Volunteer Service Abroad Auction
Xoanon @ 11:43 pm EST

From: Jeremy Rose

Al at scoop told me to get in touch about a fundraising auction of a copy of the Lord of the Rings signed by Peter Jackson and containing an original pencil sketch by Alan Lee.

Volunteer Service Abroad is something like the New Zealand equivalent of the Peace Corp (we tend to send older and better qualified volunteers.)

Peter has very generously provided us with a signed copy of LOTR to auction off and I was hoping you might be able to spread the word among the world's Tolkien fans. I understand you have an email list as well as your site and it would be choice if you could let the die hard fans no about the auction. It's for a good cause and with the New Zealand dollar the way it is we suspect we will be able to get a better price from someone in the States or Europe than at home.

Thanks for you time

Jeremy Rose

Press Release
(For immediate release)

Gandalf is VSA's latest supporter

With Peter Jackson's signature becoming as rare as dragons' teeth, New Zealand's Volunteer Service Abroad is hoping for a good return when it puts a copy of the Lord of the Rings, signed by the film director, up for auction this week.

Jackson, who is under instructions not to give out autographs during the film's international release, signed a copy of J R R Tolkein's work earlier this year for VSA to use for fundraising purposes. Jackson also arranged for Alan Lee, the film's art director and a well-known illustrator of Middle Earth, to draw a pencil sketch of the wizard Gandalf in the book's opening spread.

VSA fundraiser Jo Prestwood says it's hard to put a value on the 1991 Harper Collins edition of the Lord of the Rings. "It's a fine edition of a classic work. Not only does it contain the trilogy that makes up the Lord of the Rings but it is beautifully illustrated by Alan Lee and has an appendices which includes the Annals of the Kings and Rulers and a Hobbits family tree."

Jackson has written 'Best wishes from Middle Earth in the book,' and Alan Lee has written 'Greetings from Gandalf',' Prestwood says.

VSA is a not-for-profit international development agency that has been placing New Zealand volunteers in developing countries since 1962. At present it has more than 80 volunteers working in the South Pacific, Asia and Africa.

The book is being auctioned on the Internet site www.ebay.com from Friday 14 December until Friday 21 December.

Proceeds from the sale will go towards continuing VSA's work in the Pacific, Asia and Africa.

For more information contact VSA communications coordinator Jeremy Rose or fundraiser Jo Prestwood, Ph 472 5759.

Jeremy Rose
Communications Coordinator
Volunteer Service Abroad
Ph: 04 472 5759
Fax: 04 472 5052
Mobile 025 247 2491