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Top 10 Most Expensive Books In The World (2023)

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2 years ago

January 23, 2023

The Top 10 Most Expensive Books In The World: The written word rarely has much value, but it can be costly on rare occasions. Governments, billionaires, and private collectors have consistently outbid auction prices for rare manuscripts over the past 31 years. And they have their ways of manipulating the price or deliberately placing value on things they observe are rare.

As you may already be aware, the greatest significant development in human evolution is likely the use of books, which dates back hundreds of years.

You might be questioning why books are so pricey in the first place at this stage. There are, of course, justifications for this. There were no computers or printers when these most expensive books in history were written.

There would only be one opportunity for writers, scribes, journalists, and monks to make one. If they made a mistake, they would have to restart. Due to the time and attention required for just one, they would typically only produce a small number of replicas. You would be paying for the books’ creation effort when you purchase them.

The majority of these works were actually only available to upper-class people like noblemen and the clergy. As the question rightly implies, the typical individual wasn’t able to read them, you can guess what this would do for overall reading rates. The books on this list are the most costly books in the world for all of the reasons listed above.

Books evolved into what we know today from papyrus scrolls used in Ancient Egypt and manuscripts found in monasteries during the Middle Ages.

More and more books are also turning up in digital format. The top ten most expensive books ever sold in the world are listed below; all monetary amounts have been adjusted for inflation.

1. Codex Leicester Leonardo Da Vinci – $49.4 Million

Top 10 Most Expensive Books In The World

The Codex Leicester is the most expensive book in the world as it is worth over $49.4 million according to Forbes.

It is a compilation of Leonardo da Vinci’s scientific writings. The Codex is named for Thomas Coke, the Earl of Leicester who bought it in 1717. The manuscript was sold to Bill Gates for US$30,802,500 (about $56,314,494 in 2021) at Christie’s auction house on November 11, 1994, in New York, setting the record for the fifth-highest sale price of any book.

The Codex offers a window into the inquisitive nature of the preeminent Renaissance artist, scientist, and thinker. It also serves as a superb example of the relationship between art and science as well as the inventiveness of the scientific method.

The leather-bound notebook has 36 sheets that measure 29 by 22 cm. The manuscript is composed of Leonardo’s observations and hypotheses on astronomy, the characteristics of water, rocks, fossils, air, and celestial light rather than taking the shape of a single linear script. The subjects covered include:

2. The Gospels of Henry the Lion- $28 Million

The Most Expensive Books In The World

The Gospel of Henry the Lion is the second most expensive book in the world. It was created by Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, for the Virgin Mary altar in the Brunswick Cathedral, also known as St. Blaise’s Abbey.

The book is regarded as a 12th-century masterpiece of Romanesque book illumination. At the Benedictine Helmarshausen Abbey, the gospel book was specially commissioned for the duke.

In terms of construction, the church in Brunswick was constructed in 1173, and the Virgin Mary’s altar was dedicated in 1188. The majority of authorities previously assigned the gospel book’s creation date of 1175 or so (an “early dating”); however, the current consensus places the date of creation at around 1188. (“late dating”).

The manuscript, which was 266 pages long and had 50 full-page pictures, was auctioned off for £8,140,000 on December 6, 1983, at Sotheby’s in London.

The German government, the Bundesländer of Lower Saxony and Bavaria, the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz, and private benefactors raised the purchase price as part of a German program for the protection of national assets (largely from Brunswick).

Up until 1994, when Bill Gates purchased the Codex Leicester, a manuscript by Leonardo da Vinci, it was the most expensive book in the world.

3. Magna Carta Libertatum- $24.5 Million

World Most Expensive Books

Magna Carta, often known as Magna Carta or the “Great Charter,” was a royal charter of rights ratified by King John of England on June 15, 1215, at Runnymede, close to Windsor.

It was initially drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal Stephen Langton, to broker a settlement between the unpopular king and a group of rebel barons. It included promises to safeguard church rights, shield barons from unlawful imprisonment, grant them access to prompt justice and place restrictions on feudal payments to the Crown.

The charter was revoked by Pope Innocent III because neither party upheld its pledges, which sparked the First Barons’ War. Magna Carta gained historical relevance over time while losing its practical significance. A financial one as well, given that the book was bought by billionaire Ross Perot in 2007 for the startling sum of $24.5 million.

4. St. Cuthbert’s Gospel- $15.1 Million

Top 10 Most Expensive Books In The World

St. Cuthbert’s Gospel is another of the most expensive books in the world which cost $15 million. A Latin-language pocket gospel book from the first half of the eighth century, the St. Cuthbert Gospel is also known as the Stonyhurst Gospel or the St. Cuthbert Gospel of St. John.

The 94 vellum folios and the elaborately adorned leather binding are in exceptional shape for a book of this era, making it the earliest known Western bookbinding to have survived. One of the smallest surviving Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, the St. Cuthbert Gospel measures only 138 by 92 millimetres (5.4 in 3.6 in) per page. The Gospel of John in Latin, written in a script that has been hailed as an example of graceful simplicity, is a text that is essentially undecorated.

