Posted on Friday 27 June 2008
A rare first edition of ‘Emma’ sold for a record £180 000 in auction at Bonhams this week. The three-volume edition was estimated at around £70 000 but turned out to be the most profitable Jane Austen novel to be sold at auction yet.
The book was one of 12 copies that was sent to Austen’s friends and family, yet the seller stated that “The novel had been sitting in my family library for at least three generations, and it remains a mystery as to how it first got there.”