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Sale offers twin peaks of book collecting
Source: Agencies |
September 11, 2010, Saturday
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A RARE book by America's most famous bird artist, John James Audubon, billed as the most expensive in the world, is going under the hammer in December alongside a first edition of Shakespeare's plays.
"Birds of America," which is estimated to sell for between 4 million and 6 million pounds (US$6.2-US$9.2 million), was said by auctioneer Sotheby's to have inspired generations of ornithologists.
When a copy of the book with hand-colored, life-size prints of birds was last sold in 2000, by rival firm Christie's, it set a world record price for a printed book, fetching US$8.8 million.
Only 119 copies of "Birds of America" are known to exist. The book contains 1,000 illustrations of about 500 breeds of birds and took Audubon 12 years to complete. Audubon, who died in 1851, was an influential natural historian. He was quoted three times in Charles Darwin's "The Origin of Species."
Sotheby's said the auction, on December 7 in London, will also include a book widely regarded as the most important in all English literature -- the first collected edition of Shakespeare's plays, "First Folio," dated from 1623.
The "First Folio," with 36 plays including "Macbeth," "The Tempest," and "Twelfth Night," is expected to sell for between 1.0 and 1.5 million pounds.
"The sale offers the twin peaks of book collecting -- the most expensive book in the world, Audubon's 'Birds of America,' and the most important book in all of English Literature, Shakespeare's 'First Folio'," Sotheby's spokesman David Goldthorpe said in a statement.
"Birds of America," which is estimated to sell for between 4 million and 6 million pounds (US$6.2-US$9.2 million), was said by auctioneer Sotheby's to have inspired generations of ornithologists.
When a copy of the book with hand-colored, life-size prints of birds was last sold in 2000, by rival firm Christie's, it set a world record price for a printed book, fetching US$8.8 million.
Only 119 copies of "Birds of America" are known to exist. The book contains 1,000 illustrations of about 500 breeds of birds and took Audubon 12 years to complete. Audubon, who died in 1851, was an influential natural historian. He was quoted three times in Charles Darwin's "The Origin of Species."
Sotheby's said the auction, on December 7 in London, will also include a book widely regarded as the most important in all English literature -- the first collected edition of Shakespeare's plays, "First Folio," dated from 1623.
The "First Folio," with 36 plays including "Macbeth," "The Tempest," and "Twelfth Night," is expected to sell for between 1.0 and 1.5 million pounds.
"The sale offers the twin peaks of book collecting -- the most expensive book in the world, Audubon's 'Birds of America,' and the most important book in all of English Literature, Shakespeare's 'First Folio'," Sotheby's spokesman David Goldthorpe said in a statement.
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