With the dismal return on one's investments these days, one might as well liquidate one's assets, including one's house and car, and purchase the first edition of
Pride and Prejudice for a mere £100,000 at
Sotheby's on October 28.
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| Pride and Prejudice, 1813, original 3-volume edition |
I know these three original volumes don't look pretty, but you can't go wrong with this investment. According to Sotheby's catalog description, "First edition, the Hogan-Doheny copy, of the author's most enduringly popular novel, extremely rare in the original boards. Since 1975 only this and one other copy intact in the original boards has been sold at auction." Jane's book has sold over 20 million copies worldwide and the her popularity doesn't seem to wane.
Pride and Prejudice is just one of five Jane Austen first editions being sold at the same auction and it is thought all five could sell for up to £220,000- the cost of a Hampshire house.
Other books in the sale are Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. - Hampshire.net
4 comments:
goodness, why are people selling these treasures!
Unfortunately they are seen as an investment.
Incredible books. To own one and read a first edition would be amazing. Who owned it? Who handled it? I wonder if there are any annotations or autographs inside. Somebody's thoughts and reactions when it was first bought.
Sorry, Vic I didn't read your article fully before commenting. £220,000 for a Hampshire house!!!!!!!That is very cheap. An average sized house is £400,000. You'd probably get a four or five bedroomed house in a nice lower middle class area for £500,000. House prices are dropping but not that much.The South and South East of England, Sussex, Kent, Surrey, Hampshire etc are the most expensive areas for housing in the country. I can't envisage my own children affording housing in the south. They might have to move north to Liverpool and Manchester and Birmingham perhaps, for cheaper housing.
House prices are a big issue here.
PS Now if you regard yourself as upper middle class, lawyer, doctor etc you might be thinking about £1000,000 for a home or more.
Ah, Tony, I was merely quoting the UK reporter. Lauren, I would be so nervous owning such a rare edition, that I would keep the book in a safe vault. Now what good would that do? I hope someone for whom this sum is chump change purchases it and gives it to an institution.
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