A rare first edition of F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby was among the highlights of a remarkable array of literary classics, several first editions among them, to cross the auction block at Lyon & Turnbull on May 14 and 15.
The book, which has recently been the subject of a film adaptation starring Leonardo DiCaprio, made £1,875 ($2,851) in the Edinburgh sale - more than doubling its £700 estimate.
A first edition of James Joyce's modernist masterpiece Ulysses sold for £4,400 ($6,684).
 Interest in the novel is at an all time high as Baz Luhrmann's film adaptation hits cinemas |
A lot comprising a first edition of Charles Dickens' popular children's classic A Christmas Carol, as well as seldom seen editions of Kenneth Graham's Wind in the Willows and Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited also sold, bringing £2,700 ($4,097).
The impressive collection was assembled by the late Bruce Ritchie - an English teacher at Merchant Taylor's independent school in London.
Lyon & Turnbull's John Sibbald commented before the sale: "It is astonishing that a private collector could assemble this kind of collection, particularly relying chiefly on a school teacher's salary."
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