A RARE, signed, first edition copy of Lost Horizon by Oscar-winning Leigh-born writer James Hilton has been sold for 4,200 dollars, or £2,320, at Christie's in New York.

Hilton who was born in a terraced house at Wilkinson Street, Leigh, on September 9, 1900, is the author who introduced the word "Shangri-La" to the English language in his classic utopian novel Lost Horizon published in 1933. The book was inspired by the real life story of mountaineer George Leigh Mallory who died on Everest.

The copy auctioned at the Rockefeller Plaza on Wednesday, was given to someone called H B Smith by the author and signed "H B Smith, sincerely James Hilton."

It was part of a collection being sold by millionaire businessman Donald Drapkin. The book was later made into a Hollywood film about a plane which crashes and its passengers find themselves in an imaginary paradise in Tibet called Shangri-La.

Hilton wrote 22 novels, including Goodbye Mr Chips which also became a hit film.

He died aged 54 in California in 1954.