Sotheby's to sell rare Audubon 'Birds of America'

[September 09, 2010]  LONDON (AP) -- A British auction house is selling a work of natural history billed as the world's most expensive book, alongside a rare first edition of Shakespeare's plays.

One of only 100 or so remaining copies of John James Audubon's early 19th-century "Birds of America" is valued at between 4 million pounds and 6 million pounds ($6.2 million and $9.2 million), while a Shakespeare First Folio from 1623 is expected to fetch at least 1 million pounds ($1.54 million).

Sotheby's books expert David Goldthorpe said Thursday the two tomes are "the twin peaks of book collecting" -- the most expensive book in the world, and the most important.

They from the collection of the late 2nd Baron Hesketh, an aristocratic book collector.

The sale will be held in London on Dec. 7.

[Associated Press]

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