Books & Manuscripts
Who holds the record for the most expensive work of art, Books & Manuscripts to go under the hammer, rather than to be sold privately?
| Sold for: USD | Title & Year: | Image: | Author: | Auction house: | Sale date: | Seller: | Buyer: |
| USD 30.8 million | Codex Leicester. Codex Hammer; 1510 Florence, Italy, Italian, 72 pages |  |
Leonardo da Vinci | Christie's auction | November 1994 | Estate of Armand Hammer | Bill Gates |
| USD 21.3 million | Magna Carta Libertatum; 1297 |  |
John, King of England, his barons and Stephen Langton | Sotheby's, New York | December 2007 | Brudenells of Northamptonshire, England | David Rubenstein |
| USD 14.3 million | St Cuthbert Gospel; Stonyhurst Gospel; St Cuthbert Gospel of St John; written in Latin |  |
Gospel, 7th century | Private sale | April 2012 | British province of the Jesuit order | British Library |
| USD 14.2 million | Bay Psalm Book 1640; First book printed in what is now the United States. |  |
Psalm | Sotheby's auction | November 2013 | Boston's Old South Church | American financier and philanthropist David Rubenstein |
| USD 13.6 million | Rothschild Prayerbook 1500-1520 |  |
Prayerbook | Christie's New York | January 2014 | Rothschild banking dynasty | Australian businessman Kerry Stokes |
| USD 13.4 million | Gospels of Henry the Lion 1175; the volume is considered a masterpiece of Romanesque book illumination of the 12th century |  |
Order of Saint Benedict | Sotheby's in London | December 1983 | Anonymous owner | West German consortium |
| USD 11.5 million | The Birds of America 1827-1838; the work consists of hand-coloured, life-size prints, made from engraved plates, measuring around 99x66cm |  |
John James Audubon | Sotheby's London | December 2010 | Manuscripts and Drawings from the Collection of Frederick, Second Lord Hesketh | London-based art dealer Michael Tollemache | USD 8.8 million | The Birds of America 1827-1838; the work consists of hand-coloured, life-size prints, made from engraved plates, measuring around 99x66cm |  |
John James Audubon | Christie's, New York | March 2000 | Anonymous owner | Sheikh Saud Al-Thani of Qatar | USD 7.9 million | The Birds of America 1827-1838; the work consists of hand-coloured, life-size prints, made from engraved plates, measuring around 99x66cm |  |
John James Audubon | Christie's, New York | January 2012 | Fourth Duke of Portland | American collector who bid by phone |
| USD 7.5 million | The Canterbury Tales 1478 First printed edition; Geoffrey Chaucer |  |
Geoffrey Chaucer | Christie's London | 8 July 1998 | Anonymous owner | Billionaire philanthropist Sir Paul Getty |