVE AND LET DIE: A first edition of Ian Fleming’s James Bond spy thriller

A first edition of Bram Stoker’s Dracula is on offer today along with Ian Fleming’s James Bond novel Live And Let Die.

Colonel Peter Warburton’s account of his epic journey across the Western interior of Australia is an intriguing real-life adventure.

Somerset County Gazette: REAL-LIFE ADVENTURE: The epic account of Colonel Peter Warburton’s trek across the Western interior in Australia

He led a party of seven men and 17 camels out of Adelaide in September 1872 with the aim of finding an overland route to Perth and to discover the countryside in between.

The perilous journey saw them encounter long periods of extreme heat with little water. The men survived, but Warburton lost the sight in one eye and they all suffered scurvy. The saleroom has a first edition of the account from 1875.

A gentler offering is a first edition of Beatrix Potter’s The Story Of Miss Moppet. There are also a number of AA Milne first editions in the sale including The House At Pooh Corner.

J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan with illustrations by Arthur Rackham is likely to be another crowd pleaser.

Of local interest is Frederick Elworthy’s The Dialect Of West Somerset, while for those looking for a more international perspective will find Jedidiah Morse’s sermon delivered at Charlestown, USA, in 1799 fascinating. It is entitled Exhibiting

The Present Dangers And Consequent Duties Of The Citizens Of The USA.

The sale commences at 10am at The Octagon Salerooms, East Reach, Taunton.