Rare books are being sold at unbelievable high prices around the world. If you are a rare book collector, you will be interested in learning more about them. Then you can get a basic understanding about the amount of money that you will have to spend out of your pocket to take part in a rare book auction and purchase some of the books.
Here are some of the most expensive rare printed books that have been sold at auctions in the past.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
The first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was sold at an auction held in the year 2010 for a price of $90,000. Main reason behind the popularity of this book is that the first edition contains numerous typos. These typos were corrected in the second edition, which was able to become one of the world famous books among people. You can go through the book and get a fascinating experience with these typos. This is one of the recently published rare books, which has a massive value when compared to others. However, $90,000 is quite cheap when you compare with the prices of other rare books that are being sold out there in the world.
Tales of Beedle the Bard
Tales of Beedle the Bard is a hand-illustrated book. This book was sold at a price of $3.98 million during a charity auction that took place back in the year 2007. This book was also written by J.K. Rowling. J.K. Rowling didn’t have any intentions to sell this book. This is why she made just seven copies of the book. All the seven copies were hand illustrated by her. Then the copies were given out to people that she personally knew as gifts. However, one book was kept by the author to proceed with raising funds for her charity program. This charity program is currently known as Lumos. The main objective of this charity program is to create homes for orphaned children around the country.
The First Atlas
Some may consider The First Atlas as not a book. But it was published as a book back in the day and you can think about adding it to the list of most expensive rare printed books that were sold at auctions held around the world. This book was titled as Cosmographia. It was compiled by Ptolemy. The most interesting fact about this book is that it is the very first printed atlas in the world. Around three copies of the book remain as of now. One of the copies got sold at an auction held back in the year 2006 for a price of $3.9 million. The First Atlas was created back in the year 150 AD. The world map that you can find in here is quite different from what you can find as of now. However, it is amazing to see how Ptolemy could come up with such an illustration with limited information that he had back in the day.
Treatsie of Fruit-Trees
Treatsie of Fruit-Trees is not an interesting book to read. Instead, you might tend to call it as one of the most boring books available to read. However, this book was sold at an auction held in Brussels for a price of $4.6 million back in the year 2006. The unique hand-drawn paintings that you can find in this book must have contributed a lot towards its popularity. In the book, you can find illustrations with related to 16 different fruit trees, which can be found out there in the world.
The Northumberland Bestiary
The Northumberland Bestiary is a book on animals. In fact, you can think about calling it as an excellent collection of animals. However, you will also be able to find monsters and numerous other moral tales that belong to 13th Century on this book. You will be able to find tales and pictures of donkeys, elephants, hydras, apes, panthers and many other animals in the book. All the tales are beautifully illustrated to deliver a unique experience to the readers. At an auction that was held back in the year 1990, a copy of The Northumberland Bestiary book was sold at a price of over $4.1 million. This book is currently owned by J. Paul Getty Museum.
Shakespeare’s First Folio
London based Rare books company told us that the first Folio by William Shakespearecan be considered few of the most converted books that you can find out there in the world. On the other hand, the original editions of the book has a massive demand. The demand you can find for these books is simply outstanding. At an auction held back in the year 2001, a copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio book was sold at a price of $6.16 million. This auction was held in New York. Another auction was held after a period of five years and a copy of the book was sold at a price of $5.15 million. The most recent auction took was sold at a price of $3.68 million back in the year 2016.
Babylonian Talmund
Babylonian Talmund is another million-dollar worthy book. This is one of the multi-volume books that were published back in 16th century. In fact, only 14 sets are available as of now. According to information that we can find out there on the internet, a copy of Babylonian Talmund was sold at a price of $1 million back in the year 2015. This book was purchase by a billionaire named Leon Black. He is a book collector, investor and also the founder of Apollo Global Management. Before being sold, it was sitting at the Westminster Abbey for a duration of more than four centuries.
Final words
Now you are aware about the most expensive rare printed books sold at auctions. This knowledge can benefit you when you are visiting a book auction.
