Picked up an old book at a car-boot sale? You might want to hang onto it...
A collection of rare, first-edition books is going on sale for £1m. Private collector and former journalist Clive Hirschhorn started collecting first editions in the mid-80s after reading an article about their value on a bus journey.
A first edition of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird was purchased by Hirschhorn for £120 and is now valued at £12,000, while his most expensive book is a first edition of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (bought for £1,500 in 1987), now expected to fetch £75,000 to £100,000 at auction.
Casino Royale - thanks to Bond-mania with the 50th anniversary - is hoped to get £10,000 to £15,000, while Brighton Rock by Graham Green is estimated to receive £60,000.
"The condition of the dust jacket is everything. I never read any of the first editions. If I wanted to, I would buy a paperback," retired Hirschhorn told his former employers, The Sunday Express.
If you fancy starting your own collection, Hirschhorn advises that "any mark or tear would take hundreds or thousands off the value." So no reading these in the bath then...
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