The first-edition copy of ”Tamerlane and Other Poems,” only the 12th known copy of Poe’s first book published in 1827, was sold at Sotheby’s auction house to a rare book dealer for less than expected.
Even so, the Massachusetts seller was ‘extremely happy,” Sotheby’s Vice President David Redden said. ”He’s still in, I think, a sort of dream world over the whole business.”
The seller, who demanded anonymity said he found the book in an antique barn in southern New Hampshire. The barn was not identified.
Poe, who paid to have the book published by an obscure Boston publisher, went on to write such classic poems and stories of horror and romance as ”Annabel Lee,” ”The Raven,” and ”The Tell-tale Heart.”
Poe didn’t put his name on it! Instead, the by-line reads only “By a Bostonian,” so many less experienced collectors don’t recognize the work’s value. But a copy recently sold for $198,000. a Massachusetts man picked up for $15 in a New Hampshire barn was auctioned for $198,000, putting the seller in a ”dream world,” an auction house official said.
http://www.ilab.org/eng/documentation/594-the_most_elusive_of_rare_books.html
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