Joyce's Dubliners first edition makes $141,500 at Sotheby's

A fine first edition of James Joyce's Dubliners has sold as top lot in Sotheby's auction of The Library of an English Bibliophile, this afternoon in London.

Dubliners Joyce first edition
This copy of Dubliners was previously held in the collection of noted bibliophile H Bradley Martin


The book was once part of the famed collection of bibliophile H Bradley Martin, which was first offered by Sotheby's in 1988. Bearing his bookplate, it sold for £86,500 ($141,585).

Only six copies of Joyce's collection of short stories have appeared at auction in the past 30 years. Originally published in 1914, the book provides a reflection on Irish middle-class life at the turn of the century.

Also selling was a first edition of Joyce's Ulysses, his most celebrated work, which made £31,250 ($51,150).

A three-volume first edition set of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre sold with a 34.3% increase on estimate to realise £53,750 ($87,979). Like Joyce, Bronte is a highly collectible writer, with a miniature manuscript written by her selling for $1m in 2011.

Making a surprise appearance in the top sales of the auction was one of only 600 first edition copies of Dr Sigmund Freud's Die Traumdeutung (The Interpretation of Dreams), written in German, which made £27,500 ($45,000).

First published in 1899 (though post-dated to 1900), the book sold very slowly and a second edition was not made available until almost a decade later. Today, the work is one of the best-known psychoanalytical books.

The sale is followed today by Sotheby's English Literature auction, which we will be bringing you the results of right here. Meanwhile, take a look at our spectacular collection of rare books and manuscripts for sale.

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