The most expensive book ever sold!

Dec. 10, 2010 - PRLog -- Just when you think auction house Sotheby’s London can’t break another record, they’re at it again. Last month, Sotheby’s sold a rare pink diamond ring to a British jeweler, and this week, one of the most influential books ever produced shattered another record.

John James Audubon’s Birds of America sold this week for just over $11.5 million. That amount obliterated a previous record of $8.8 million for another book sold in 2000. Only 100 copies of the book featuring 435 hand-colored prints by Audubon measuring over three feet tall exist in the world making it an astounding piece for any book collector’s vault.

In the auction room, four collectors some on the phone, others in the room itself -- bid on Audubon’s book, which was only expected to fetch a maximum of $9.5 million. London dealer Michael Tollemache was the lucky buyer who walked away with what he referred to simply as priceless.

The Audubon was a small part of a sale coordinated by Magnificent Books, Manuscripts and Drawings from the Collection of Frederick, 2nd Lord Hesketh. In total, the selection brought in a total of about $18.6 million, which set the record for a single-session sale of books and writings ever held in London.

Stories like this one prove how I am not on the pulse of what is truly important. Although, the Michael Jordan rookie card I have stashed away in a lock box would probably net a couple thousand, I get the feeling I should take some money out of the old savings and try to get my hands on an original Dr.

# # #

Awesome Art is a fine art image archive, with an extensive collection of copyright-free high resolution images on CD and DVD and image downloads. We span Classical to Cubism!
http://www.awesome-art.biz
info@awesome-art.biz
Awesome Art has an extensive collection of very high resolution images from Audubon's Birds of America!