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Jane Austen circa 1790
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At an auction in the British city of Cirencester, five first editions by British author Jane Austen sold for a total of more than £181,000 (the equivalent of 207,000 euros).
The most sought-after was apparently a copy of the 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice, sold for £92,000 (more than €100,000), according to auction house Dominic Winter Auctions.
The first edition of the book was just 1500 copies.
The rarest of the books on offer was Sense and Sensibility, of which fewer than a thousand copies were printed when it was first published anonymously in 1811.
It fetched the second-highest bid at £62,000, while Emma, published in 1816, sold for £12,800 (around €15,000).
"Mansfield Park" fetched £8,400 ($12,000) and "Northanger Abbey and Persuasion" fetched £6,400 ($7,000).
All five books were owned by the daughter of a UK private collector who bought the pieces in the 1970s and 1980s for £5,000 at the time.
A spokesman for the auction house was "absolutely thrilled" by the amount achieved.
"It could be a while before we see such good copies of 'Sense and Sensibility' and 'Pride and Prejudice' again.
So these books will be remembered for a long time.«
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