First Published Book Fetches Auction Record
- December 01, 2013 22:27
The Bay Psalm Book, the first book published in America, became the most expensive book ever sold at auction last week.
One of only 11 known to exist today, the book brought $14,165,000 at Sotheby's on Tuesday. It was published in 1640 by Puritan settlers in Cambridge, MA.
The buyer was American businessman David M. Rubenstein, of Washington-based investment firm the Carlyle Group, He plans to loan the book to various libraries.
The little book of psalms surpassed the previous book record of $11.54 million paid in 2010 for a copy of John James Audubon’s “Birds of America.”
![A 19th century Seven Piece "Chrysanthemum" Pattern Sterling Silver Coffee & Tea Service, which was exhibited in the Tiffany & Co. booth at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exhibition in Chicago](/images/c/78/96/Tiffany___Co__Makers_Seven_Piece_"Chrysanthem100x100_c.jpg "A 19th century Seven Piece \"Chrysanthemum\" Pattern Sterling Silver Coffee & Tea Service, which was exhibited in the Tiffany & Co. booth at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exhibition in Chicago")
_-Closing-the-Distance_100x100_c.jpg "Lot 204: Bob Kuhn (1920–2007),Closing the Distance, 1977, acrylic on masonite, 24 x 48 in, Sold: $409,500")
