AN ANONYMOUS donor has given a rare book valued at £600 to a charity shop in Kingsbridge.

The Oxfam bookshop has A General Treatise of the Dominion of the Sea and Compleat Body of the Sea Laws in a glass case to protect the 18th century publication from damage.

The book details ancient Roman sea laws as well as in- force practices of the day, which included having to hand in a salmon if it was found on the shore and being fined heavily for falling asleep on duty.

When asked how it was valued, shop manager Meg Davis-Berry said: 'Oxfam work closely with Bonhams auction house in Oxford and they had previously seen a similar copy valued at £750.

'The flag pictures had not been hand painted, which they apparently had in a previous edition, so that's why our book was given a different value. A lot of people stop and look at the book but it needs the right person to buy it.'

The front page is signed and dated 1801 by Lieutenant Polkinghorne, who is believed to have lived in the area and was killed in the naval war against America in 1812.

Mrs Davis-Berry found the book last month among other donations in a leather bound collection, which also contained a very old Mrs Beeton publication and an early edition Izaak Walton.

Mrs Davis-Berry said: 'If he was from this area it looks as though the book never left he Westcountry. It's fascinating.

'You don't really expect to find something like this when you're unwrapping donations.

'I suppose that's the magic of working in the Oxfam shop.'