A rare first edition of James Joyce's Ulysses is expected to attract strong interest from Irish and international buyers when it goes for auction at Sotheby's in London this morning with a guide price of up to €50,000.
It is anticipated that it may achieve a price significantly above this figure.
A spokesman for Sotheby's said that a less rare first edition of the book sold for approximately €95,000 last December - more than twice its guide price of between €29,000 to €43,000.
A total of 750 copies of this book were printed.
But the book coming to auction later today is one of 150 copies of the "large-paper" issues of the book. This is of a slightly bigger size than other first editions.
The book, which is understood to have been part of a private collection, has been given a catalogue guide price of between €36,000 to €50,500 by Sotheby's. All figures are approximate and have been converted from sterling to euro.
The spokesman refused to comment on the level of interest from prospective buyers of the book. But it is expected to attract strong interest from both Irish and international collectors.
Two other English-language first editions of the book are also up for auction later today, priced at between €11,500 and €26,000.
In addition, several less rare and foreign-language versions of the book are coming under the hammer.
A spokeswoman for the National Library of Ireland was unavailable to comment yesterday on whether it plans to place a bid at today's auction.
The National Library already has a number of first editions of Ulysses.