More so, the purpose of it was to be placed in the tomb of Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne in North East England but somehow it got all the way across centuries, ended up at an auction in 2011 and was sold to the British Library for the whooping price of $15.1 million.

5. Bay Psalm Book- $14.5 Million

The Whole Booke of Psalmes Faithfully Translated into English Metre,, is a metrical psalter that was first printed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1640. The first book to be printed in British North America was this one.

It contains metrical English translations of the psalms. Although some of the songs they were singing have survived (such as “Old 100th”), none of the translations is particularly well-polished, and their creation within 20 years after the Pilgrims’ landing in Plymouth, Massachusetts, is a significant accomplishment. It was in use for well over a century and went through multiple editions.

One of the eleven known surviving copies of the first edition was auctioned off in November 2013 for $14.2 million, setting a record for a printed book. The Ainsworth Psalter (1612), compiled by Henry Ainsworth for use by Puritan “separatists” in Holland, the Ravenscroft Psalter (1621), and the Sternhold and Hopkins Psalter (1562), of which there were numerous editions, were among the psalm books that the early settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony brought with them.

Evidently, they desired some translations from Hebrew in these many psalters that were more faithful to the original. To complete a new translation, which they offered here, they employed “thirty pious and learned Ministers,” including Richard Mather, Thomas Mayhew, and John Eliot. The familiar melodies from their pre-existing psalters were used to accompany the new translations.

6. The Rothschild Prayerbook- $13 Million

Most Expensive Books ever sold

The Rothschild Prayerbook is also one of the most expensive books in the world. It often known as the Rothschild Hours, is a significant book of hours created in Flemish illuminated text between the years of 1500 and 1520.

It comprises 254 folios and pages that measure 228 by 160 millimetres. It was originally kept as Codex Vindobonensis S.N. 2844 in the Austrian National Library in Vienna.

Since its sale in 1999, it has held the title of illuminated manuscript auction world record price. It is on exhibit in the National Library of Australia after being purchased by Australian businessman Kerry Stokes from Christie’s New York in 2014.

It features the work of a number of prominent miniaturists from the Ghent-Bruges school of Flemish illumination, who also collaborated on the Grimani Breviary, the Spinola Hours (Malibu), and other significant manuscripts during this time.

The “Master of the First Prayerbook of Maximilian,” an older artist, and Gerard Horenbout or the Master of James IV of Scotland are responsible for the majority of the sixty-seven huge miniatures (these being two names probably for the same artist)

The book was auctioned off twice, once in 2014 at a Christie’s auction in New York and once in 1999 by the Austrian National Library in Vienna. Kerry Stokes, an Australian investor, made the final purchase for a staggering $13.9 million. The book is currently on exhibit at the Australian National Library.

7. Birds of America John James Audubon $12.6 Million

The Most Expensive Books In History

Naturalist and painter John James Audubon wrote The Birds of America which features drawings of a wide range of American birds. Between 1827 and 1838, pieces of it were first published as a series in Edinburgh and London.

Some of the specimens provided to Audubon by John Kirk Townsend, who had collected them on Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth’s and Thomas Nuttall’s 1834 voyage, were some of the specimens that were shown in the work rather than all of them being specimens that Audubon had personally obtained.

Between 1827 and 1838, the book’s first edition was published in Edinburgh and London. Due to the book’s great creative worth, it is not surprising that the price one London-based art dealer paid for it in 2010 increased to a respectable $12.6 million.

8. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer- $11 Million

The Canterbury Tales, a frame story by Geoffrey Chaucer, was written in Middle English in 1387–1400. Chaucer was able to include characters from a variety of social classes thanks to the use of a pilgrimage as the framing device, including a knight, a prioress, a monk, a merchant, a man of law, a Franklin, a scholarly clerk, a miller, a reeve, a pardoner, the wife of Bath, and many others.

The variety of social classes and the storytelling competition’s structure allowed for the presentation of a wide range of literary styles. Only a handful of copies of the first edition of this book are known to survive, and one of them fetched a whopping $11.1 million at auction in London in 1998.

9. George Washington’s Annotated Copy of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, 1789

Top 10 Most Expensive Books In The World

It’s one of the most significant American publications and historical papers, representing a compilation of significant records from the first Congress. George Washington personally owned this edition, which includes his handwritten annotations and notes from his first year in office as president.

The book, which survived for more than 200 years in nearly perfect condition, was bought for a whopping $10.2 million in 2012 at an auction in New York. The purchaser was the Mount Vernon Ladies Association, which also owns and cares for George Washington’s former estate of Mount Vernon.

10. William Shakespeare’s first folio of Comedies, Histories & Tragedies- $8.2 Million.

Another book among the top 10 most expensive books in the world is the collection of William Shakespeare’s plays, known as the First Folio. One of the most important books ever written in the English language is generally regarded as the First Folio, a collection of William Shakespeare’s plays.

It is extremely important because it first appeared in 1623 and is the sole trustworthy source for 20 of the 36 plays that were published. When the book first came out, it was printed in a total of 750 copies and cost anywhere between 15 shillings and a pound.

The First Folio is one of the most costly printed books in existence today because of its high value. What price range? Well, one copy was sold in October 2001 for the astounding sum of $8.2 million at the Christie’s auction house in New York.