Staff and pupils at Leighton Park School are marking their 125th anniversary by starting a book-crossing project which will see a title from each year the school has run left in a public space to be shared.

Starting in 1890 with The Picture of Dorian Grey by Reading Gaol’s most famous inmate, Oscar Wilde, the whole collection of titles will be spread around libraries and public spaces for anyone to read and pass on.

Books have already been dropped off at the RBH, Reading station and Green Park and as other titles get spread further afield in Arborfield, London and even San Francisco, pupils hope to track their progress online.

Chris Routh, librarian, said: “This book-crossing is celebrating 125 years of reading and we hope that it might fuel the imagination of other people. We’re leaving some books in places where they might just stay and be re-read by others — for example a doctor’s surgery or a hairdresser’s. But it would be really exciting if some of the other books travelled around and we were able to see where they were going and who was enjoying them.”

Instructions inside each book will explain the aim of the project and residents can see how far they get on Twitter using the hashtag #bookcrossing