Published writers often peruse online retailer Amazon to check their reviews.

But one award-winning Scottish writer received a shock when he looked up one of his books - and it was not from a poor review.

Jack Webster, the veteran journalist and historian, published his account of his home town, Aberdeen, in 2007, and Jack Webster's Aberdeen usually retails for £6.99 in hard cover.

However, alerted by a reader, Mr Webster, a former columnist for The Herald, received a surprise when he was informed by Amazon that his tome also retails for more than £700.

On sale from a US source, the book is also available for £739.19 plus £2.80 for delivery via the online book selling giant.

Mr Webster said: "In disbelief and frustration I phoned by own publisher [Birlinn], who merely sighed and said Yes, he had head all of this nonsense before. And there was nothing we could do about it."

Other writers have commented on the sometimes unusually high prices that can be encountered on Amazon, driven by sellers attempting to sell sometimes rare books.

One book, Peter Lawrence’s The Making of a Fly – a work in developmental biology - was once priced at more than £20m pounds as a price-rising algorithm boosted its price to an absurd degree.

Rare books, such as Bill Walsh's American football tome Finding The Winning Edge can be bought on Amazon for more than £500.

A hardcover version of Alasdair Gray's Lanark is on sale on the website for £79 while Cain's Book by Alexander Trocchi is on sale for more than £110.

Mr Webster added: "Evidently companies can charge whatever they like.

"And if a book is running out of print there just may be the odd person who is prepared to pay their ridiculous price.

"I had already come to suspect that this world of ours was becoming a crazy place.

"Now I know it for sure."