Lost Treasure of Literature Expected to Fetch Over £400,000 Discovered in Family Library After 50 Years

Lost Treasure of Literature Expected to Fetch Over £400,000 Discovered in Family Library After 50 Years PR Newswire LONDON, September 6, 2012 LONDON, September 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Peter Harrington to unveil Lord Byron's personal copy of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein to the public before it goes on sale Renowned rare bookseller Peter Harrington is to present to the public the unique first edition presentation copy of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818), given by her to Lord Byron, with her autograph inscription on the front flyleaf. This copy of the best known fiction of the Romantic era had lain untouched for more than 50 years in the library of the late Douglas, Lord Jay, economist, Labour politician, and president of the Board of Trade under Harold Wilson. His grandson and keen bibliophile, Sammy, was sorting through his political papers for the archives of the Bodleian Library in Oxford, when he made the discovery. Sammy Jay, 23, says: "I saw the book lying at an angle in the corner of the top shelf. On opening it, I saw the title page, recognised what it was at once and leafed hungrily through the text - it was only when I flicked idly back to the first blank that I saw the inscription in cursive black ink, "To Lord Byron, from the author".