The most expensive books in the world: The most valuable books in the world today may be hundreds of years old, but their value seems to increase over time. They look like a fine wine that gets better with age. John James Audubon’s Birds of America has sold several copies at record prices, the largest exceeding $11 million, and there are several additional volumes with even higher prices.
Consider getting one of these most expensive books in the world to put on your shelves if you find yourself with a huge amount of money but don’t know what to do with it. You can return to your library later to browse it. Who knows, maybe you have something important in your hands that will make you a fortune overnight. The most expensive books ever sold, along with their prices, have been listed in this article.
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1. The Bay Book of Psalms: If you ever wondered what the first book published in the United States was called, it was the Bay Psalm Book, a Christian work originally published in 1640. The book was originally owned by the Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts, before acquired by American millionaire industrialist David Rubenstein 20 years after the Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The Bay Psalm Book is a metrical psalter that contains metrical translations of the Book of Psalms intended to be sung as hymns in a church.
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The Bay Psalm Book has gone through several versions and continues to be useful after all these years. There are only about eleven copies of the original edition left in the world, with one sold in November 2013. At auction, the historic object set a record by selling for $14.2 million. Long before that, in 1947, a copy of the book had been auctioned at the Parke-Bernet Galleries in Manhattan and sold for $151,000, a record price at the time.
$14.165 million was the original purchase price.
Price adjusted for inflation: $15.46 million.
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2. Rothschild Prayer Book: The Rothschild Prayer Book, also known as the Rothschild Hours, originally belonged to Anselm Salomon von Rothschild and his descendants. The work is a Book of Hours, which are devotional books used by Christians in the Middle Ages, as the name suggests. One of the few surviving illuminated manuscripts from the Middle Ages is the Book of Hours.
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This copy dates from around 1500-20 and is composed of 254 folios each measuring 228 mm by 160 mm. After being purchased at an auction in 1999 that set a world record for an illuminated manuscript, the book was kept in the Austrian National Library in Vienna as Codex Vindobonensis SN 2844. After being purchased from the Christie’s auction in New York by Australian businessman Kerry Stokes, this Book of Hours is currently on display at the National Library of Australia.
$13.6 million was the original price.
Price adjusted for inflation: $14.6 million.
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3. Birds of America: The Birds of America was first published in 1827 and was written and drawn by John James Audubon. The Birds of America was the original title of the book, which was adjusted to what we know today after original illustrations by John James Audubon. The book, written by a naturalist and painter, features several types of birds seen in the United States, however, the author has not personally collected all the species contained in the 435 pages. Some of the specimens were collected by John Kirk Townsend on an expedition in 1834, and he helped him.
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Joseph Mason, Audubon’s assistant, provided several paintings of the plant environment around the birds to the project. Many of the birds featured in the book are now extinct, making this an important testament to their former existence. The Eskimo curlew is a likely inclusion in the book, along with the Carolina parakeet, passenger pigeon, Labrador duck, great auk and ruffed grouse. One of only 120 complete copies of The Birds of America is known to survive, and it was once owned by Henry Witham until it was acquired by London art dealer Michael Tollemache on December 6, 2010.
At Christie’s in New York, an American collector acquired a copy of Heirs of the Fourth Duke of Portland for $7.9 million, making it the book’s most expensive transaction. There are 120 copies of The Birds of America, with 107 in the hands of institutions and 13 in the hands of individual collectors.
The original asking price was $11.5 million.
Price adjusted for inflation: $13.5 million.
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4. The Magna Carta: The Magna Carta, often referred to as Magna Carta Libertatum or Magna Carta of Liberties, was first published in 1215 and is still in use today. The royal charter was drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury Stephen Langton in an effort to bring the monarch and some rebels closer together.
The charter was not promulgated during the reign of King John, but his son Henry III took it over in 1216 and, with some modifications, it was included in the peace treaty which followed the war in 1217.
