Is There a $100,000 Book on Your Shelf?

Is There a $100,000 Book on Your Shelf?

via Luxist by Annie Scott on 11/24/09

One lucky British family happened to see a photo of the spine of a first edition of "On the Origin of Species" by Charles Darwin. Don't we have that at home?, they thought.
They did. According to Reuters, the book was purchased for "a few shillings" in the 60s or 70s and has been sitting on the shelf, undiscovered, until now. Tuesday marks the edition's 150 year anniversary, and it will be auctioned off at Christie's. It is estimated that the book is worth £40,000 - £60,000 ($66,000 - $100,000).
If you've got a first edition or a very old book on your shelf, if might be worth searching it on abebooks.com and alibris.com to see if it's commanding a high price. The price of your book will be affected by the rarity of the edition, condition, and things like typos or signatures. Empty Mirror Books offers more insight here.
[via Reuters]