London - A first edition of Charles Darwin's groundbreaking work On the Origin of Species was sold for more than 100,000 pounds (165,800 dollars) at auction Tuesday after languishing on a lavatory bookshelf for 50 years. Christie's auction house in London said the book, which had been estimated to sell for a maximum of 60,000 pounds, had been bought for a few shillings in a shop in western Britain about 50 years ago.
It had since been kept on a bookcase in the guest lavatory at the buyer's house near Oxford until their son-in-law realized that it was something special.
The book was snapped up by an anonymous telephone bidder for 103,250 pounds.
The work, which has the full title On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, has the original publisher's green cloth, with a gilt-decorated spine.
It was auctioned 150 years to the day after the seminal work was first published on November 24, 1859.
Darwin, who lived from 1809-1882, is best known for his theory of evolution, which states that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors.
