Eagle Couriers hunts for rare books

Eagle Couriers Press releases

Read coverage in the Stirling Observer here: http://www.stirlingobserver.co.uk/stirling-news/local-news-stirling/news-stirling/2008/10/24/search-is-on-for-rare-books-51226-22103869/

Eagle Couriers director Fiona Deas

Scotland’s leading independent courier company has pledged to work together with Oxfam to retrieve the last two volumes of a rare book collection.

Eagle Couriers has offered its services to the charity in order to hunt for the books, which are part of a rare set of six civil war reference books from the 18th Century.

The search has been prompted after couriers from the firm recently collected four volumes of the set – which is called Clarendon’s History of the Rebellion and was published in 1731 – during a regular book collection service in Stirling.

The collections are part of the charity’s book bank scheme, which encourages people across Stirlingshire to leave their unwanted books in a series of special collection banks throughout the region – which Eagle Couriers then delivers to the Oxfam store on Murray Place so they can be re-sold or recycled.

Each of the civil war books is understood to be worth a considerable amount of money, but the charity says that the full collection is likely to be much sought-after by book collectors and could fetch up to £2500 at auction.

Fiona Deas, one of Eagle Couriers directors said: “We have been working with Oxfam for more than a year and have already helped to deliver a considerable number of books to their Stirling shop. It is a great scheme which allows unwanted books to be re-sold in order to raise much-needed funds for the charity.

“When we heard that these rare books had been found in one of the collection bins, we were thrilled, as we realised that they could potentially fetch a lot of money for the shop. However, when they told us that the whole set would be worth a great deal more, we were determined to help them find the missing volumes.”

Eagle Couriers, which employs more than 100 people across Scotland, has worked with Oxfam on the book bank scheme since September 2007, when the charity first introduced 10 collection banks in the Stirlingshire area. Since then, the scheme has proved so successful that an additional 11 banks have been introduced within the area and the books are now collected on alternative fortnights from the various locations throughout Stirlingshire.

Carol Gray, Stirling Manager said: “It is very unusual for members of the public to donate such rare books through the book banks, as they often come into the store to donate them personally, so it was a very nice surprise to find these books in one of our deliveries.

“We’re always delighted to receive any donations in our book banks, as they can be sold to help fund Oxfam’s programmes. If we can retrieve the final two volumes, it will mean that we will be able to sell the complete set and raise even more money to fund our work.

“The service provided by Eagle Couriers is excellent and very reliable and our delivery driver is always very professional and helpful. We’re delighted that they have offered to help us find these last remaining volumes.”