A first edition of Emma sold at auction for a lot of money. I can't read stories like this any more without remembering that whole Mark Hofmann thing. The crazy Mormon forgerer who basically defrauded the Morman church and a shit-ton of auction houses/experts. Oh, and then killed some people and almost got blown up himself trying to cover up all his forgeries. Awesome.Anyway, turns out that auction houses can totally be shady and don't really "verify" stuff as well as they should, and don't really guarantee that the stuff they sell is legit - just that they think it is. Which is totally ridiculous. Not that I'm doubting that this 180,000 pound (was is the exchange rate now? that's probably like a million american dollars. we should just start burning our money or using it as wallpaper. christ) sale was not legit. It just reminds me of that story. I'm not really sure where I was going with that. Ah, well. Point is, it was the highest price ever paid for an Austen novel so "anonymous" must be a big fan. I wonder if he or she would pay me for my early edition VHS tape of Clueless. Maybe if I could get it signed by Alicia Silverstone or something.
Seriously, though. If you had 180,000 pounds, would you really spend it on a really old book? 'Cause I think I would spend it on something shiny and new that doesn't smell like mold. Just saying.
--Ladytron
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