TV PRESENTER Selina Scott is attempting to raise £30,000 to buy a copy of a Dickens novel with a direct link to a North Yorkshire town.

The 1844 copy of A Christmas Carol is signed by Charles Dickens for the widow of his close friend and Malton solicitor, Charles Smithson. The solicitor’s office, in Chancery Lane, is said to be the inspiration for Scrooge’s counting house and other locations in Malton are also in the book.

There is anecdotal evidence that various Dickens characters were based on residents in the area, and that Mr Spenlow, in David Copperfield, was based on the North Yorkshire solicitor.

The book is coming up for auction at Doyle Auction House, in New York, on November 5.

Now Miss Scott, who lives on a farm near Malton, has teamed up with Simon Howard, the owner of Castle Howard, in a bid to raise the funds and return the book to its spiritual home before it ends up into the hands of a private collector.

The auction house’s website describes the lot’s link with Malton and how Dickens attended the funeral of his friend at Malton Abbey on April 5, 1844, when his friend died aged 39.

Miss Scott said the book would act as a centrepeice for the regeneration of Malton and called on Ryedale District Council to provide the cash.