"Cardiff Council could eventually sell up to 18,000 items dating from the 15th Century at auction to raise money for improvements in library services.
The collection at the central library includes early atlases along with a second edition of Shakespeare. "
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/7593883.stm
"Peter Keelan, head of special collections and archives at Cardiff University Library, said he understood the first batch of books date back to the 1500s and were probably the most valuable of the books being sold.
He estimated that some individual volumes could fetch in the region of £30,000 to £40,000.
"We are in discussions with the council about whether we could buy some of the books but the prices they could fetch at auction would be beyond what we could afford," he said.
"Nothing has come of the discussions yet but we have the capabilities of looking after books of that age - we have books going back to 1508 - and so if the council says they cannot afford to keep them and care for them, we could. It would also mean people from all over Cardiff could see them." "
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