Today's English Literature, History, and Children's Books & Illustrations at Sotheby's London made a total of £821,813, with 131 of 247 lots selling. Fittingly, on Jane Austen's 325th birthday, the Maria Edgeworth presentation copy of Emma (1816) was the top seller, at £79,250. The second copy of Emma, with the ownership inscription of Austen's friend Martha Lloyd, made £37,250. The presentation copies to Walter Savage Landor of the first book editions of Dickens' Pickwick Papers
and Nicholas Nickleby each made £67,250.
Most of the other notable lots failed to sell.
