Signed copy of Marx's Das Kapital to fetch up to £120,000 at auction

Rare presentation copy kept within family of ally Johann Georg Eccarius since 1867, despite souring of friendship

A first edition of Das Kapital, inscribed by Karl Marx to the man he once described as one of “my oldest friends and adherents”, and after the friendship had soured as “a scoundrel pure and simple”, is coming up for auction, with an estimated price tag of up to £120,000.

The first volume was the only one published in Marx’s lifetime – in German – and presentation copies are very rare. Marx signed and dated the book on 18 September 1867, just four days after publication of the landmark work in leftwing ideology. He inscribed it to his friend Johann Georg Eccarius, a German tailor and member, like Marx and Frederick Engels, of the League of the Just, which would evolve into the Communist League.

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