Michelle Griep

View Original

And You Think You Have a Book Problem?

post by Michelle Griep
So I was toodling around the internet today because, hey, what else is there to do? Don't judge me.

Anyway, I came across some information that made me feel really good about my charred credit card that's still smoking from the last time I went to the bookstore. Apparently what I spend is chump change compared to what others dole out. Here are the top 5 most expensive sellers from AbeBooks in 2015 . . .

Storia Naturale Degli Uccelli by Manetti
What would you pay for a book about birds that contains 600 hand-colored engraved plates of our feathered friends? Well, too bad you didn't scoop this one up for $191,000 like someone esle did because now the price has skyrocketed to $450,000. Bird lovers. Sheesh. Go figure.

Pangeometria by Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevskii
Too late all you math lovers out there. You missed out on this sweet deal. This book sold for $34,245 and there aren't any more left.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
Now this one, a first edition signed by the author, I might've been tempted to buy. But my checkbook wasn't, not for $25,000.

Sertum Orchidaceum: A Wreath of the Most Beautiful Orchidaceous Flowers by John Lindley
My first question is this: is orchidaceous a real word or is that totally made up?
Second question: what's the attraction over hand-colored plates?
This puppy sold for $24,643 and it's all about orchids.

Plantes de la France by Jaume Saint-Hilaire
Nature books seem to be the trendiest of the trendy. This first edition has 1,000 illustrations but they're not hand-colored. They were engraved on copper and then printed in color. And all that work would cost you $22,549.

Suddenly I'm not feeling so bad about that $25 hardcover I picked up over at Amazon.