First edition of The Road to Wigan Pier – £4500 at Bonhams.
Much the largest of them was that issued for the Left Book Club, whose 44,150 copies came in a limp orange cloth binding and were priced a 2/6d, or half a crown.
The illustrated public edition, issued by Gollancz in their trademark yellow, black and red typographic jackets, numbered just 2150 copies and was considerably more expensive at 10/6d.
Sent to auction by a resident of Wigan, the copy of the Gollancz edition shown here sold for £4500 at Bonhams (27.5/25/20/13.9% buyer’s premium) on March 27.
Only two copies have made more at auction: copies sold at £9000 apiece by Gorringe’s of Lewes, in 2010, and at Sotheby’s in 2017.
