{"id":23858,"date":"2025-09-15T13:58:21","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T13:58:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/23858\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T13:58:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T13:58:21","slug":"first-edition-of-thomas-the-tank-engine-book-to-be-sold-at-auction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/23858\/","title":{"rendered":"First edition of Thomas the Tank Engine book to be sold at auction"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A first edition copy of the first book in the Thomas the Tank Engine series is due to be sold at auction alongside early versions of other children\u2019s classics.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"720\" height=\"650\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/5b7b8f01-c7b9-445d-b80e-b34c00d11436.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-29565\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>The Three Railway Engines, the first book in The Railway Series which introduced Thomas the Tank Engine, was published in 1946.<\/p>\n<p>The picture book by Rev Wilbert Awdry introduces Edward, Gordon, and Henry who all live in the same shed and don\u2019t get along until a series of adventures teaches them to be friends.<\/p>\n<p>Article continues below\u2026<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nEnjoy more The Railway Magazine reading every month.<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.classicmagazines.co.uk\/digital22rm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"external\">Click here to subscribe &amp; save.<\/a>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>The first edition up for auction is a hardback, yellow-covered picture book valued from \u00a3300 to \u00a3500.<\/p>\n<p>The book is among 60 lots of children\u2019s books going under the hammer this month. Others include an early Peter Rabbit book by Beatrix Potter, as well as Quentin Blake sketches of Roald Dahl\u2019s BFG.<\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson for Catherine Southon Auctioneers &amp; Valuers said: \u201cWe are delighted to be auctioning part of a local collection of children\u2019s books, many of which are signed by the author or illustrator, and have been lovingly cherished.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Article continues below\u2026<\/p>\n<p>The items will go on sale at Kingsley House in Chislehurst on September 17.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A first edition copy of the first book in the Thomas the Tank Engine series is due to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23859,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[489,156,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-23858","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}