The Magna Carta is still revered as a symbol of freedom in many parts of the world. Four illustrations of this document are currently available. The British Library has two copies, and the other two are in Lincoln Castle and Salisbury Cathedral respectively.
The original asking price was $11.5 million.
Price adjusted for inflation: $13.5 million.
5. Codex Leicester: This priceless work was hand-crafted by Leonardo da Vinci and is currently in the hands of Bill Gates. Rare scientific publications, including the most famous scientific works of Leonardo da Vinci, are included in this book.
The most expensive books and manuscripts ever sold
The Codex Leicester is 72 pages long and contains speculations and hypotheses on a variety of topics, such as fossils, water flow and the origins of moonlight. Before becoming Earl of Leicester, Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester acquired the painting in 1719, inspiring the name.
Armand Hammer, an art collector, was the next known owner, who kept it for fourteen years (from 1980). Bill Gates, meanwhile, bought the painting in 1994 for the staggering sum of $30,802,500. The valuation increased to $53,222,898.79 in 2019.
In 1994, the price was $30.8 million.
Price adjusted for inflation: $52.8 million.
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6. Sherburne Missal: The Sherburne Missal, which dates from the early 15th century, is still in good condition today. The book is an illuminated missal in English that is often considered the finest of its kind to come from the Middle Ages. Between 1399 and 1407 the missal was used at Sherburne Abbey in Dorset, England. Robert Brunings, Abbot of St Mary’s Abbey in Sherburne, commissioned the book at the time.
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The author of the book is a Benedictine monk named John What, and the enlightenment was achieved by a number of people, including a Dominican friar named John Shiferaw. Cormorants, moorhens, European robins and gannets, among other British birds, are featured in the images. The Sherburne Missal was purchased by the British Library in 2001 after being owned by art lover Ralph Percy, 12th Duke of Northumberland.
The original cost of the Sherburne Missal: $21.21 million
Price adjusted for inflation: $30.6.
7. The Book of Mormon: The Printer’s Manuscript of the Sacred Scriptures of the Latter Day Saint movement is said to be one of the most expensive books in the world. It is said to include the writings of ancient prophets who lived between 2200 BC and 421 AD. The manuscript was originally published in 1830 by Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of Latter-day Saints, who titled it The Book of Mormon: A Record Written by the Hand of Mormon on Plates from the Plates of Nephi .
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The book has been published in over 150 million copies and has been translated into 112 languages. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has, however, acquired a copy of the original text. Oliver Cowdery created it, but David Whitmer was the original owner.
$35 million was the original asking price.
Price adjusted for inflation: $36.3 million.
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8. Gutenberg Bible: In 1987, Christie’s New York reported the sale of a copy of Gutenberg’s Bible for $4.9 million. This is to be expected given that the work is often considered one of the most influential novels in the world. It was also the first book to be printed using metal movable type. In Europe, the first printing of the book took place in 1455, marking the beginning of the Gutenberg Revolution.
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It also marked the beginning of the period of the printed book in the Western world. Only 49 complete copies of the Gutenberg Bible exist today. A Japanese bookstore – Maruzen Company – purchased one of the unfinished copies. In 1987, a $5.4 million deal was struck. In the meantime, the University of Texas at Austin has a complete copy of Gutenberg’s Bible online. The 36-line Bible is sometimes confused with the Gutenberg Bible, however, it is assumed to have been printed by a separate printer.
Gutenberg Bible Original Price: $14.34
Price adjusted for inflation: $12 million.
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Conclusion
The most valuable books in the world today, like the ones mentioned at the start of this article, may be hundreds of years old, but their value seems to increase over time. The majority of the books on this list are very rare, but several are also extremely important historical documents, which explains their high value.
Edeh Samuel Chukwuemeka ChMC, is a law student and certified mediator/conciliator in Nigeria. He is also a developer with knowledge in HTML, CSS, JS, PHP and React Native. Samuel is determined to change the legal profession by creating web and mobile applications that will make legal research much easier.