National Book Auctions' mid-April auction in New York State featured a wide assortment of collectible books and ephemera including a 1722 first printing of Daniel Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year, which sold for $2,520.

A 24-volume set of The Works of George Eliot also found favour with collectors and investors, achieving $1,560. Bound in marbled paper with three-quarter crimson leather, raised spine bands and bright gilt embossing, the antique set is the limited Arbury Edition, numbered 302 of 1,000.

A first printing of Defoe’s historical novel made $2,520

An impressive assortment of other decorative sets were featured at the five-hour auction including a 12-volume collection of Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote De la Mancha (1798) which realised $1,380 and included many engraved illustrations with tissue-paper guard sheets.

A single copy of Publius' The Federalist (1802) sold for $1,700 and was among numerous other important single books profiled at the event.