First edition copy of Marquez masterpiece stolen

A copy of the first edition of "One Hundred Years of Solitude", with a dedication by its Nobel prize-winning writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, was stolen from the Macondo pavilion at the International Book Fair in Colombia's capital Bogota, the event's organisers confirmed.

The theft was detected Saturday night, a source close to the Colombian Book Chamber told Spanish news agency Efe on Sunday.

The stolen copy belongs to bookseller Alvaro Castillo who had lent it to the book fair, dedicated to Marquez's imaginary village of Macondo.

The fair is scheduled to end on Monday.

"Unfortunately we have to confirm the theft," said the source.

Subsequently, the Corferias exhibition pavilion and the Colombian Book Chamber also made a statement "regretting the incident that happened inside the pavilion of Macondo".

"One Hundred Years of Solitude" was first published in 1967 by Editorial Sudamericana of Buenos Aires and since then became a phenomenon in world literature.

According to the statement, the stolen copy is one of the 8,000 books printed by the Editorial 48 years ago.

"Corferias, the Colombian Chamber of Books, and Bogota Metropolitan Police have fully cooperated from the time the theft was made known to the Booksellers Association, who had custody and control of the aforementioned book," the statement read.

According to the information, "investigations are underway and authorities have received security footage, videos and information to clarify the incident".