Stmubling across a first-edition copy of Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road in ''pristine'' condition, tucked away in a bookshop in Austin, Texas, Bill Nye's heart started beating fast.
The owner of Oamaru bookshop Adventure Books had been in North America to attend his daughter's graduation from New York University, and spent the following three weeks ''book scouting'' in his home country.
It was in a bookshop in Austin that he stumbled across the first edition copy of On the Road, selling for just $US150.
Knowing he had found a rare and undervalued copy, his heart ''started beating fast''.
He grabbed the book and took it straight to the counter.
''I couldn't believe it,'' Mr Nye said.
Recently, first-edition hardback copies of On the Road in ''fine'' condition have been selling for between $US4500 and $US35,000 on the American Book Exchange website (www.abebooks.com).
A ''fine'' book approaches the condition of ''as new'', but without being crisp.
The book may have been opened and read, but there are no defects to the book, jacket or pages.
There was great excitement among staff at Adventure Books when the copy arrived in a shipment from the United States.
The copy of On the Road now sits in a shelf of first editions, which include Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea and A Moveable Feast, and Ian Fleming's Octopussy.
On the Road is based on the travels of writer Jack Kerouac and his friends across the US in a quest for self-knowledge and experience.
The book has inspired generations with Kerouac's spirit of wild explorations travelling American roads.
The first-edition copy of On the Road, published in 1957, is for sale in store, and advertised on the Adventure Books website, for $NZ7500.
Mr Nye said he had received several inquiries about the copy.
