SALES of public books from the county council’s basement have been stopped after experts blasted the move.

Worcestershire County Council put 30 books, mainly travel and map volumes, up for auction yesterday, some dating from the 17th century, as the row over the controversial sales rumbled on.

With all but five lots sold, the sale had made £14,540 as your Worcester News went to press.

The highest-selling item was an 1891 copy of Charles Booth’s Labour And Life Of The People containing a map of Victorian London based on poverty levels.

It beat its £2,000 estimate, fetching £5,000.

The council was hoping to make at least £11,000 from the sales at Dominic Winter Book Auctions in Gloucestershire.

It was the latest in a series of auctions, and the council has already made £218,735 from previous sales.

The council said it was streamlining stock ready for a move from the library in Foregate Street to the Hive, in the Butts, saying the money will be used to preserve its remaining collection.

Critics, including the Worcester Civic Society, say the sales were done without public knowledge and without full discussion with interested parties.

The council has stopped future sales “as a gesture of goodwill” while it addresses critics’ concerns.

“We are very comfortable with the process we have followed,” said a council spokesman.

Civic Society chairman Stephen Inman said he was glad a moratorium had been introduced, but added that most of the other surplus stock has already been sold.

County councillor Tom Bean, who collects 19th century travel books and is a member of the Liberal Democrat opposition, said the council’s claims the library book sale was public because it was going to auction was “disingenious in the extreme”.

Meanwhile, the University of Worcester says it was “not involved in consultation over books to be sold by Worcestershire County Council”.