Friday, Christie's auction house in New York is selling a rare first edition of Edgar Allan Poe's first book: "Tamerlane." It's of only 12 known copies, and is expected to fetch $500,000 to $700,000.

The book was published in Boston in the summer of 1827, when Poe was 18, and only 50 copies likely were printed, according to the Christie's catalog. It was published anonymously, with the authorship attributed to "A Bostonian." Here's how the catalog explains it: "Poe may have chosen not to give his name so that his foster-father John Allan would not know where he was. His choice to embrace his Bostonian heritage may have been an attempt to distance himself from the Allan family in Richmond."

You can read more about the book at the Poe Society of Baltimore. And even if you can't spring for "Tamerlane," you can read the poem. (You can also browse the Christie's catalog for other interesting Poe items -- and dream.)