A fire has destroyed £1m-worth of books, letters, and journals after flames ravaged through a warehouse.
Almost 30 firefighters tackled the blaze, which broke out at Berwyn Books in Buckley, Flintshire on Tuesday and left the owners of the second-hand shop "distraught".
The fire broke out across two rare book storage units belonging to the business and local residents were told to keep their windows and doors shut while motorists were urged to avoid the area.
Recap: 'Everything's gone' - Business owners distraught after overnight fire rips through industrial estate
Now staff at the bookstore have revealed just how many treasured books were destroyed in the blaze as members of the community launched an online fundraiser to support them.
Berwyn Books and its sister company Cheshire Book Centre are among the largest online book retailers in the UK.
Among the items lost in the fire were "real pieces of history," manager of Berwyn Books Emma Littler told BBC News, including a book signed by Queen Victoria in 1868 and a collection of 30 archaeological books valued at around £5,000 alone.
Historic letters, journals, and bibles were also lost as well as a first edition of the Radio Times from 1923 and around 400,000 books.
Experts have estimated that the total value of the items lost in the fire is £1m.
In an update on social media staff confirmed the Berwyn Books' building has now been condemned and was "extremely unsafe" with nobody allowed in except for fire crews. They added that they "still don’t know what’s going to happen" with the future of the business but "we are and will remain hopeful".
They added: "A huge thank you to Lauren, one of our wonderful customers, who has set up a GoFundMe page. We appreciate everyone’s efforts to help us.
"We know it’s cheeky, but we would be so grateful if anyone could donate. Even if it’s just pennies, every bit will help us.
"We are still gratefully accepting book donations. If you have any books you can donate we ask that you message us so we can arrange to collect them."
They continue: "As of now, we obviously have nowhere to store the books, so please bear with us as we try to make space in our houses for the donations.
"If there is anything else you can do to help, we ask that you get in touch. It doesn’t matter how big or small - we would just be grateful for anything right now."
North Wales Fire and Rescue Service fought the flames throughout Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
After extinguishing the blaze a spokesman for North Wales Fire and Rescue Service said: "At the height of the incident eight fire appliances were tackling the fire at the warehouse on the Spencer Industrial Estate in Drury near Buckley, which was affecting several storage units containing a large quantity of books."
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