A FIRST edition of the classic novel The Great Gatsby is among a treasure trove of books being auctioned in Edinburgh this week.
The collection of the late Stirling-born English teacher Bruce Ritchie has an estimated value of up to £230,000.
His remarkable library includes first editions of Dickens’ Christmas Carol (1843), children’s classic the Wind in the Willows (1908) and Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited (1945), complete with a note signed by the author.
Among the most valuable works is a first edition of James Joyce’s Ulysses (1922), which has an estimated sale price of up to £3,000.
F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is expected to fetch around £700.
Passionate collector Mr Ritchie attended Dollar Academy in Clackmannanshire and studied English and German at St Andrews University before taking up a post at Merchant Taylors’ School in London.
He retired to Stirling and died in October last year.
His library will be sold by Lyon and Turnbull on Wednesday.
John Sibbald, book specialist at the auctioneers, said: “It is astonishing that a private collector could assemble this kind of collection, particularly relying chiefly on a school teacher’s salary.”
