Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- A 1925 copy of ``Mein Kampf'' signed by Adolf Hitler sold for $18,000 at a New York auction today.

The telephone bidder paid 50 percent more than the presale estimate of $12,000. The buyer is ``a noted East Coast collector,'' according to Levi Morgan, a spokesman for auction house Bonhams & Butterfields. The sale price includes a buyer's premium of 20 percent.

Hitler's volume comes from the first edition of 500 copies. It's inscribed to Major Schueler van Kriken and is dated Dec. 10, 1925. The catalog doesn't disclose who consigned the book, Morgan said.

A first edition of the official publication of Israel's Declaration of Independence, in Hebrew, sold for $5,100, below its $8,000 high estimate.

The top lot was an 1818 copy of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, which sold for $60,000, five times its presale high estimate. According to the catalog, it's the first decorative print of the manuscript. It's by Benjamin Owen Tyler, a penmanship professor in Washington.

In contrast, a 1685 volume of ``Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies'' -- with estimates of $25,000 to $35,000 -- failed to sell.

John James Audubon's illustrated, seven-volume ``The Birds of America'' fetched $42,000, missing the $50,000 high estimate. It was published between 1840 and 1844, with 500 hand-colored lithographic plates and illustrations that include birds of prey and more innocent chirpers.

To contact the reporter on this story: Philip Boroff in New York at pboroff@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 4, 2007 18:32 EST