Most Expensive Books & Manuscripts Ever Sold

About This Dataset

This chart ranks the most expensive books and manuscripts ever sold at auction or private sale, by record price in US dollars (figures adjusted to current dollars). It includes historic manuscripts, printed documents and rare volumes.

✨ AI Insight

Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Leicester tops this ranking at about 66.9 million dollars, the notebook famously bought by Bill Gates in 1994. A first printing of the United States Constitution follows at 51.3 million, showing how historic printed documents can rival unique handwritten manuscripts. Chinese calligraphy is strongly represented through letters by Zhao Mengfu and Zeng Gong, at 48.1 and 42.6 million, reflecting the enormous value placed on classical Chinese works. Religious texts also feature prominently, including the printer's manuscript of the Book of Mormon, the Codex Sassoon Hebrew Bible and the illuminated Sherborne Missal. The range, from 66.9 million down to 21.9 million, illustrates how rarity, historical importance and cultural significance combine to drive these record prices.

Source: Wikipedia (List of most expensive books and manuscripts)

Key Findings

Auto-computed highlights from this dataset

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Codex Leicester (da Vinci) leads with 67 in All Time.

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Average value in All Time: 43 · median: 41.

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Gap in All Time: Codex Leicester (da Vinci) is 3.1× larger than Book of Tang (woodblock edition).