The original sheet music for iconic Christmas song 'Jingle Bells' has sold at auction for £19,000, 165 years after the festive classic was written.
Written in 1857 by James Pierpoint, the song is actually an American classic about Thanksgiving and as such it used to have a very different title.
The eight page document was published in 1859, two years after its creator, James Pierpont, originally wrote it under the title 'The One Horse Open Sleigh'.
There was no mention of Christmas in it and it was written as a winter song associated with the practice of sleigh riding in north America.
But Pierpont then added a drawing of sleigh bells to the cover of the sheet music around the new title of 'Jingle Bells' and it then became more associated with Christmas time.
Thirty years later it was turned into a record and became the very first Christmas hit that remains one of the most famous today.
Only one other first edition copy of Jingle Bells exists and that is in a museum in New York.
The one that has now sold belonged to a private collector for decades and has now sold at Henry Aldridge & Son Auctioneers of Devizes, Wiltshire.
It had a pre-sale estimate of £8,000 but went under the hammer for £15,000. With fees added on the overall price paid by the winning bidder was £19,000.
It was bought by a Christmas museum based in South Korea.
Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said: "It is the song that everyone associates with Christmas and has done for over a century.
"It must be up there with Slade and Mariah Carey as the most played Christmas song today.
"This sheet music is at the genesis of the commercial behemoth that is Christmas, especially from a musical point of view.
"It is eight pages and apart from a small water stain it is in good condition which is quite remarkable considering it is over 160 years old."
The title that appears on the front cover of the music document is 'Jingle Bells or the One Horse Open Sleigh'.
It states the song and chorus was by J. Pierpont and that the sheet music was published by Oliver Ditson & Co of Boston, Massachusetts.
The year of 1859 can clearly be seen on the cover.
Jingle Bells was also the first Christmas song to be played in space.
In December 1965, astronauts in the Gemini VI spacecraft played a rendition of it on the radio to Mission Control.
