First collected edition of Shakespeare's plays also up for auctioned
To some it's just a bunch of bird drawings.
To others, John James Audubon's Birds Of America is a beautiful blend of art, natural history and craftsmanship, special enough to be the world's most expensive book.
And today it became just that as a rare copy fetched more than £7million at auction at Sotheby's in London.
The book surpassed pre-sale estimates to sell for £7,321,250, including buyer's premium, to take the record for any printed book at auction.
The illustrated book by the renowned ornithologist, naturalist and painter, a landmark of natural history, was expected to fetch between £4 million and £6 million.
It was bought by Michael Tollemache, a London dealer, a spokesman for Sotheby's said.
John James Audubon, who died in 1851, represents a unique figure in American history, a renaissance man with shades of Huckleberry Finn - like Mark Twain's fictional character, Audubon made an epic voyage down the mighty Mississippi - but with a scientist's inquisitive nature.
He made his trip, after his dry-goods business failed, with only a rifle, an assistant, and a drawing pad, making illustrations of as many birds as he could find.
He did not find a printer in the United States willing to take on the book, with its oversize illustrations, but sailed to England, eventually finding printers in Edinburgh, Scotland, and in London.
Some of the world's wealthiest book collectors have been anticipating this auction for months: it represents a chance to own one of the best preserved editions of Aubudon's masterpiece, with its 435 revered, hand-coloured illustrations.
Audubon, who died in 1851, was part frontiersman, part artist, and possessed a rare, almost unequaled ability to observe, catalogue and paint the birds he observed in the wild.
Experts say the book he produced is unmatched in its beauty and also of considerable scientific value, justifying its stratospheric cost.
Pom Harrington, owner of the Peter Harrington rare book firm in London, said it has been ten years since the last complete edition of 'Birds of America', with all of the illustrations, has been auctioned - and that was sold for £5.6million by Christie's auction house in 2000, a record for a printed book at auction.
The quality of the edition offered today by Sotheby's was extremely high, said Harrington, and it is unusual to find one not in a museum or academic institution.
'If you want to buy an example of a rare work of art, this is one of the best,' he said. 'It is valuable in its artistic nature because it is so well drawn.'
The plates were printed in black and white and hand coloured afterwards. That made the production process extremely expensive, especially since it was carried out by 'the best artists of the time', said Harrington.
The collection of 435 hand-coloured prints, made from engravings of Audubon's watercolours, measures more than 3ft by 2ft because Audubon wanted to paint the birds life-size.
The size of the illustrations makes them extremely valuable as standalone pieces of art, which makes the complete edition vulnerable to being broken up so the individual prints can be sold one-by-one.
Harrington said the wild turkey that is depicted in the first big plate of the book can be sold for £126,000.
But Mark Ghahramani, a rare book specialist at Classic Bindings in London, said it is unlikely the 'Birds of America' will be divided up for resale because it is probably more valuable if left intact.
'There are very few copies left of the entire book, so I would think that whoever bought it at the auction would be quite interested in keeping it whole,' he said. 'Anything to do with American natural history is quite valuable.'
Audubon represents a unique figure in American history, a renaissance man with shades of Huckleberry Finn - like Mark Twain's fictional character, Audubon made an epic voyage down the mighty Mississippi - but with a scientist's inquisitive nature.
He made his trip, after his dry-goods business failed, with only a rifle, an assistant, and a drawing pad, making illustrations of as many birds as he could find.
He did not find a printer in the United States willing to take on the book, with its oversize illustrations, but sailed to England, eventually finding printers in Edinburgh, Scotland, and in London.
The volume is seen as a vital piece of American history, Harrington said.
'It is the most important natural history book for America,' he said. 'That is the main point. It screams Americana. For an American patriot, it is the greatest book on American heritage - there is no competition.'
It is one of only 119 remaining copies, and breaks its own world record for the Most Expensive Printed Book.
The sale, entitled Magnificent Books, Manuscripts and Drawings, was from the Collection of Frederick, 2nd Lord Hesketh, The Property of the Trustees of the 2nd Baron Hesketh’s Will Trust.
There was also the first collected edition of Shakespeare's plays, First Folio, dated 1623. It includes Macbeth, The Tempest and Twelfth Night.
Also included is a letter dated 31 October, 1584, from Queen Elizabeth I criticising the imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots. In it, the English monarch writes of Mary's 'sundry hard and daungerous coorses heald towardes us'.
Auction house book specialist David Goldthorpe said: 'Unlike other libraries which specifically focus on, for instance, literature, history or science, the 50 lots coming from this magnificent collection are an example of what is known as ‘high spot collecting’ - when a collector seeks out the very best across a range of fields.
'For example, 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.
'We are thrilled to be offering such a diverse and remarkable collection.'
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