The 5 Most Expensive Books

   1. The Gutenberg Bible

The Gutenberg Bible

The Gutenberg Bible written in Latin and printed by Johannes Gutenberg, in Mainz, Germany in 1450. Forty eight copies,or substantial portions of copies,considered by many sources to be the most valuable books in the world. Gutenberg Bible has been bought by James Lenox for $4.9 million at Christie's New York in 1847, it was the first copy to come to the United States.
                                       

 2. Treatise on Fruit Trees

Treatise on Fruit Trees

 Definitely the most expensive book ever written about fruit trees (featuring sixteen different varieties). A copy of this lush, five volume set of illustrations and text sold for about $4.5 million in 2006. Treatise on Fruit Trees was written by Henri Louis Duhamel du Monceau. This book was illustrated by Pierre Antoine Poiteau and Pierre Jean Francois Turpin.

 3. Geographia Cosmographia

Geographia Cosmographia

Geographia Cosmographia is Ptolemy's main work besides the Almagest. Geographia Cosmographia is the world's first printed atlas and the world's first book to make use of engraved illustrations. It is a treatise on cartography and a compilation of what was known about the world's geography in the Roman Empire of the 2nd century. This book sold at Sotheby's London in 2006 for £2,136,000, or almost $4 million at the time. 

 

4. The Tales of Beedle the Bard

The Tales of Beedle the Bard

The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a book of children's stories. This book was written by British author J.K Rowling. It purports to be the storybook of the same name mentioned in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the last book of the Harry Potter series. The book was originally produced in a limited edition of only seven copies, each handwritten and illustrated by J. K. Rowling. One of them was offered for auction in late 2007 and was expected to sell for

£50,000 (US$103,000, €80,000). In the end it was bought for £1.95 million ($3.98 million, €2.28 million) by Amazon.com. 

5. The Book of Urizen

The Book of Urizen

The Book of Urizen was originally published in 1794. The author of this book is William Blake. The Book of Urizen is one of the major pieces and the most important in Blake’s series of prophetic works.This book was sold at Sotheby's New York in 1999 for $2.5 million to a private collector. The name of this book was taken from the character Urizen in Blake's Mythology, who represents odd reason as the source of oppression. The book describes Urizen as the "primeaval priest" and tells how he became separated from the other Eternals to create his own odd world and enslaving realm of religious dogma.