Toys for Gamblers – The world’s most expensive books 16632j
One of the best investments over time was and is in education, in knowledge, in books. And not in playing cards, but in those from which you actually learn something and which enrich you as an individual. If you are a millionaire/billionaire you can afford to buy the most expensive books in the world. Below you will find a selection of the most expensive books in the world. 6s2l5s
world’s most expensive books 115w2h
Codex Leicester, $63.3 million 724i52
Codex Leicester
Sothebys auction house calls the Codex Leicester the most expensive book in the world. The Codex Leicester, a 72-page manuscript by Leonardo da Vinci written between 1506-1510, was bought by Bill Gates for $30.8m in 1994, but taking inflation into , the book is now valued at $63.3m. Created between his sojourns in Milan and Florence, the codex contains more than 300 illustrations and back-written journal entries detailing da Vinci’s observations and scientific theories on topics such as astronomy, water movement, fossils and lunar luminosity. Originally acquired by Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester, in 1717, it was subsequently owned by Armand Hammer, who briefly renamed it the Hammer Codex. This valuable notebook contains exceptional illustrations by Da Vinci, showing the link between science and art, and offering a profound insight into the mind of the Renaissance master.
The Book of Mormon, $35 million jo2t
The Book of Mormon
One of the most expensive books ever sold is the manuscript of The Book of Mormon, handwritten to the dictation of the religion’s founder, Joseph Smith. Considered one of the central texts of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), the Book of Mormon is said to have derived from Smith’s translation of the text found inscribed on gold tablets discovered near his home in Palmyra, New York, in the 1820s.
This draft then went to the local printer, E.B. Grandin, to be printed, before the hand-worked manuscript was given to a member of the Mormon Church for safekeeping. It remained in the church’s possession until its sale in 1903; the 2017 acquisition thus marks the manuscript’s return to the LDS archives. This manuscript is the oldest surviving copy of about 72% of the text of the Book of Mormon, as only about 28% of the dictated copy survived decades of storage in a Nauvoo, Illinois, landmark.
Such formative texts can fetch impressive auction prices even when they are not unique. So at a 2018 auction of a first-edition publication of the Book of Mormon sold for $80,000.
The Birds of America, $11.5 million 685o5h
The Birds of America
The last book in our selection is one for nature lovers. According to Reader’s Digest, John J. Audubon’s The Birds of America sold for $11.5 million in 2010. Between 1827 and 1838, naturalist John James Audubon published a series of detailed and vibrant engravings depicting hundreds of different species of North American birds. Together, the 435 illustrations make up the first complete edition of Birds of America, of which only 119 copies survive. Another reason for the immense value of this bird book is that many of the bird species described are now extinct or endangered.
In 2010, Michael Tollemache, a London art dealer and bird enthusiast, bought a copy of Birds of America for 11.5 million dollars at Sotheby’s auction house in London. Two other copies of the book have also fetched large sums of money, with one copy selling in 2000 for $8.8 million and a $7.9 million copy selling in 2012.
Sources: sothebysrealty.ae, invaluable.com, rd.com
