A FIRST edition copy of The Hobbit, given to his Worcestershire aunt by author J R R Tolkien, could fetch a record price of up to £50,000 at a Sotheby's auction.

The book, containing the inscription, "Aunt Jane from JRRT with love October 6th, 1937" is being sold by the author's family.

Tolkien inscribed the book to his Aunt Jane within a fortnight of its publication and Sotheby's say it is the only family copy likely to be offered for auction.

Jane Neave (ne Suffield), the younger sister of his mother, Mabel, played a crucial role before Mabel's marriage to Arthur Tolkien by passing letters between the secretly engaged couple.

From the published letters of Tolkien to Aunt Jane, she also seems to have been an important figure in his life, both personally and artistically.

In 1904, when he was 12, he stayed with her during his mother's illness, while his brother was sent to stay with grandparents.

Tolkien evidently kept in close contact with his aunt, who lived at Dormston, near Inkberrow.

In the 1920s the lane leading to her farm was referred to by locals as Bag End, the name he later gave to Bilbo Baggins' house in The Hobbit.

In 1961, Aunt Jane asked her nephew for a book with Tom Bombadil at the heart of it and The Adventures of Tom Bombadil was published the following year.

Sotheby's catalogue for the London auction on Friday, July 12, describes the first edition copy as "an exceptional association copy of this classic fantasy work" and suggests a guide price of between £30,000 and £50,000.

A copy was sold by Sotheby's in December 2001 for £27,850, which is the world auction record for a first edition of The Hobbit in a dust jacket.

"Contemporary inscriptions in first editions of this title are rare. This example to a member of Tolkien's family who was of great influence in his personal and literary development is therefore exceptionally important," says the catalogue.

The book, which has been subject to some wear and tear, contains 10 illustrations and pictorial end-papers, is bound in pictorial green cloth and has its original pictorial dust jacket by the author.

It also contains a loosely inserted manuscript containing a runic alphabet in the author's hand, in which Tolkien offers a key to 27 runes.

Born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, Tolkien was educated at King Edward VI School, Birmingham, and Merton College, Oxford, where he became professor of Anglo-Saxon and later of English language and literature.