Oxfam volunteers celebrated the 21st birthday of the charity’s book shop in St Giles — and raising £4.1m in the past two decades for the poor and hungry abroad.
On Friday, Colin Dexter, Philip Pullman, Mark Davies and Sophie Grigson appeared at a sold-out event at the nearby Friend’s Meeting House. And on Saturday, Oxford’s Lord Mayor Susanna Pressel was joined by author Sir John Mortimer and Oxfam volunteers to cut a cake at the shop.
The St Giles shop was the first specialist Oxfam book shop in the country. There are now about 130 nationwide. The Oxford store is the third most profitable, behind only Glasgow and Marylebone in London, and last year’s turnover was £290,000. Earlier this year, volunteer Andrew Chapman picked out a donation, an early Graham Greene novel, Rumour at Nightfall, and thought it might be worth a lot of money. The first edition of the 1931 novel was given a guide price of £6,000 to £8,000 — but eventually sold at auction in March for £15,000.
An Oxfam trade fair featuring Fairtrade stalls was also held at Oxford Town Hall in St Aldate’s on Saturday.
Philip Pullman was born on the 19th October, 1946 in Norwich, England. Pullman is best known for the series of books entitled His Dark Materials, the award winning children’s literature consisting of Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass.
Once Upon A Time In The North book review
Northern Lights book review
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The Amber Spyglass book review
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