IF A stranger stops you in the street tomorrow and thrusts a book into your hands, don’t run away.

Readers across Oxfordshire will be giving away hundreds of free books to passers-by, as part of the first World Book Night.

Nationwide, a million books, worth a total of £8.4m, supplied free by publishers, are to be handed out by 20,000 book lovers, each of whom will distribute 48 copies of one of their favourite books.

In Oxford, retired modern languages teacher Arthur Miller, 71, will be handing out copies of Kate Atkinson’s detective novel Case Histories at Headington Library on Saturday morning, tying in the event with the campaign to keep the branch open in the face of Oxfordshire County Council cutbacks.

Mr Miller said: “There are at least 40 of us in Oxford giving away 48 books each.

“This is the very first time anything like this has been attempted, and they are already planning to do it again next year.”

He said: “The reason I wanted to take part in World Book Night was to draw attention to the campaign to keep Headington Library open, and underline the fact that it is still threatened with closure – which must not happen.

“It would be catastrophic if it were to close.”

The library is one of 20 across the county set to have its funding withdrawn as part of county council budget cuts.

It aims to save £2m a year from the library service budget.

More than 1,700 books are piled high in the storeroom of Blackwell’s in Broad Street, Oxford, ready to be collected by 37 Oxfordshire book lovers and handed out.

World Book Night organisers were unable to say where and when the books would be given away.

Blackwell’s spokesman Tom Griffiths said: “Blackwell’s is always proud to support any initiative which supports and encourages reading in general, and the sharing of great books in particular.

“This scheme shows real imagination and we hope that all the recipients of these books enjoy them and recommend them to their friends. “ Major publishing firms have signed up to the initiative, with some of their bestsellers among 25 titles that volunteers can choose to give away.

Among books to be handed out are Oxford authors Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights and Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.