Found myself in a hell of a lather today down at Bonhams, as I witnessed the auction of the first printed version of A Study in Scarlet, featuring the first appearance of Conan Doyle's famous tec Sherlock Holmes.
The story was discovered by a volunteer working in the Oxfam bookshop in Harrogate, near Betty's tea rooms.
The tasty find fetched £15,500 for the charity, and I sat spellbound at the auction house in Park End Street, Oxford, as the bidding escalated way beyond the reserve price of £9,000.
The book, a Beeton's Christmas annual, was sold to an anonymous collector who told me afterwards that it was at the top of his "wants list".
The Northerner had been collecting Doyle for 30 years and never thought he would get his hands on this elusive tome.
I was delighted to hear that he still reads the collectable books he buys from time to time, because otherwise it would be a real waste.
I was quite overwhelmed to be surrounded by so many fine books, and a first edition of HG Wells's The Invisible Man really caught my eye but it was rather out of my price range, fetching £1,300.
Watching these bookdealers bidding big sums for old books whetted my appetite, so I hotfooted it to Oxfam in Turl Street, where I picked up a small leatherbound edition of The Roadmender by Michael Fairless.
There was no date on the Collins' Clear Type-Press copy, but a quick scan of Abebooks, and the slightly foxed appearance, led me to believe the pocket-sized volume dates back to 1935 - but I could be wrong.
A 1961 Penguin paperback copy of The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes from Arcadia set me back £1.50. Perhaps I will enjoy it just as much as the mysterious man from the north of England who splashed out a record £15,500.