A SEMINAL work, described as important as Darwin's Origin of the Species, broke records at a Cotswolds auction.

The battered and dusty first edition of Malthus's Essay on the Principle of Population from 1798 was discovered in a pile of books at Dominic Winter's rare book auction this week in South Cerney.

The previous record for a first edition of the title stood at £50,400, achieved at Christie's in New York in 2008.

Auctioneer Chris Albury brought the hammer down after a frenzy of bidding saw a final bid of £61,100 from antiquarian book firm Bernard Quaritch in London.

Mr Albury said the book was among the "top ten academic rare book classics published in the last 250 years".

"Selling a seminal book like this is a very special event and had me trembling when I first discovered it among a pile of dusty books," he said.

"We've had second and later editions of this classic many times over the past twenty years but never a first edition".

Mr Albury said despite a slightly battered condition, the rarity had bidders in frenzy.

"It was a titanic battle between phone, commission and room bidders across three continents – Europe, North America and Asia," he added.

"It's always a thrill to auction a humble text book whose value is based on its rarity, intellectual content and worldwide influence.

"Malthus's Essay on the Principle of Population ranks in the top ten academic rare book classics published in the last 250 years.

"It sits in the same elite group as Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations (1776), the ideas of which Malthus took issue with, and Charles Darwin's Origin of Species (1859), which in turn drew inspiration from Malthus's philosophical thinking.

"While first editions of Smith and Darwin's iconic works come on the auction market every year, you may have to wait five years for the next copy of this anonymous work making bidding interest even more intense.

"We're used to so many of our highest price books being because of the fine printing and hand-coloured illustrations that it's always a thrill to auction a humble text book whose value is based on its rarity, intellectual content and worldwide influence.

"Malthus's fears for uncontrollable world population growth and our eventual inability to feed ourselves preoccupies us today with commentators continually rewinding their arguments back to those set forth in Malthus's influential super-classic."