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10 most expensive books in the history of mankind
The top ten most expensive books in the history of mankind to date includes three manuscripts and seven printed copies.
"Leicester Code", Leonardo da Vinci (The Codex Leicester, Leonardo da Vinci)
$ 30, 8 million, in 1994, the auction Christie's ($ 44, 6 million at current prices)
Notebook records of Leonardo da Vinci, made during his life in Milan in 1506-1510, respectively.
The manuscript consists of 18 sheets of paper covered on both sides and folded in such a way that together they form a 72-page book. Notes Leonardo painted in a special way, his own "mirror" type - they can be read only by means of a mirror.
Entries are devoted to various phenomena of nature that Leonardo was thinking: why the moon is shining, why and how water flows in the rivers, where are the fossils, which are composed of minerals and so on.
Book also contains a large number of mathematical calculations, diagrams and drawings. "Leicester" code was named after the Earl of Leicester, bought the manuscript in 1717.
In 1980, a notebook from the heirs of Leicester bought the famous industrialist, art collector and friend of the Soviet regime Armand Hammer, after which it is for a short period called "Code Hammer» (Codex Hammer).
After his death in 1994, the code was put up for auction, in which was acquired by Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
On his initiative, "Leicester Code" permanently exhibited in museums around the world.
The Gospel of Henry the Lion (Das Evangeliar Heinrichs des Löwen)
$ 12, 4 million in 1983, an auction Sotheby's ($ 26, 7 million at current prices)
The handwritten edition of the Gospel, made in about 1188 by order of Henry the Lion (1129-1195), Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, Welf dynasty representative, for several centuries, which had a great influence in Europe. The manuscript includes the four Gospels, has 226 pages, decorated in a unique style of monks and novices Benedictine abbey Helmarskhauzen. After the death of Henry the Lion manuscript has long been considered lost. In the XIX century it was discovered in Prague, in 1861 it was purchased by George V, King of Hanover, whose founder is considered to Henry the Lion. Five years later, George V was deposed and fled to Austria, and among other things, took with him the manuscript. Then follow the relics was again lost, but in 1983 an unknown seller put "The Gospel of Henry the Lion" at the auction house Sotheby's. During the auction, he became the owner of Germany - participated in the financing of the purchase of the federal government, the government of Bavaria and Lower Saxony, as well as the foundation "Prussian Cultural Heritage." Currently, the manuscript is stored in a library named after the Duke of August in the city of Wolfenbüttel (Germany).
"Birds of America", John James Audubon (The Birds of America, John James Audubon)
$ 8, 8 million in 2000, the auction Christie's ($ 11 million at current prices)
"Birds of America" - a book unique in many ways. Its first edition was printed in the United States in the years 1827-1838, during which time it was released only about 200 copies printed in giant format that Audubon himself called «double elephant folio» - each page is 50 inches (127 cm) in height. A full copy of "Birds of America" contains 435 hand-colored engravings prints measuring 90 by 60 cm, on which birds are depicted in full size.
It is now known about the existence of 119 complete copies of "Birds of America", 108 of them are stored in museums around the world and only 11 - in private collections. On the market these books come very rarely, and every such case collectors books are regarded as a sensation.
"Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer (The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer)
$ 7, 5 million in 1998, the auction Christie's ($ 9, 9 million at current prices)
Unique copy of the first edition of "Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer, "father of English poetry" and one of the founders of English literature. The book published in 1477 in the printing of English pioneer William Caxton at Westminster Abbey.
So far, it survived only 12 known copies of the first edition of which only exhibited at Christie's book is in a private collection.
The book has a rich history of its own: her first appearance at auction refers to 1776, when it was sold at Christie's for £ 6. In 1998, the book became the property of a group of London booksellers.
"Duke of Northumberland Bestiary» (The Northumberland Bestiary)
$ 5, 85 million, in 1990, an auction Sotheby's ($ 9, 6 million at current prices)
Handwritten bestiary - a kind of medieval encyclopedia of fauna, containing 112 color images of real and imaginary creatures and their descriptions in the 148 pages.
