A NOVEL bought in a box of miscellaneous books for £14 in Lancashire has been sold by an auctioneer in the Cotswolds for £13,500.

The extremely rare first edition English copy of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment was sold for the eye-watering sum yesterday afternoon by Dominic Winter auctioneers in South Cerney.

The novel, which was first published in Russian in 1866, dates from 1886 and was sold with its unassuming red-lettered blue cloth binding in very good condition.

Auctioneer Chris Albury, who was at the rostrum for the sale, said: “I was very excited and will likely never see it again.

“It was very unassuming and could easily be overlooked.

“It was very exciting, we estimated it at £2-3,000 but I felt quietly confident with no copy since 1991 appearing at auction that this could be one that no-one would want to let go.

Despite a production of between 500-1,000 copies, fewer than 10 of the London published edition still exist in libraries around the world and the lot has only ever come up at auction twice.

The first was in the USA in 1935 and sold for $18 with the last one being sold for £1,000 in 1991.

Ten phone bidders were on the line to battle for the lot which Mr Albury said caused quite a hubbub among the 40-50 people in the auction room when the hammer fell.

Chris added: “It was in quite good condition and even if another one does turn up I don’t it would be in as good condition.

“It was very exciting and it’s always a privilege to handle and auction such historic rarities.”

The winning bidder lives in London but wished to remain anonymous.