Rare Book Monthly

Articles - January - 2021 Issue

AbeBooks Releases Its Top 10 List of Most Expensive Books for 2020

Arabia in Ptolemy's time.

Arabia in Ptolemy's time.

AbeBooks, the website that offers hundreds of millions of primarily used and old books from thousands of booksellers around the world, has listed the Top 10 highest prices paid on their site in 2020. At least something good happened in this terrible year. It is kind of surprising to see how much money some people charge on their credit cards on the web. My bank would cut me off on the basis of my credit limit if I tried this, but not these collectors. Serious collectors are finding serious material on AbeBooks and are going for it.

 

This year's list contains a wide range of different types of books with a date range of over five centuries, almost the entire span of printing. Here are the Top 10 most expensive books purchased from AbeBooks in 2020.

 

10. Linda McCartney. Life in Photographs. Linda McCartney was a photographer and the first wife of Beatle Paul McCartney. She tragically died of breast cancer at the age of 56. Her husband and children collaborated to publish this tribute in 2011, 13 years after she died. $20,000.

 

9. The Dark Tower by Stephen King. This is the complete set of nine books published in 12 volumes by Donald M. Grant. Each volume is signed by King and the illustrator. $21,080.

 

8. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. An early edition of this book is very valuable, but this one was published in 1969, over a century after the first. What gives? The answer is this edition contains 13 plates of illustrations by Salvador Dali, one of 200 copies signed by him. $23,600.

 

6 tie. The Lost World by Michael Crichton. An unread as-new copy of the 1995 first edition signed by Steven Spielberg and ten actors from the 1997 film adaptation. $25,000.

 

6. tie. Goldfinger by Ian Fleming. Fleming's books have seen an enormous increase in their value over the past few years. This is a signed first edition of one his favorites and an enormously successful movie. $25,000.

 

5. David Bailey Art Edition. A book need not be old to be valuable. Published in 2019. A massive book of Bailey's photographs, complete with a tripod book stand and an extra print of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. One of 75 copies. $25,225.

 

4. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. A first edition from 1843 and a perfect item for a holiday season list. $27,500.

 

3. Ptolemaic Map of Arabia. This copy of the map originated by the second century geographer/astronomer from Alexandria, Ptolemy, is a double-page woodcut taken from the 1482 Ulm atlas. $27,880.

 

2. Innocentia Victrix (Innocent Victorious). A book written by Jesuit missionaries in China in 1671, printed using Chinese woodblock printing. Contains imperial decrees printed in Chinese and Latin favorable to Christians in China. $41,800.

 

1. Ulysses by James Joyce. This is actually not the Shakespeare & Co. first edition of 1922. It is a Bodley Head 1936 edition, of which there were 1,000 copies, but this is #69 of 100 copies signed by Joyce. $46,310.

Rare Book Monthly

  • High Bids Win
    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
    and Machine Manuals
    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Ellis Smith Prints unsigned. 20” by 16”.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: United typothetae of America presidents. Pictures of 37 UTA presidents 46th annual convention United typothetae of America Cincinnati 1932.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec signed Paper Impressionism Art Prints. MayMilton 9 1/2” by 13” Reine de Joie 9 1/2” by 13”.
    High Bids Win
    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
    and Machine Manuals
    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Aberle’ Ballet editions. 108th triumph, American season spring and summer 1944.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Puss ‘n Boots. 1994 Charles Perrult All four are signed by Andreas Deja
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Specimen book of type faces. Job composition department, Philadelphia gazette publishing company .
    High Bids Win
    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
    and Machine Manuals
    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: An exhibit of printed books, Bridwell library.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur Court By Mark Twain 1889.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: 1963 Philadelphia Eagles official program.
    High Bids Win
    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
    and Machine Manuals
    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: 8 - Esquire the magazine for men 1954.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: The American printer, July 1910.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Leaves of grass 1855 by Walt Whitman.
  • Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: William Shakespeare.
    The Poems and Sonnets of William Shakespeare, 1960. 7,210 USD
    Sotheby’s: Charles Dickens.
    A Christmas Carol, First Edition, 1843. 17,500 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Golding.
    Lord of the Flies, First Edition, 1954. 5,400 USD
    Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: Lewis Carroll.
    Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, Inscribed First Edition, 1872. 25,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien.
    The Hobbit, First Edition, 1937. 12,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: John Milton.
    Paradise Lost, 1759. 5,400 USD

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