Top 10 World’s Most Expensive Books and Manuscripts

The Tales of Beedle The Bard

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10) The First Book of Urizen - William Blake — $2.5 million

English poet William Blake printed copies of this seminal work in 1794, using his own method of etching combined with hand-painted plates. Each of the copies was unique, featuring different page orders, numbers and artwork, and only eight examples are believed to still exist.

In 1999, one such copy was sold by Sotheby’s in New York for a price of $2.5 million.

9) The Tales of Beedle the Bard - J.K. Rowling — $3.98 million

Rowling produced seven copies of this hand-written and illustrated manuscript, featuring fairy stories mentioned within her Harry Potter books. Bound in leather and 157 pages long, six of the copies were gifted to Rowling’s close associates with a seventh offered up for auction in 2007.

It was purchased by the internet retailer Amazon.com for a price of $3.98 million (a record for a modern literary manuscript), all of which was donated to The Children’s Voice charity.

8) Geographia Cosmographia - Claudius Ptolemy — $3.99 million

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Where The Wild Things Are (1963 1st edition)

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Brief History/biography

Maurice Bernard Sendak was best known for his children’s book Where the Wild Things Are (1963, Haper & Row, New York). The charming story coupled with his moving and imaginative illustrations enchanted children worldwide, despite initial concerns that the characters were monstrous and grotesque.

Some critics have said that Where the Wild Things Are is the first book to depict the psychology of childhood anger and frustration as working itself out through a beautiful and imaginative process, as a child sent to bed without supper rampages through his own imagination and frightens all the monsters within it, before feeling lonely and returning to find his supper hot and waiting for him. In this way, by presenting misbehaviour as something not to regret but as part of the dreams and formations of childhood, Sendak revolutionised the way in which children’s books were written.

He insisted that his ‘gods’ and influences were Herman Melville and Emily Dickinson, as well as Mozart.

Sendak also illustrated the Little Bear series of books by Else Holmelund Minarik, and Zlateh the Goat by Isaac Bashevis Singer. His later book In the Night Kitchen (1970) was censored due to nudity. Outside Over There (1981) tells the story of a girl whose little sister is captured by goblins. His final book was Bumble Ardy (2011), published eight months before his death from a stroke in 2012.

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Jonkers Rare Books

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Jonkers Rare Books is based in Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire, and specialises in handling rare books, manuscripts and original illustrative artwork.

History

Jonkers was founded in 1991 by Christiaan Jonkers, and specialised in the first editions of twentieth century literature.

The company grew rapidly and in 1998 merged with Sam Jonkers's Bromlea Books, which was based in the north of England and specialized in childrens' and illustrated book. The company was briefly known as Bromlea & Jonkers, before reverting to Jonkers Rare Books in 2001.

The Henley office was opened in late 1998 and the scope was extended to include nineteenth century literature, literary sets and fine bindings, as well as Thames topography and important books in the fields of travel and science.

Expertise and Services

Jonkers are acknowledged experts in the fields of nineteenth and twentieth century literature and children's books. They specialise in working closely with private collectors and institutional libraries to help them build significant collections in these areas. Libraries with whom they have worked with include The British Library; The Bodlean Library, Oxford; The Lily Library, Indiana; The Cotsen Children's Library, Princeton and The Ransom Centre, Texas.

They issue regular catalogues of collections or for exhibitions of books and manuscripts.

Jonkers also undertake appraisals for sale or valuation purposes, and represent buyer interest at auction.

Notable Sales

Jonkers hit the headlines in March 2010 for the private sale of a presentation copy of the first edition of Jane Austen's Emma for £325,000.

In April 2008 Jonkers sold a first edition of James Joyce's Ullysses inscribed by the author to his brother, Stanislaus Joyce (£250,000).

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