What makes a book rare and valuable? It all comes down to supply and demand — and condition. The rarest books in the world are highly sought after by collectors because they're associated with a particular author or a major historical event or era, or simply because they're incredibly old.
10. The Gutenberg Bible – Gutenberg Bibles are rare and valuable for a number of reasons. In addition to their scarcity and status as the first of their kind, they're books of exceptional quality. Gutenberg used finely crafted paper and vellum, as well as a special ink of his own invention that has remained vivid for centuries. Most of the Bibles were sold in folio form, or as loose pages that the owner would then have bound in the style of his or her desire. That gives each Gutenberg Bible a certain uniqueness. Each Bible is usually split into two volumes, with the Old Testament filling the first volume, and the second volume containing the remainder of the Old Testament and the entire New Testament.
9. Shakespeare's First Folio – No author has exerted more influence on Western literature than William Shakespeare. His works have been performed and read around the world and continue to be revered almost 400 years after his death in 1616. The First Folio is a remarkable book because it is the first authoritative collection of Shakespeare's plays ever published.
8. Edgar Allan Poe's ‘Tamerlane and Other Poems' – The first book Poe ever published was called "Tamerlane and Other Poems." The title piece is about a Turkish warlord who forsakes his true love to build an empire but later regrets the decision. It isn't one of his greatest works, but only about 50 copies were printed — and one recently sold for more than $600,000
7. Leonardo de Vinci's Codex Leicester – Da Vinci was a genius whose scientific observations were matched only by his innovative inventions and artistic talent. The Codex is a direct look at his observations and thought processes. It isn't in book form — the 18 leaves are separated, though they could fold together to form a 72-page book. Like many of da Vinci's works not intended for publication, it was written in mirror-hand: All the letters are reversed, and the writing goes from right to left. It appears "normal" when viewed in a mirror. Many diagrams and sketches are included alongside the text. The subject matter ranges from astronomy to fluid dynamics.
6. John James Audubon's ‘Birds of America' – John James Audubon was a naturalist and painter whose love of the natural world has made his name virtually synonymous with the act of observing and learning about wildlife. In fact, the Audubon Society is named after him. In 1820, he began painting birds in an attempt to paint every single avian species in North America. Audubon eventually completed 435 life-size bird paintings.
The paintings weren't issued in book form, but rather sent to subscribers, several at a time. This is partly why so few complete copies remain — about 120, by most counts. They're often collected and bound into a series of volumes. A full set would've cost about $1,000 when they were printed. Today, individual plates sell for thousands of dollars, and a full collection sold in 2000 for $8.8 million, making it one of the most expensive printed books in the world.
5. Ptolemy's ‘Geographia' – Claudius Ptolemy was a scientist who lived around the year A.D.100. He produced several significant works that preserved much of the ancient world's scientific knowledge. His ideas and practices came into vogue again during the Renaissance.
One of his major works was titled "Geographia," later renamed "Cosmographia." In it, he outlined his principles of geography and cartography, then provided extensive maps of the world as he knew it at the time. Although the maps were very inaccurate by today's standards, they were a major source of the European view of the world during that period.
4. John Calvin's ‘Institutes of Christian Religion' – John Calvin wrote about theology during the Protestant Reformation, a historical era during which sweeping changes pulled the once monolithic Christian religion into many splinter sects. Calvin's writing career came after the initial break — his work underpinned the popularization of religious reform. Today, numerous religious denominations consider themselves Calvinists.
"Institutes of the Christian Religion" is a major work intended to provide guidance and commentary for readers of Biblical scripture. It was first printed in Latin in the 1530s, and later printed in English. In fact, the original title, "Institutio Christianae Religionis," is often a source of controversy, as to whether the English title is a proper translation.
A Latin first edition published in 1536 sold in 2006 for $720,000
3. Arthur Rimbaud's ‘A Season in Hell' – French poet Arthur Rimbaud wrote "A Season in Hell" at the tail end of a tempestuous relationship with fellow poet Paul Verlaine. It's a lengthy poem broken into several sections, and much of it seems to be fueled by Rimbaud's use of hashish, absinthe and alcohol. It's a highly influential work, impacting the development of the Symbolist and Surrealist movements. Rimbaud published it in 1873.
2. The Sarajevo Haggadah – A Haggadah is a Jewish religious text that tells the story of the Passover Seder and explains the seder ritual. Reading a Haggadah and performing the ritual is a key part of Jewish religious worship.
The Sarajevo Haggadah is a handwritten and illustrated book that was probably created in the 14th century. It's an illuminated manuscript, which means the pages are decorated with copper and gold. As a singular, historic book, the Sarajevo Haggadah is essentially priceless, but in 1991 it was appraised for insurance purposes when Spain requested it for a temporary display. The estimated value: $700 million
1. Fyodor Solntsev's ‘Antiquities of the Russian State' – This book is a perfect example of supply and demand. It's similar to Audubon's "Birds of America" in that it's a collection of Fyodor Solntsev's paintings. Instead of birds, Solntsev painted old suits of armor, architecture, religious icons, clothing and costumes worn by nobles and other culturally significant Russian treasures. The paintings were then collected and published as a seven-volume set in 1844. Here's where the supply part comes in: Only 600 sets were made.
The rarity of the work and lushness of the paintings alone make this book valuable, but in recent years, the Russian aristocracy has grown quite a bit. That new cash flow has increased demand for the few complete sets of "Drevnosti Rossiskago Gosudarstva" (the Russian title) still in existence. In 2006, a full set sold for $748,000
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