The Communist Manifesto was first published today in 1848. That first printing was littered with errors and was quickly reprinted in April. Of the first issue only 19 complete copies are known to exist. Of the second issue, only 11. Here is the scan from Sotheby’s auction of the first issue.
Since 1976, a only two complete copies of the first issue have appeared for sale that I know of. One sold in 1976 and then again in 1979 and another in 2008 for €97,000 and then resold in 2022 for €360,000. The latter a victim of the sell everything panic that happened during the financial crisis. A copy of the second issue without its green cover sold in 1986 for $40,000 and I haven’t seen one since.
For comparison.
There are four original copies of the Magna Carta written in 1215. Another dozen or so exist from the 13th century. Harvard library has a copy of the Magna Carta from 1300AD they didn’t even know as real until a few years ago. There are as many copies of an 800 year old document written by hand as there are of something mass produced in the middle of the 19th century. Let that sink in.
There are thirteen original copies of The Constitution; a fresh new copy was just found a few years ago as well in a filing cabinet in North Carolina. There are ~50 copies of Guttenberg’s Bible, 29 of which are complete. In 1994, Bill Gates bought a complete copy at auction for $30M.
The first edition of Marx and Engel’s political treatise is so rare there are no copies in any major libraries. Governments around the world destroyed copies when they got their grubby hands on them.
And yet, it went on to become one of the most reproduced and important documents in human history.
In 2011, I purchased a first impression complete copy of The Hobbit with first state dust jacket for $11,500. A recent copy without the rare dust jacket just sold for $400k.
If any early issue of Communist Manifesto were to be found today and sent to auction I have no doubt it would make into the high seven or low eight figures. So be on the look out for the little green pamphlet that could.
As always, if you think there are spelling errors update your dictionary to the latest version. Happy speculation!
— AJ
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