Signed Mein Kampf edition sold

Interest in Nazi memorabilia has not abated since the 1940s

A signed first edition of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf has been sold for £23,800 at an auction in London.

The book, which was sold to an anonymous buyer at Bloomsbury Auctions, was expected to fetch up to £25,000.

It was sold on behalf of a collector and was part of a lot of signed postcards and other stationery from high-ranking Nazis.

The work - which translates as My Struggle - became the bible of National Socialism in Hitler's Third Reich.

Two volumes

Originally called Four Years of Struggle against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice, it was first published in two volumes.

The book, which was auctioned on Wednesday, is the first volume, written when Hitler was in Landsberg prison after the abortive Beer Hall Putsch of 1923.

The work was dictated to Rudolf Hess, also imprisoned for his part in the putsch, who later became Hitler's deputy.

About 500 copies of the autobiography and political manifesto were originally printed.

The second volume was written shortly after Hitler's release.

School textbook

By 1939 Mein Kampf had sold 5,200,000 copies and had been translated into 11 languages.

It was provided as a school textbook after Hitler came to power in 1933 and was given to all German newlyweds.

It still cannot be sold in some countries - notably Germany.

A signed postcard showing Hitler and the then UK Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain at Bad Godesberg, Germany, in September 1938, was also sold.

That meeting ended in disagreement and a four-power conference, suggested by Mussolini, was later held in Munich.

Interest in Nazi memorabilia has remained strong since the collapse of the regime 60 years ago.