A rare signed first edition of Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar will feature in a sale of rare books at Heritage Auctions in New York on April 2.
Bidding stands at $10,500, with the lot estimated to achieve in excess of $13,500.
 The Very Hungry Caterpillar is one of the most successful children's books of all time |
The classic children's book, famously a favourite of George W Bush, was first published in 1969 and has since sold over 125m copies in more than 55 languages.
Despite the book's enormous popularity, very few first editions have survived and even fewer of those still retain their original dust jackets, making this example particularly sought after.
Heritage states is has been unable to find any record of a signed first edition ever appearing at auction - making this copy even rarer.
A limited edition copy of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 (1953), bound in "an asbestos material with exceptional resistance to pyrolysis" is at $8,750.
The book is numbered 102 of an issue of 200 and has been signed by the author. It is expected to auction for $17,500.
Fahrenheit 451 famously depicts a dystopian future in which books are illegal and government agents burn any they find. The book was written as a response to the paranoia and anti-intellectualism of the McCarthy era.
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