The world's most expensive book (Gnews)

books more expensive birds birds of america

One of the few copies in private hands the book Birds of America, the ornithologist and French-American naturalist John James Audubon, was sold Tuesday in London for 7.3 million pounds (8.7 million), becoming the printed book world's most expensive to date.

The work was part of the sale of the auction house Sotheby 's of manuscripts, books and drawings from the collection of Lord Hesketh, who died in 1955. As expected, the star lot was the monumental work of four volumes of Audubon, one of only 11 copies in private hands. In total, we know that there are 119 copies of Birds of America. The book contains illustrations of about 500 species of birds, and Audubon took 12 years to complete.

Audubon, who died in 1851, was an influential naturalist, mentioned three times in The Origin of Species, the popular book by Charles Darwin.

The sale also included a book regarded as the most important in English literature: the first edition of the works of Shakespeare, First Folio, dated 1623. The First Folio, with 36 works including Macbeth, The Tempest, and Twelfth Night, was sold for 1.5 million pounds. It is one of only 21 copies exist in private hands

Source: http://www.muyinteresante.es/el-libro-mas-caro-del-mundo