Someone went through this copy of Jane Eyre and replaced Jane with Spider-Man. Every. Single. Time

Well-loved books are often covered in annotations, dog-eared pages, and personal notes from readers. But Sam Shopp's (@slamshopp) used copy of Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre" is a little different. He called it his "most prized possession," which he bought from a local library seven years ago. But the book's value didn't come from its rarity or collectibility; it came from the fact that it had been "dutifully vandalized from cover to cover." Shopp shared two photos of the book on his Substack on July 14, 2026, and it received 14,700 likes, 247 comments, and 946 restacks.

A classic for a classic

The first photo featured the cover of a used Barnes & Noble Classics edition of Jane Eyre. But the name of the book had been crossed out with a black pen and replaced with "Spider-Man." Even Jane Eyre's face was covered with a Spider-Man sticker. Shopp referred to his book as "Spider-Man" by Charlotte Brontë. But the cover was just the tip of the iceberg. The best part about it was that it was "dutifully vandalized" from beginning to end "by some middle school boy to replace every mention of Jane with 'Spiderman' or 'Spidey.'" 

He attached another photo of the book opened at a random page. The title on top of the page was scratched out and changed to "SPIDERMAN," and every single mention of Jane's name was crossed out and changed to "Spidey."

Rare finds

Shopp's one-of-a-kind "Jane Eyre" is just one example of the unexpected gems people have discovered in secondhand books. Atlas Obscura readers shared some of the most unique things they've found in old books. W. Kevin Dougherty from Brackney, Pennsylvania, shared that he found a colonial currency bill in one of their old family Bibles. The envelope read, "Grandfather's Revolutionary War pay," along with a signed receipt for his service in the Connecticut 2nd Continental Line. 

Anna McManus from Ireland bought a used copy of "Pride & Prejudice" in Rathmines, Dublin, in 1982. She found a camera negative, developed it, and was shocked to find that it was a photo of herself at three years old. Her mother had never even seen the photo. 15 years since the photo was taken, they suspected it was her godmother's book, who lived two doors up and was an avid reader.

More valuable because of 'Spidey'

Shopp's copy takes a long-standing reading tradition to an entirely different level. While many people consider writing in books taboo, research suggests the practice is surprisingly common. Melanie Ramdarshan Bold and Kiri L. Wagstaff conducted a study on "Marginalia in the digital age" in 2017. They surveyed 510 readers and found that 74% had written in print books, while only 35% annotated e-books. Scholars have long argued that these handwritten additions preserve a reader's immediate thoughts and emotions, transforming ordinary books into historical records of how people engaged with literature.

In Marginalia: Readers Writing in Books, literary scholar H. J. Jackson describes annotations, doodles, and personal edits as intimate traces of readers that often outlive them. Shopp's find goes well beyond traditional marginalia, however. Rather than jotting down thoughts or highlighting memorable lines, the book's previous owner painstakingly rewrote every mention of Jane Eyre's name as "Spider-Man" or "Spidey," turning an ordinary discarded library copy into a one-of-a-kind literary artifact.

Boy, girl, Sam, or grown man?

Shopp mentioned that the handwriting looked like it belonged to a middle school boy. Several people began debating it in the comments. Some thought that the person must've been a girl since they were 100% "committed to the bit." Others had their own reasons. @clancysteadwell wrote, "First of all, the middle school boy? Surely this was you. Secondly, congrats on making it to the top of Substack with this." @shighland added, "That writing is too neat to be a middle school boy. Judging by the all caps, it was a grown man."

You can follow Sam Shopp (@slamshopp) on Substack for more literary content.

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