About $6,500, apparently. This from the Chicago Tribune:
A box of old books donated to the Batavia Public Library contained a gem–a rare, first-edition copy of Ayn Rand’s 1957 novel “Atlas Shrugged.”
The Friends of the Batavia Public Library must now decide how to spend the $6,500 that the autographed copy brought at an online auction.
Bidding started at $3,500 and was over in about 45 seconds, said Jo Ann Smith, a volunteer with the library group who watched the Web auction Thursday. PBA Galleries, a San Francisco auction house, handled the sale and will keep 15 percent of the sale price.
The group will take a few months to decide how to spend the proceeds, Smith said.
“We don’t have any immediate plans, but we would like to take this nice, big chunk of money and buy one big thing,” she said.
Two years ago, the group began setting aside donated books that looked valuable. One member came across the book by Rand, a Russian-born author, in an anonymous box of donations.