Browns Removals regularly donates the items it finds from its house clearing operations to local charity shops, and its most recent donation to the High Street book store contained a rare Graham Greene novel valued at between £1000-£1500.

The celebrated English author's The Bear Fell Free is one of only 250 signed first editions published by Grayson and Grayson in 1935, and is believed to have been taken from a recently deceased local woman's home.

Oxfam bookshop's manager, Ian Mulcock, said: "Browns are very useful to me. Whenever we get a clearance type of donation sometimes the stuff is horrible and mouldy but they usually bring at least some good stuff and on this ocassion a lot of very good stuff- the person they cleared from was a fan of getting things signed."

The bookshop, in the High Street, is currently celebrating its fifth birthday.

To mark the milestone, the shop has introduced a 3for2 offer on its books and also a 'five fiction books for a fiver' offer throughout September and October.