Next up, we have some wonderful and rare books by Catherine Cooper.
Catherine says:
I used to be a teacher but due to ill-health I had to take early retirement. Not being ready for that, and desperate to get back into school, I started writing. The credit crunch hit just as I’d finished my first book, needless to say, no one was willing to take a chance on an unknown author and it was completely rejected. Not to be deterred I self-published. I was told this would be the ‘kiss of death’ for any author but I only needed to get back into school so it wasn’t a problem. The following is a timeline of events…
2006 my teaching career of 29 years ended.
2009 I self-published my first book, The Golden Acorn ~ The Adventures of Jack Brenin
2010 I self-published Book two, Glasruhen Gate.
2010 Entered and won Brit Writers Best Story for Children and Brit Writer of the Year (with The Golden Acorn)
part of the prize was a contract with a mainstream publisher who re-packaged the first two books and signed me up for the rest of the series.
2011 We signed a contract with a Hollywood film company (after they’d read my own first edition book and not the reprint!)
2011 Book Three, Silver Hill was published
2011 The series was tipped to fill the Harry Potter void
2012 Book Four, The Lost Treasure of Annwn was published
2013 The Golden Acorn was chosen as a National Literacy Trust guided reading book for all KS2 children and a ‘must have’ for all library shelves.
2013 Book Five, The Oak Lord was published
2013 The Book of Dragon Lore was published
2014 The Legend of Howling Hill was written and made into a hand made book for a world wide unique prize (soon to be published as a paperback)
2014 I became a Patron of Reading
None of the above was planned!
I still have in my possession one of the first editions, of which only 1000 were ever printed. Here is a link to three used copies that are for sale at the moment on Amazon. There are similar priced used copies on ebay too.
This early edition of The Golden Acorn is a very sought-after book, and is Catherine’s last ever copy!!! It has been illustrated by Catherine’s husband Ron Cooper.


If the bidding exceeds £500, Catherine will include the second first edition book of this series, Glasruhen Gate, of which only 500 were printed:

Bidding will start at: £20
Auction time: Monday 24th November 7.30pm (GMT)
Note: Bids are made by posting your bid in £ in the comments below. If you need to refer to the Hedgehammer guide (how it all works, bidding and so on) you can find it here. And remember – all of these auctions are raising funds for Hedgespoken so that we can offer workshops and courses and events across Britain and beyond. Have a look here to find out more about our plans!
Thank you for bidding and thanks again to Catherine for donating this!
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Who’ll open the bidding here? Anyone at £20?
£20.00 bid :) – worth more folks!
This is worth a small fortune! Come on, folks!
£25.00
Totally agree, with you Tom, worth a fortune! :D
£50:-)
That it better :) £60.00
That’s the spirit. Look at this Amazon page for the book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/0956309305/ref=tmm_pap_used_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=used&sr=8-1&qid=1416231144 Over £900! You could fund your holiday/Christmas/year in the sun with this!
£75!
Come on peeps it is worth so much more!
Thank you, Lynn! Come on folks, you could open your BANK with this!
80£
Well robbing the piggy bank now :) ;) £80
Chris, you’ll have to do better than that – Shira’s already at £80…
Hahaha thought it was a bit slow ;) forgot to refresh :D £85 :)
£86
Let’s see some proper money here, people ;) let’s take it to £90. Who’s for £90?
You’re not bad at this auctioneering lark are you Tom – will just have to dig down the back of the sofa to see if there are any odd pound coins – don’t hold your breath! ;)
Okay – £90 it is!!!
Thank you, Chris :) there’s always debt…
…but I have no more sofa’s to look down! :(
With Chris at £90… Who’ll see us to £93. £93 – you could make TEN TIMES THAT on this book!
ok, ok, 93 it is
£100!
With Lynn at £100. We’re warming up – this could be a long night!
THE GOLDEN ACORN, GOING ONCE to Lynn for £100…
GOING TWICE to Lynn for £100!
105
£ 105 that is, not acorns or peanuts
The drama! With Shira at £105…
(we don’t accept acorns or peanuts, unless they’re magic ones, or made of gold…)
Still with Shira for 105 golden peanuts… Still a total bargain…
Agree total bargain! Just wish I had more money to bid! :D
This is GOING ONCE to Shira for £105…
This is GOING TWICE to Shira for £105…
THE GOLDEN ACORN is SOLD to Shira for £105! Thank you all for bidding and congratulations, Shira!
BIDDING IS CLOSED!
£110!
Ah, feckin h, to think I wasn’t even going to bid on this one, thinking it was way out of my league! Thanks Tom, you have made me a very happy woman (also a very poor one, but ah well)
Too late, Lynn! Sorry!
Congratulations, Shira. Since Glasruhen Gate won’t be winging your way I’ll put you a goody bag in with The Golden Acorn. I hope you enjoy the book.
Well done Shira, a real bargain but commiserations Lynn, hope it wasn’t connectivity problems that meant your last bid was a minute late :(
Thank you to everyone who bid on the book. It’s going towards something very special.
That’ll teach me for using my phone! Congrats Shira! Xx
Hi Shira – here’s the link for payment again: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/hedgespoken/contributions/new?nonperk_amt=0 – You can combine the payments if that’s easier for you?
And thanks again to everyone who took part in this auction and especially big thanks to Catherine for donating the book!
Thanks Tom, I will combine payments. And thanks Catherine, I am so looking forward to your book!
Just put the money through.