£75,900 to be precise - which was more than double its estimate!
It was the most expensive book to be sold by Keys, the Norfolk auctioneers. The book in question was 'Life and Landscape on the Norfolk Broads' which contained 40 platinum prints of photographs taken by Cuban-born, Peter Henry Emerson. Just 25 copies of a deluxe version of the book were printed in 1886 with a further 175 copies of a standard edition, including the one sold yesterday. Many have since been broken up and the photograph pages sold separately.
Competition in the sales room yesterday afternoon had been fierce, with five live phone bidders, two private bidders in the room, and a Canadian bidding live on the internet. It was finally snapped up by someone in the London book trade who did not show their interest until the bidding had reached about £62,000, according to Andrew Bullock head of auctioneer Keys’ book department. The previous highest price paid for a copy was $70,000 in America a few years ago, then equivalent to about £52,000. The vendor brought in the book, which had belonged to her father, unaware of its value.
You can read the full report here.
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