It could be a record-breaking afternoon in the book world. Today, Christie’s New York will auction off a copy of John James Audubon’s Birds of America, which already holds the title of most valuable printed book in the world, having sold for about $11.5 million in 2010. In fact, according to The Economist, a true list of the ten most valuable single books ever sold would have to include five copies of The Birds of America. Though Christie’s is playing their cards close to the vest and estimating a $7 to $10 million sale, today could see a new record for the book. After all, the copy that sold for $11.5 million was estimated at less than the copy on auction today.
To help you brush up on your knowledge of the very old and very valuable, we’ve compiled a list of the ten most expensive books ever sold — no white gloves necessary. Click through for an overview, and then head upstairs to check your attics for any forgotten dusty tomes — you could be a millionaire and not even know it.
Read More »
Taking on the role of a gallery, auction house giant Sotheby’s presents Divine Comedy, a lively exhibition of art from olden days to contemporary times at its New York outpost. None of the works on view, including major pieces by Jeff Koons, Damian Hirst, Takashi Murakami, and Andres Serrano will be auctioned, but many of them are privately for sale. Using Dante’s epic poem as a point of departure for visual portrayals of Purgatory, Heaven, and Hell, the exhibition gathers together top-notch pieces by some of today’s most in-demand artists.
Read More »
Though the New York Post can’t spell “scuplture,” the paper sure can hype an artist. See: Justin Rocket Silverman’s profile of nudes-on-a-train photographer Zack Hyman; compare to this week’s report on tape sculpture artist Sam Bassett, who spent 20 hours in jail after an aborted attempt at decorating the Sotheby’s building.
Last week in anticipation of Sotheby’s contemporary auction, Bassett spent five minutes perched on a ledge on the building’s facade, plotting how to install one of his streetscape tape installations. Womp-womp, that didn’t work, but Bassett caught the attention of Sotheby’s muscle, who promptly reported him to the police. Nothing like a little suffering for art’s sake! Still, it would have been cool — just check out some of Bassett’s other tape sculptures after the jump.
Read More »
Proving yet again that Andy Warhol is the most famous American artist, living or dead, his silkscreen “200 One Dollar Bills” sold yesterday at Sotheby’s for a whopping $43.8 million. Theoretically, each of those 200 dollar bills is now worth a cool $21.9K. What the collector Pauline Karpidas paid for the artwork — more than four times its estimated selling price — is a symbolic effort to own a piece of Warhol fame pie, not just some arguably second-rate canvas. Plus when you cross your eyes, a 3-D image of Michael Jackson pops out. We kid.
Book publishing is used to dire forecasts for its future; the industry’s funeral has been prematurely anticipated for decades. Publishing was supposed to be killed off at various points by television, the Internet, and the general public’s apathy toward reading. But it’s always managed to scrape by — even if, in these scattered times, it’s been increasingly on the back of huge successes like The Da Vinci Code and the Harry Potter series. The stagnant-but-relatively stable industry has also long been seen as “recession-proof”; the thinking goes that consumers will still spend on small, non-luxe goods, such as books, during a downturn.
Read More »
