In 1667 the English poet John Milton sold the copyright to his religious epic Paradise Lost for a mere £10.

Obviously that sum of money had a higher value then than it does now but that’s still quite incredible. Almost immediately after it was published it was, “hailed as a masterpiece of the English language”.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/john-milton-sells-the-copyright-to-paradise-lost