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First Edition
Book collectors seek out first editions as they represent the original form in which a book was originally published.
Signed and inscribed copies are even more desirable, and the ‘dedication copy’ – the copy which is inscribed to the person to whom the author dedicated the book – is more sought after still.
![img_32-3.jpg](/media/48690/img_32-3.jpg?rxy=0.5670103092783505,0.29487179487179488&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=132173431190000000)
Harry Potter casts spell on bidders
04 November 2019Code locked in a briefcase for two decades, a finely preserved, 1997 first issue of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was finally released this summer after being delivered by its Lancashire owners into the hands of a Derbyshire saleroom.
![img_34-1.jpg](/media/48336/img_34-1.jpg?rxy=0.578,0.22857142857142856&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=132167344240000000)
Chelsea book fair previews – including Arthur Conan Doyle first edition
28 October 2019The ABA Chelsea Rare Book Fair is one of two major London events held annually by the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association.
![img_38-8.jpg](/media/48358/img_38-8.jpg?rxy=0.36622073578595316,0.28601252609603339&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=132167377710000000)
First issue of James Joyce’s 'Ulysses' in Chicago sale
28 October 2019Copy No 74 of the 100 signed, first issue copies of James Joyce’s 'Ulysses' is estimated at $120,000-180,000 in November 5 sale being held by Hindman of Chicago.
![img_38-4.jpg](/media/48354/img_38-4.jpg?rxy=0.48918469217970051,0.30153508771929827&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=132167369020000000)
Modern First Editions sale goes Greene
28 October 2019A sale of Modern First Editions at Bloomsbury Auctions on November 14 includes this ‘near mint’ 1950 copy of Graham Greene’s 'The Third Man and The Fallen Idol'.
![img_38-7.jpg](/media/48357/img_38-7.jpg?rxy=0.43162393162393164,0.21739130434782608&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=132167374640000000)
The Bentley story at Transport Collector Auctions
28 October 2019Estimated at £250-350 in a November 12 motoring and cycling sale being held by Transport Collector Auctions in conjunction with Lawrences, at the latter’s Crewkerne rooms, is a 1956 first of Darell Berthon’s Racing History of the Bentley.
Famed Manhattan collection yields second tempting selection of first editions in New York
14 October 2019Graham Greene was a star turn when a second portion of the famed ‘Mystery Fiction’ collections and stock of Otto Penzler, proprietor of Manhattan’s ‘Mysterious Bookshop’, came to auction in New York on September 5.
![img_48-5.jpg](/media/46887/img_48-5.jpg?rxy=0.36106489184692181,0.2738336713995943&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=132131030820000000)
Choice first edition of James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’ carries high hopes at Hindman Auctions
16 September 2019Hindman Auctions will be selling a Midwestern collector’s ensemble of rare books in an 85 lot auction in Chicago on November 5.
![img_22-3.jpg](/media/45053/img_22-3.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=132075064950000000)
Emmeline Pankhurst biography by her daughter sold at Forum Auctions
15 July 2019For three years now Forum Auctions (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) has, in addition to its high-profile auctions, been holding fortnightly, online-only timed sales that in their diverse content, it feels, act as a useful bellwether for the book world at large.
![20190508_083702 (1).jpg](/media/42542/20190508_083702-1.jpg?rxy=0.47833333333333333,0.16520650813516896&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=132018059220000000)
Shakespeare’s First Folio goes on display at London book fair
09 May 2019A rare near-complete copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio is included in a loan display at Firsts: London’s Rare Book Fair.
Signed Oscar Wilde first edition of 'The Importance of Being Earnest' makes £19,700... but inscribed copies can make more
19 April 2019Bid to £19,700 in a recent sale was one of 100 signed, large paper firsts of Oscar Wilde’s 'The Importance of Being Earnest' published by Leonard Smithers in 1899.
![img_30-1.jpg](/media/41615/img_30-1.jpg?rxy=0.25187969924812031,0.23846153846153847&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=131998063140000000)
Single-owner collection devoted to modern first editions includes 1937 copy of The Hobbit
15 April 2019Devoted wholly to modern firsts, a recent online sale presented the first selection of a single-owner collection – the second portion of which will be sold later in the year.
![Book 2.jpg](/media/40019/book-2.jpg?rxy=0.46666666666666667,0.23420647149460708&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=131965224880000000)
Ninety-two first edition Beatrix Potter books go up for auction at Ewbank’s
08 March 2019Ninety-two first edition copies of Beatrix Potter’s 1907 ‘The Tale of the Faithful Dove’ go under the hammer in Surrey this month.
First edition of a worldly work on offer in Essex
29 October 2018A handful of copies of Robert Morden’s 'Geography Rectified, or a Description of the World' have made a little more at auction than a 1680 copy offered in a Stacey’s (24% buyer’s premium) sale of September 10 – but all bar one of them were second or third editions of 1688 and 1693.
![The Wealth of Nations](/media/33730/wealth-of-nations-2361nedi.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=131822630110000000)
Auction of Staffordshire manor house contents unearths first edition copy of Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations
24 September 2018A first edition copy of Adam Smith’s 'The Wealth of Nations' has been unearthed during final preparations for the sale of the contents of a Staffordshire manor house.
Prince Harry buys first edition Winnie the Pooh christening gift from book dealer
10 July 2018Prince Harry has bought a first edition Winnie the Pooh from antiquarian book dealer Peter Harrington for his nephew Louis.
![img_25-3.jpg](/media/29364/img_25-3.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=131719877910000000)
Postal worker delivers top sums
28 May 2018Science fiction and fantasy were among the lifelong principal collecting interests of the late Stanley Simon, a postal worker from Queens. In a recent 19th and 20th century literature sale held in his home city of New York a number of his books brought record bids.
![DK](/media/27817/wwwpeterharringtoncouk-120703_2_marx.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=131691440570000000)
First edition of Karl Marx’s ‘Das Kapital’ available to the masses – for £100,000
26 April 2018What would Karl Marx (1818-83) have made of the fact that Das Kapital, his foundational text on capitalism, is on the market for a six-figure price?
![Bell Jar](/media/24126/plaths-bell-jar-1st-ed-62.jpg?rxy=0.52333333333333332,0.37708333333333333&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=131614465830000000)
Sylvia Plath’s personal copy of ‘The Bell Jar’ comes to auction at Bonhams
29 January 2018A sketch, family books and other personal effects of poet Sylvia Plath are to be offered at auction this spring.
![img_8-1.jpg](/media/23332/img_8-1.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=131593610680000000)
Pick of the Week: Orwell classic hammered down and out of saleroom at £46,000
02 January 2018Complete with slightly frayed and browned but rarely seen jacket, a 1933 copy of George Orwell’s 'Down and Out in Paris and London' was bid to £46,000 by James Hall of Lucius Books in York at a Dominic Winter sale.
![Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone first edition](/media/22132/harry-potter-bonhams-auction-2319aweb-23-11-17.jpg?rxy=0.23333333333333334,0.516260162601626&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=131558408270000000)
First edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone inscribed by JK Rowling sets £85,000 auction record
23 November 2017Probably best kept out of the hands of children unless, like the member of Bonhams' staff seen here, they are wearing white gloves, inscribed firsts of ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone’ are getting seriously expensive.
![the saleroom](/images/Top-Banner-300-x-93px_v2.jpg)
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