Rare 1st edition Anne of Green Gables novel found in Alberta museum

Pioneer Acres, an agricultural heritage museum in Irricana, Alta., recently found a first edition of L.M. Montgomery's 1912 classic The Chronicles of Avonlea. (Supplied)

A rare printing of a classic Canadian novel related to the Anne of Green Gables series has been located on the shelves of an Alberta heritage museum.

Pioneer Acres Museum, located in Irricana, Alta., said it was looking through its collection recently and found a copy of The Chronicles of Avonlea, written by famed author Lucy Maud Montgomery.

The book was determined to be a first edition, which was printed in 1912, and are often considered to be fairly valuable. However, the museum's copy is a little worse for wear.

"First impressions of L. M. Montgomery’s books can be valuable; however, you can see that our copy is not in great shape," the museum wrote in its Facebook post.

"We are reaching out to an appraiser who can give us some idea of its worth; however, we thought it would be interesting to share this story with you because it also helps to understand how books and other items get their value."

Officials at the museum say this is also a great example of how they carefully "identify and protect potentially valuable artifacts."

Chronicles is a series of short stories related to L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series, which was first written in 1908 and spanned nine volumes.

Irricana is located approximately 60 kilometres northeast of Calgary.