1.The Codex Leicester ($30,800,000)
A collection of scientific writings by Leonardo da Vinci, the Codex Leicester is officially the most expensive book ever sold. Purchased in a 1994 auction for $30.8 million by billionaire bill Gates, the book is put on display in a different city every year.
2.The Gospels of Henry the Lion ($12,400,000)
Produced in the late 12th century for Henry the Lion at the Benedictine Helmarshausen Abbey in Germany, the 266-page manuscript is considered a masterpiece of Romanesque book illumination of the time.
3.The Birds of America ($8,800,000)
First published in the early 19th century by painter and naturalist John James Audubon, The Birds of America is a series of life sized paintings of various birds and is often referred to as the greatest picture book ever made.
4.The Canterbury tales ($7,000,000)
The Canterbury tales written by English author Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the 14th century. it is made up of a collection of short stories that paints a critical portrait of the Church and English society at the time.
5.first Folio: Comedies, Histories and Tragedies ($6,000,000)
Published in 1623 a few years after Shakespeare’s death, ‘Comedies, Histories and Tragedies’ is a collection of almost all of the great writer’s known plays.
6.The Northumberland Bestiary ($5,850,000)
A 13th century English manuscript, the Northumberland Bestiary is a collection of ink drawings of both real and imaginary animals, depicting moral stories and proverbs.
7.The Gutenberg Bible ($5,400,000)
The Gutenberg Bible marked the new era of the movable type printing press developed by Johannes Gutenberg in the 1450s. Lauded for its artistic qualities, only 21 complete copies survive in the world today.
8.Traité des Arbres Fruitiers ($4,500,000)
Literally translating to ‘Treatise on Fruit Trees’, this French manuscript is a collection of writings and illustrations compiled by Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau in the mid 18th century.
9.Ptolemy’s Geographia ($4,200,000)
Also known as the Geography, Cosmographia or Geographike Hyphegesis, Geographia is one of Ptolemy’s main works, produced in the 2nd century and detailing what was known about the world’s geography at the time.
10.Mozart’s 9 Symphonies Manuscript ($4,100,000)
A collection of 9 of the great composer’s symphonies, autographed by Mozart himself, sold for a little over $4 million back in 1990.
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