STAFF from Blackwell's rare books department were kept busy by bibliophiles at the Oxford Book Fair.

About 100 dealers from across the country attended the annual event at Oxford Brookes University's Wheatley Campus, with some items costing thousands of pounds.

Signed first editions of Inspector Morse books by Colin Dexter were among thousands of rare and collectable items for sale at the weekend at this year's fair.

Mr Dexter, who wrote 13 novels, died last month aged 86 and was well known for signing copies of his novels for fans and friends.

Sian Wainwright, who works at Blackwell's rare books department in Broad Street, said their signed first edition of Last Bus to Woodstock, the author's first novel from 1975, was up for grabs for £1,000 but remained unsold.

But a 1922 first edition of The Heart of Arabia by Harry St John Philby, published by Constable, in which he follows in the footsteps of Lawrence of Arabia, sold for £700.

Ms Wainwright added: "It was extremely busy on Saturday but not quite so busy on Sunday.

"There is a lot of interest in Colin Dexter's novels at the moment and we still have some other signed Dexter novels which are cheaper as they are not first editions.

"We also have a 191-volume set of the author's work in translated editions which came from Mr Dexter himself and is for sale for £8,000.

"There are novels in Portuguese, Dutch, Chinese, Czech, Russian and Romanian - it shows how popular he was worldwide.

"The set could go to a specialist collector or an institution.

"There are still plenty of opportunities for collectors to buy Colin Dexter's books."

Also on sale at the fair were railway posters of an Oxford college and the High Street dating back to the 1930s and 1950s, costing £2,500 and £1,500.

Mr Lintern-Mole, who studied history at Brasenose College from 2005 to 2008, has run the fair for the past three years.

He said the dealers liked the fair's new location at the Wheatley campus as there was plenty of free parking and was easy to access from the M40.

The fair, which switched to Oxford Brookes Wheatley campus two years ago from the university's main hall in Headington, is run by the Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association.

Donna Borg, of the PBFA, said: "The Oxford fair is one of our premier book fairs in the UK and has been running for many years."