30000 pounds for rare copy of Mein Kampf signed by Hitler

The ''rarest ever'' edition of Mein Kampf signed by Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler and featuring vellum bindings and gold lettering on the titles, could fetch up to 30000 in an auction.

The book is one of the 20 limited edition copies that were produced out of the 500 that were originally printed and combines elements of autobiography and Hitler''s political ideology.

The book, dated Christmas Eve 1925 was donated to the Shropshire auctioneers by a collector from Australia and is expected to fetch upto 30000 pounds when it is put up to be auctioned April 19 in the historical documents lot.

The book, dedicated to Hermann Esser, who was one of the founders of the Nazi party and also in prison for his part in the Munich Beer Hall Putsch in 1923, is numbered 19, out of the 20 that have been signed by Hitler.

''This is probably the rarest ever edition of Mein Kampf ever to be offered at auction. It is one of 20 - you can''t get much rarer than that.,"u00a0 Richard Westwood Brookes, an expert with the Mullocks auctioneers, was quoted as saying.

A first edition of the book which the Nazi dictator wrote while he was in Landsberg prison in Germany in 1925, is going for auction later this month and is anticipated to create a bidding war, The Daily Mail reports.

Unsigned copies of the 1925 edition make thousands of pounds in their own right as they are so rare but this copy is one of a very small group within the 500 that were produced.

Mein Kampf is a very well known book and millions of copies are still sold around the world. Hundreds of editions were printed in different languages.

Hitler is thought to have died in 1945, which means the book is still under copyright until 2015.