GUEST: This is a book that was given to me and my wife by my sister-in-law who passed away five years ago.

About 20 years ago, she purchased those books from an antique book seller in Los Angeles.

The book is by Radclyffe Hall, a British author, which originally was written in 1928 and is the story of two ladies, is a lesbian novel.

APPRAISER: It's a landmark book in gay and lesbian modern literature of the 20th century.

Yes.

It was a sensation at the time, and still today, it's read and discussed.

It's an important part of the canon, we say... GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER:...of gay and lesbian literature.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: It has a really interesting publishing history.

The author, Radclyffe Hall, was already a famous novelist when she decided to write this book.

GUEST: Yes.

took it to her British publisher.

GUEST: Yes.

he thought that the subject matter probably would be controversial.

But he decided he was going to go ahead and publish it anyway.

He brought it out in a very small limitation.

It had a reasonably positive response.

But there was one newspaper publisher who just really took a dislike to the book, who thought it was obscene, who mounted a really strong negative campaign and really kind of demanded that it be declared obscene and be censored.

And the British courts declared that it was obscene and that it was removed from circulation in the U.K.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: What do you think happened when American publishers heard that?

GUEST: Of course.

APPRAISER: There was a bidding war.

GUEST: A bidding war, yeah.

APPRAISER: (laughs): For the publishing rights.

So it came to America, where it was less likely to be the subject of an obscenity trial, but nonetheless, because of the subject matter, because it's about lesbian relationships, it did go to trial.

The U.S.

courts did not declare it as obscene.

They declared that it was, in fact, fine literature.

It was adult subject matter, but it was nothing that needed to be removed from circulation.

That was good news for the publisher... GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: ...the American publisher, which is a company called Covici-Friede.

And to celebrate, they produced this, what they called the Victory Edition.

It's in two volumes instead of one.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: It comes in a slipcase.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: It is signed by the author.

And I'll show you the title page, which has a portrait of the author.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: And she was sort of famous for her style.

She wore her hair very short... It's wonderful, yes.

...and often wore suits and ties.

Here's the New York, the 1929 publication page.

The next page is the author's signature, and the very next page is the limitation page, and you have copy number 43 of the 225.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: And your slipcase also has the number 43 handwritten on the, on the spine.

GUEST: It says on there, yes.

APPRAISER: I always tell people that it's very important to collect the edition that's in the country of origin.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: So for an English author, you want the English edition.

But in this instance, the U.K.

edition is a collectible book, but the book itself is very plain-- it has a very plain dust wrapper.

And this is a much more deluxe edition.

It has a beauty to it that the earlier one doesn't have, and, and it's rarer.

GUEST: Amazing.

APPRAISER: So of the two, this is actually the more desirable and more valuable edition.

The 1928 U.K.

one sells at auction for between $200 and $400.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: This one sells at auction for $1,000 to $1,500.

GUEST: Wow.

That's wonderful.

APPRAISER: Do you have any idea how much your sister paid for the book?

GUEST: Yes, I think she paid $700 to $800, yes.