Birds of America, by John James Audubon, is the world’s most expensive book and, come December, a copy is to be auctioned at the London Auction House, alongside a First Folio from 1623! Both come from the estate of the late Baron Hesketh, who died in 1955 – aged just 39.
For those who don’t know, Birds of America is a work of natural history; a collection of 435 hand-coloured prints, made from engravings of life-size illustrations that Audubon himself drew. Audubon would famously shoot birds during his travels, then have his wife stuff them so he could draw them to full scale in his book, which he would sell to the exceptionally rich. Although this may seem grotesque to modern, liberal readers, the work was so highly regarded during the 19th century that it is even mentioned in the Origin of Species.
Under 120 copies of Birds of America are known to remain in existence and most of these are kept in museums. It is very rare for a copy to come on sale and, when one does, it’s always a spectacle! One copy sold in 2000 took a record-breaking $8.8 million at a Christie’s auction and this one is expected to sell for up to £6 million!