Author manuscript is not known, a copy is dated approximately 1250-1260 years.
Similar English bestiaries worldwide remained no more than 40, and they very rarely come onto the market.
As experts explain house Sotheby's in 1990, before Bestiary last auctioned in 1889. In addition, a copy of the Duke of Northumberland - the latter remained in private hands, and not in a museum collection.
At the auction in 1990, it became the new owner of a private collector from the United States, whose name was not disclosed.
Gutenberg Bible (The Gutenberg Bible)
5 $ 4 million in 1987, the auction Christie's ($ 10, 2 at current prices)
Unique copy of the Bible printing pioneer Johannes Gutenberg, the oldest extant books printed by a set of movable type.
But it was her 42-line version of the format in folio (there is a later version of the 36-line, known as the Bamberg Bible). 42-line Bible known among bibliophiles as "Mazarin Bible," by the name of the cardinal and first minister of France, Cardinal Mazarin, in the securities of which in 1760 was first discovered by the first instance of a Bible.
According to Gutenberg Museum, just at the beginning of 1450-ies were printed about 180 copies of the 42-line Bible, of whom 48 have survived, including 21 - complete.
Sold at Christie's in 1987, the Bible - not complete, it is only the first volume. The buyer was a Japanese Maruzen Corporation.
Currently, the copy is kept in the library of Keio University.
"First Folio: comedy, chronicles and tragedies," William Shakespeare (William Shakespeare's First Folio: Comedies, Histories and Tragedies)
$ 5, 2 million in 2006, an auction Sotheby's ($ 5, 5 million at current prices)
A copy of the first edition of William Shakespeare's plays, published in 1623 by John Heming and Henry Kondelom, participants Shakespeare Company. "First Folio" - accepted among bibliophiles term to refer to the book its full title - "Mr. William Shakespeare's comedy, chronicles and tragedies. Printed with accurate and authentic texts. " In the "First Folio" included 36 of Shakespeare's plays, almost all of his plays, with the exception of "Pericles" and "Two noble kinsmen."
So far, it survived only 40 complete copies of the first edition of which is in private hands are only two, including those sold at Sotheby's.
"On fruit trees," Henri Louis Duhamel du Monceau (Traité des Arbres Fruitiers, Henri Louis Duhamel du Monceau)
$ 4, 5 million in 2006, an auction Pierre Bergé & Associés (Brussels) ($ 4, 8 million at current prices)
Treatise on fruit trees, the French physicist, chemist, agronomist and member of the Academy of Sciences Henri Louis Duhamel du Monceau (1700-1782).
In the book of collected and summarized his almost thirty years of observation and experimentation with fruit trees. Beautifully decorated two-volume illustrated by a number of famous artists of the period, representing 16 species of fruit trees and their fruits, leaves, seeds, fruit.
This copy was purchased at one time in the personal library of King Louis XV, for what was printed in the form of a particularly luxurious with gilt cover.
"Geography" ("Cosmography"), Ptolemy (Ptolemy's «Geographia» (aka «Cosmographia»)
$ 3 99 million, in 2006, Sotheby's ($ 4, 3 million at current prices)
A rare copy of the first printed atlas of the world, printed in 1477 in Bologna, Italy on samples of maps of the ancient Greek astronomer, mathematician and geographer Claudius Ptolemy 150 years BC. e.
Atlas owned by the famous British collector Lord Vardingtonu, whose collection includes about 700 ancient books and 60 000 cards.
The first edition of "Cosmographia" was a gem of this collection, which was almost destroyed by fire in his country house in 2004, but was saved by the efforts of relatives and neighbors collector.
However, a year after the death of Lord Vardingtona his heirs put "Cosmography" for auction.
The Hebrew Bible (Hebrew Bible)
$ 3, 18 million in 1989, Sotheby's ($ 5, 5 million at current prices)
Jewish Scripture, the Jewish theologians called Tanakh and consisting of 24 books in three sections: Torah and Ketuvim Neviim.
According to the content almost completely corresponds to the Christian Old Testament.
