I have this fantasy that I am harboring a rare , insanely worthful first edition of some obscure book somewhere on my overstuffed bookshelf . I ’ll determine I do n’t need it someday and take it to trade in at Half Price Books and the overly - honest hombre behind the counter will give me a look like I ’ve lose my mind and say , " Are youcrazy ? Do you know what this isworth ? There must be only five of these in the entireworld!“Yeah . It ’s not very probable to happen . But you could bet that I ’m go to give some meter to comb through the den this weekend to see if I have any of these pricey pages in my self-command .
3.Cosmography , based on the work of Ptolemy , is a pretty rare find : there are only two known copy in the world ( mayhap one of them is in my den . No ? ) . The 1477 book was deserving $ 4 million the last time it was sold .
4 . James Audubon’sBirds of Americasold for $ 8.8 million in 2000 . Only 200 stark exercise set were ever issued , and most of them were broken up to sell one by one , which is why a complete bent is so worthful .
5.Oliver Twistby Charles Dickens . If you discover one of these in your hot slight hand , consider yourself lucky " “ Christie ’s auction house in New York sold a sign first variant of the book for $ 229,000 , making it the most valuable Dickens book ever .
9.Moby Dick . At the same auction , an original version of Melville ’s whale tale in blue cloth binding went for $ 30,500 . It ’s no Codex Leicester , but I ’d say $ 30,500 is nothing to sneeze at .
Do we have any Koran - collecting _ flossers out there?I’m not one myself , but I ’m think it might be a fine time to start .