This copy is created in Babylon in the IX-X centuries BC. e. and it is one of the oldest and most expensive manuscript in Hebrew.
via shadow3d
Source:
"Leicester Code", Leonardo da Vinci (The Codex Leicester, Leonardo da Vinci)
$ 30, 8 million, in 1994, the auction Christie's ($ 44, 6 million at current prices)
Notebook records of Leonardo da Vinci, made during his life in Milan in 1506-1510, respectively.
The manuscript consists of 18 sheets of paper covered on both sides and folded in such a way that together they form a 72-page book. Notes Leonardo painted in a special way, his own "mirror" type - they can be read only by means of a mirror.
Entries are devoted to various phenomena of nature that Leonardo was thinking: why the moon is shining, why and how water flows in the rivers, where are the fossils, which are composed of minerals and so on.
Book also contains a large number of mathematical calculations, diagrams and drawings. "Leicester" code was named after the Earl of Leicester, bought the manuscript in 1717.
In 1980, a notebook from the heirs of Leicester bought the famous industrialist, art collector and friend of the Soviet regime Armand Hammer, after which it is for a short period called "Code Hammer» (Codex Hammer).
After his death in 1994, the code was put up for auction, in which was acquired by Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
On his initiative, "Leicester Code" permanently exhibited in museums around the world.
The Gospel of Henry the Lion (Das Evangeliar Heinrichs des Löwen)
$ 12, 4 million in 1983, an auction Sotheby's ($ 26, 7 million at current prices)
The handwritten edition of the Gospel, made in about 1188 by order of Henry the Lion (1129-1195), Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, Welf dynasty representative, for several centuries, which had a great influence in Europe. The manuscript includes the four Gospels, has 226 pages, decorated in a unique style of monks and novices Benedictine abbey Helmarskhauzen. After the death of Henry the Lion manuscript has long been considered lost. In the XIX century it was discovered in Prague, in 1861 it was purchased by George V, King of Hanover, whose founder is considered to Henry the Lion. Five years later, George V was deposed and fled to Austria, and among other things, took with him the manuscript. Then follow the relics was again lost, but in 1983 an unknown seller put "The Gospel of Henry the Lion" at the auction house Sotheby's. During the auction, he became the owner of Germany - participated in the financing of the purchase of the federal government, the government of Bavaria and Lower Saxony, as well as the foundation "Prussian Cultural Heritage." Currently, the manuscript is stored in a library named after the Duke of August in the city of Wolfenbüttel (Germany).
"Birds of America", John James Audubon (The Birds of America, John James Audubon)
$ 8, 8 million in 2000, the auction Christie's ($ 11 million at current prices)
"Birds of America" - a book unique in many ways. Its first edition was printed in the United States in the years 1827-1838, during which time it was released only about 200 copies printed in giant format that Audubon himself called «double elephant folio» - each page is 50 inches (127 cm) in height. A full copy of "Birds of America" contains 435 hand-colored engravings prints measuring 90 by 60 cm, on which birds are depicted in full size.
It is now known about the existence of 119 complete copies of "Birds of America", 108 of them are stored in museums around the world and only 11 - in private collections. On the market these books come very rarely, and every such case collectors books are regarded as a sensation.
"Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer (The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer)
$ 7, 5 million in 1998, the auction Christie's ($ 9, 9 million at current prices)
Unique copy of the first edition of "Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer, "father of English poetry" and one of the founders of English literature. The book published in 1477 in the printing of English pioneer William Caxton at Westminster Abbey.
So far, it survived only 12 known copies of the first edition of which only exhibited at Christie's book is in a private collection.
The book has a rich history of its own: her first appearance at auction refers to 1776, when it was sold at Christie's for £ 6. In 1998, the book became the property of a group of London booksellers.
"Duke of Northumberland Bestiary» (The Northumberland Bestiary)
$ 5, 85 million, in 1990, an auction Sotheby's ($ 9, 6 million at current prices)
Handwritten bestiary - a kind of medieval encyclopedia of fauna, containing 112 color images of real and imaginary creatures and their descriptions in the 148 pages.
Author manuscript is not known, a copy is dated approximately 1250-1260 years.
Similar English bestiaries worldwide remained no more than 40, and they very rarely come onto the market.
As experts explain house Sotheby's in 1990, before Bestiary last auctioned in 1889. In addition, a copy of the Duke of Northumberland - the latter remained in private hands, and not in a museum collection.
At the auction in 1990, it became the new owner of a private collector from the United States, whose name was not disclosed.
Gutenberg Bible (The Gutenberg Bible)
5 $ 4 million in 1987, the auction Christie's ($ 10, 2 at current prices)
Unique copy of the Bible printing pioneer Johannes Gutenberg, the oldest extant books printed by a set of movable type.
But it was her 42-line version of the format in folio (there is a later version of the 36-line, known as the Bamberg Bible). 42-line Bible known among bibliophiles as "Mazarin Bible," by the name of the cardinal and first minister of France, Cardinal Mazarin, in the securities of which in 1760 was first discovered by the first instance of a Bible.
According to Gutenberg Museum, just at the beginning of 1450-ies were printed about 180 copies of the 42-line Bible, of whom 48 have survived, including 21 - complete.
Sold at Christie's in 1987, the Bible - not complete, it is only the first volume. The buyer was a Japanese Maruzen Corporation.
Currently, the copy is kept in the library of Keio University.
"First Folio: comedy, chronicles and tragedies," William Shakespeare (William Shakespeare's First Folio: Comedies, Histories and Tragedies)
$ 5, 2 million in 2006, an auction Sotheby's ($ 5, 5 million at current prices)
A copy of the first edition of William Shakespeare's plays, published in 1623 by John Heming and Henry Kondelom, participants Shakespeare Company. "First Folio" - accepted among bibliophiles term to refer to the book its full title - "Mr. William Shakespeare's comedy, chronicles and tragedies. Printed with accurate and authentic texts. " In the "First Folio" included 36 of Shakespeare's plays, almost all of his plays, with the exception of "Pericles" and "Two noble kinsmen."
So far, it survived only 40 complete copies of the first edition of which is in private hands are only two, including those sold at Sotheby's.
"On fruit trees," Henri Louis Duhamel du Monceau (Traité des Arbres Fruitiers, Henri Louis Duhamel du Monceau)
$ 4, 5 million in 2006, an auction Pierre Bergé & Associés (Brussels) ($ 4, 8 million at current prices)
Treatise on fruit trees, the French physicist, chemist, agronomist and member of the Academy of Sciences Henri Louis Duhamel du Monceau (1700-1782).
In the book of collected and summarized his almost thirty years of observation and experimentation with fruit trees. Beautifully decorated two-volume illustrated by a number of famous artists of the period, representing 16 species of fruit trees and their fruits, leaves, seeds, fruit.
This copy was purchased at one time in the personal library of King Louis XV, for what was printed in the form of a particularly luxurious with gilt cover.
"Geography" ("Cosmography"), Ptolemy (Ptolemy's «Geographia» (aka «Cosmographia»)
$ 3 99 million, in 2006, Sotheby's ($ 4, 3 million at current prices)
A rare copy of the first printed atlas of the world, printed in 1477 in Bologna, Italy on samples of maps of the ancient Greek astronomer, mathematician and geographer Claudius Ptolemy 150 years BC. e.
Atlas owned by the famous British collector Lord Vardingtonu, whose collection includes about 700 ancient books and 60 000 cards.
The first edition of "Cosmographia" was a gem of this collection, which was almost destroyed by fire in his country house in 2004, but was saved by the efforts of relatives and neighbors collector.
However, a year after the death of Lord Vardingtona his heirs put "Cosmography" for auction.
The Hebrew Bible (Hebrew Bible)
$ 3, 18 million in 1989, Sotheby's ($ 5, 5 million at current prices)
Jewish Scripture, the Jewish theologians called Tanakh and consisting of 24 books in three sections: Torah and Ketuvim Neviim.
According to the content almost completely corresponds to the Christian Old Testament.
This copy is created in Babylon in the IX-X centuries BC. e. and it is one of the oldest and most expensive manuscript in Hebrew.
via shadow3d
Source:
