Expensive Books Sold, Authors, Price, And Why, Part-2
In the Previous Post, Expensive Books Sold, Why?, Authors, Part-1 We know about 5 expensive books sold, now it is time to know another 5 expensive books their author’s life, Price & why they are also that much expensive.
5.
St. Cuthbert Gospel
Author:
St. Cuthbert
Original Price:
$ 14
million ₹ 104.93 Cr.
Inflation
adjusted price: $15.94 million ₹ 119.55 Cr.
Why:
The
earliest intact European book was purchase by British Library in London in 2012
for $ 14 million (₹ 104.93 Cr.) after a successful fundraising effort. The
Gospel was buried its owner & writer St. Cuthbert who died in 687. The book
is remarkably good condition & still retains its binding & beautiful
red cover, despite being 1300 years old. The Gospel was unearthed in 1104 when
Cuthbert’s remains were being moved from a grave to a shine for a while, it was
used as a protective talisman from time to time. By carry 17th
century the book was owned privately & until it was denoted to a Jesuit
Community in Belgium, where it remained for 250 years.
Author’s
life:
He
was born on 634 A.D. One day during the night after looking sheep he saw a
vision of someone being taken to heaven by angles. After few days later he
found that very night a man called Aidan had died. Aidan was a bishop he had
invited over to Northumbria by King Oswald & he helped to set up
monasteries around Northumbia to teach people about Jesus. Now Cuthbert saw as
a sign that God wanted him to become him a monk like Aidan had been so, he went
to monastery at Melrose & he learned how to become he monk. Now he was
greeted by a man called boys will when he saw cuff but arriving said here comes
a man of God, already there was something special about cuff but that people
who had not even met him could notice boys will taught him everything about
being a monk he taught him how to write, how to read bible, taught him about
Jesus, & how to pray. He was very popular member of the community &
sadly boys will fell it Cuthbert was there he hold his hand through it & to
him cuff but one day you’ll be a bishop after boys died he became the prior the
head monk of the monastery & after few years he was invited to become the
prior Lindisfarne monastery now Lindisfarne it was a special place it is
attached to mainland but also in Ireland at the same time & it was there
that he became popular because they noticed Cuthbert had been given a gift he
had been given the given of healing & of course there were no hospitals or
doctors at the time & so wherever Cuthbert went there was always somebody
there who wanted him to be prayed for & as much as Cuthbert engaged being
with the people he also loved the God the most & he needed spent some time
just him & God so he decided to leave Lindisfarne & he went to live on
little Island called the Inner Farne & he lived there as a hermit he built
himself a hermitage to live in he also build a chapel & he built a
guesthouse for the monks to come & visit him. He spent most of time just
him & god, & now King Icarus decided that he had a job for Cuthbert but
to do so he invited Cuthbert to become a bishop, however Cuthbert was having
such a nice time on his island, just him & God that he said “No actually
Thank You”. King sent another messenger & asked him to become bishop &
Cuthbert said “No Thank You” & it was 3rd time when King sent
over himself that he remembered the words the boys said to him one day you will
be bishop so Cuthbert agreed & went to become bishop, the bishop of the
Lindisfarne. Now he was getting pretty old & he decided that he would only
spend a few years of his life in his role because he felt that his life was
coming to an end so he retired & he went back live on his little island the
Inner Farne & that is where Cuthbert
died now the monks persuaded for him to be buried back Aunt Linda’s farm so they
could look after his Shrine & his Shrine became a popular place as we do
now we pay our respects & lay flower people came & paid their respect
to & left gifts & flowers & money as they also realized that people
whilst they were, there was still being healed so Cuthbert became a very
popular place for pilgrims, for people of faith wanting to get closer to God a
few years, after Cuthbert they thought that maybe they could share this power
of healing with other places so they could send Cuthbert’s bones to other
places a bit weird bit weird but that how they thought then, once upon a time
when they went into his coffin 11 years later to remove the bones they did not
find any bone they found a man lying like he was asleep as bead right now the
Viking and the monks were very worried about the safety of the Cuthbert so
decided a Journey to find a safe place & they travelled all over the north
& looking for somewhere to be & eventually they got a place called
Chesley Street & there for over a 100 years however Vikings came back &
they felt the need to move somewhere else & the legend is whilst on this
journey the Cart that was carrying Cuthbert’s coffin got so heavy it could not
be moved & so the monk decided they are going to spend the night there
& think about it & what happens in the morning & during the night Cuthbert came to one of the monks in dream & said take me to Dunn
home & waked up next morning & shared this with other monks, the monks
had no idea where is Dunn home. They were very luckily in the next to next
field they heard a conversation of milk maid. One milk maid low a cow &
luckily other milkman seen it up on the hill at Dunn home, now Dunn means hill
& home means island & that is old English for Durham & that is how
in 195 they arrived at Durham & they started to build a monastery &
then in 1093 nearly a 100 years later they complete Cathedral.
4.
The Magna Carta
Author:
John, King of England & Stephen
Langton
Original Price:
$ 21.3
million ₹ 159.75 Cr.
Inflation
adjusted price: $26.9 million ₹ 201.75 Cr.
Why:
The
copy of it is an auction of museum in 2001, Billionaire Co Founder of the
Carlyle Group David Rubenstein alarmed that this historic manuscript would end
up with an owner versus decided to plunk down a $ 19 million (₹141.93 Cr.) bid for a
copy, including fees & commission the end cost was $21.3 million (₹159.75
Cr.). It is unknown how many copies were made but it is estimated there were
maybe 250 copies. In 2015, an original copy of it was found in an old scrapbook
in British coastal town it is speculated that it is price is $15 million (₹112.05 Cr.)
but has not been put for sale.
John,
King of England Life:
He
was born on Dec./24/1166, Beaumont Place, Oxford. His father name was Henry II,
King of England & Mother name was Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine. He never
meant be king but his father called him John Lackland because there were
originally no past of the huge Angevin Empire left for him & 3 problems
that Lurked at the core of monarchy in England now became crises. How did
succession work? What was the balance between the king & the church &
what legal limits existed on royal power? Especially when it comes to taxes, to
begin with was he really Richard’s proper successor one of his elder brothers
Geoffrey had died leaving a son Arthur & there were barons in Anjou &
Maine who argued that this 13 year old was the proper successor. They were
supported by Philip, King of France. The only way to settle a succession
dispute was by violence so John went to war. His men captured the boy & he
was never seen again. It was generally believed that John drowned him which was
the wrong way to solve the problem. He is guaranteed that Arthur would not be
King but it left a very nasty smell. It did not stop the King of France from
keeping the war going &by 1205 John was driven out of most of France
including Aquitaine & even Normandy. The issue of church power also came up
again it was John’s bad luck to be confronted by an exceptionally militant
& aggressive Pope, INNOCENT III. INNOCENT maintained that Kings had to
submit to popes. When the Archbishop of Canterbury died, INNOCENT announced
that Stephen Langton who happened to be English, was the new Archbishop. John
refused to accept the Pope’s man. Rome would not give around & neither
would John. In 1209 the Vatican excommunicated the King of England & his
whole kingdom. Back in England John attempted to carry on regardless. The Pope
declared John deposed & that anyone who even spoke to him was
excommunicated. According to one chronicler John decided at this point to join
the enemy. In 1213 he sent a delegation to the Emir of Morocco, offering to
adopt Islam & turn England into an Islamic country in return for
protection. That would have turned history upside-down. ..is it true? The Emir,
acc. to the story; told the envoys not to be such silly. In fact John was
reduced to total surrender. The Pope demanded that the submit himself as a
vassel of the Church & that England should become a papal fief, instead of
a sovereign Kingdom. So in 1213 Stephen Langton the new Archbishop of
Canterbury took up his post as a representative of the new overload of England.
In that capacity he decided to sort out the 3rd issue- the limits of
the Kings power of his subjects. Barons were now virtually an organized
political party. This is the seal of the barons of London. Langton presented
them with the Charter issued by Henry I & suggested that they demand
something along the same lines but a bit clearer. The Magna Carta- this famous
document was signed in June 1215 John Richard both tried to meet their costs by
massive increase in feudal dues & legal charges & most the Magna Carta
in an effort to reverse these. But there are also other clauses that show that
Langton & the Barons thought that laws must bind the King himself as well
as everyone else. There was a notion of proper kingship in England & the
Magna Carta tried to spell out what that meant. If Langton had not been an
Englishman the Magna Carta would probably have looked very different, & it
was certainly incomprehensible to Pope INNOCENT; who saw it as a baffling &
immortal limitation on the absolute power of the feudal Lord of England who was
of course himself. So INNOCENT issued a papal bull excommunicating anyone who stood
by or tried to carry out Magna Carta, & Stephen Langton found himself suspended
from his job & recalled to Rome & John marched through England at the
head of an army, composed largely of foreign troops- crushing the Barons & destroying
their property. And that is why the Barons went to France & got a new King
of their own- Louis the son of the King of France. And so came the 2nd
French invasion of England in 1216. It was about the same size as the invasion of
1066 & Louis landed unopposed. He was greeted with general enthusiasm &
was hailed as King of England in a high-mass at some Paul’s Cathedral. He set
up his own government & his army began its pursuit of John’s dwindling forces.
John was assembling an army to stage the great final battles & was travelling
along the seashore from Lynn to Lincolnshire. A miscalculation of the tide was
all he needed! His whole baggage-train was washed away including his treasure
& the crown jewels. Distraught broken he made his way to an abbey at
Swineshead, where he was comforted with the monks latest experiment in beer
making which seems to have brought on dysentery, fever & death. Louis who
had been acclaimed King at a mass in some Paul’s Cathedral now had the throne
to himself. He had no coronation as the bishops had been excommunicated. But
rulers are created in England by acclamation not coronation, which is why the
uncrowned Edward VIII was a King & Lady Jane Grey who did have a coronation
was not Queen. And Louis got rubbed out of the list of England’s monarchs
because his acclamation was with hindsight withdrawn. That was because the
Barons had not expected Louis to appoint his friends from France & Flanders
as his chief councilors. They had expected to be given much more control over
what went on & then they though there is a better option. John had a 9
years old son Henry. Of course no child had ever been King, but there is a 1st
time for everything.
He
died in Oct./19/1216, Newark Castle, Newark on Trent, Nottinghamshire.
Stephen
Langton :
He was born in 1150, Lincolnshire, United
Kingdom. His father name was Henry Langton, a landowner in Langton by Wragby,
Lincolnshire. Stephen Langton may have been born in a moated farmhouse in the
village, & was probably educated in his local cathedral school. Stephen
studied at the University of Paris & lectured there on theology until 1206,
when Pose INNOCENT III, with whom he had formed a friendship in Paris, called
him to Rome & made him cardinal-priest of San Crisogono, Rome. His piety
& learning had already won him prebends in Paris & York & he was
recognised as the foremost English churchman. His brother Simon Langton was
elected Archbishop of York in 1215, but that election was quashed by Pope INNOCENT
III. Simon served his brother Stephen as Archdeacon of Canterbury in 1227.
Simon & Stephen had another brother named Walter, a knight died childless. Stephen
was a prolific writer, Glosses, commentaries, expositions, & treatises by him
on almost all the books of the Old Testament & many sermons, are preserved
in manuscript at Lambeth Palace, at Oxford & Cambridge & in France.
Acc. to F.J.E. Raby ,“There is little reason to doubt that Stephen Langton was
the author” of the famous sequence Veni Sancte Spiritus. The only other of his
works which has been printed, besides a few letters are Tractatus de
translatione Beati Thomae, which is probably an expansion of a sermon he
preached in 1220, on occasion of the translation of the relics of Thomas
Becket, the ceremony was the most splendid that had ever been seen in England.
He also wrote a life of Richard I, & other historical works & poems are
attributed to him. Classically, scrolls of the books of the Bible have always
been divided by blank spaces at the end or middle of the lines. However,
Langton is believed to be the one who divided the Bible into the standard
modern arrangement of chapters. While Cardinal Hugo de Sancto Caro is also
known to have come up with a systematic division of the Bible (between 1244
& 1248), it is Langton’s arrangement of the chapters that remains in use
today. He died at Slindon, United Kingdom (U.K.), near Chichester, Sussex on
July/9/1228. He was build in some open ground beside the south transept of
Canterbury Cathedral. St. Michael’s Chapel was later built over his ground (now
the Buffs Regimental Chapel), & the head of his tomb projects into the east
end of this chapel, under its altar, with the foot outside it.
3.
The Gospels of Henry the Lion
Author: The Gospels of Henry the Lion were intended
by Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, for the altar of the Virgin Mary in
the church of St. Blaise's Abbey, Brunswick better known as Brunswick
Cathedral. The volume is considered a masterpiece of Romanesque book
illumination of the 12th century.
Original
Price: $11.7
million ₹ 87.29 Cr.
Inflation
adjusted price: $30.73 million ₹229.28 Cr.
Why:
The Gospel Book was made
for the duke on commission at the Benedictine Helmarshausen Abbey. As for its
date, the church in Brunswick was built in 1173, and the altar of the Virgin
Mary was dedicated in 1188. The creation of the gospel book was formerly placed
by most authorities at about 1175 ("early dating") but today the
balance of opinion puts it at about 1188 ("late dating").
The manuscript,
containing 266 pages with the text of the four gospels 50 of them full page
illustrations, was sold by auction on 6 December 1983 at Sotheby’s in London for
£8,140,000(₹ 82.25 Cr). The purchase price was raised, in
the context of a German national initiative for the preservation of national
treasures, by the German Government, the Bundesländer of Lower
Saxony and Bavaria the Stiftung Preussicher Kulturbesitz and
private donors (largely from Brunswick). It was the most expensive book in the
world until 1994, when Bill Gates bought the Codex Leicester, a manuscript
by Leonardo Da Vinci. The gospel book,
preserved completely intact, with 50 full page miniatures, is kept in the
Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbuttel, and for security reasons is
displayed only once every two years.
2.The
Book of Mormon
Author:
Joseph Smith
Original
Price: $35
million ₹261.24 Cr.
Inflation
adjusted price: $37.38 million ₹279.01 Cr.
Why:
According
to the LDS Church this 1830 handwritten manuscript is a copy of the one of that
Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, dictated to his scribes. It is also the
manuscript used to typeset the original book of Mormon. In 2017the book was
sold to the LDS Church by the community of Christ, which has owned it for 114
years.
Author
Life:
He
is most well known as the 1st prophet & President of the church
of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. Latter day saints believe that god called
Joseph Smith to restore the fullness of gospel to the earth. He was born on
December 23rd 1805 he was the 5th of 11 children born to
Joseph Smith Senior & Lucy Mack Smith. They were a close-knit family of
farmers who struggled to make a living. They were often forced to move
throughout the Northeastern U.S. in order to support themselves eventually
family settled in Upstate, New York. They were devote Christians they read
Bible as a family & attended several churches in the area searching for one
that fit their beliefs yet Joseph was confused by the conflicting teachings.
Joseph loved the Bible & the teachings of Jesus but he was confused by the
conflicting opinions of the various Churches one day while studying the Bible
Joseph read a verse in the New Testament that said “If any of you lack wisdom,
he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it
will be given to him.”. After careful reflection, he decided to do as the
scripture directed he would ask God which Church he should join on a Spring
Morning 1820. He went to a grooved of trees near his family’s farm to pray
Joseph knelt & prayed. He said that as he prayed I scuv a pillar of light
exactly over my head above the brightness of the sun which descended gradually united fell upon me &
the light rested upon me I saw 2 personages whose brightness & glory defy
all description standing above me in the air & one of them spoke up to me
calling me by name & said pointing to pointing to the other this is my
beloved son hear him. He asked the Lord which Church he should join the Lord
instructed him not to join any of them that experience which came to be known
as the 1st vision set in motion what the Apostle Peter referred to
as the “… restitution of all things which God spoken, that is Jesus Christ
would called Joseph to restore his true Church to the earth. Joseph would go on
to learn that Christ’s true Church the one with his authority that he founded during his time on earth had been
lost from the earth after the martyrdom of the original Church’s leaders 3
years after the 1st vision an angel visited Joseph & instructed
him to unearth an ancient record hidden in a nearby hill which Joseph
translated by the power of God this ancient record was the Book of Mormon of
another testament of Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon contains an art of God’s
dealing with ancient inhabitants of the Americans & latter day saints
believe it is scripture another witness of Jesus Christ along with the Bible
the Lord also sent Peter James & John to restore his priesthood that is
authority to act in the name of God Joseph Smith also received revelations from
the Lord that taught & clarified
eternal principles such as the importance of baptism the need for temples where we make sacred covenants
with God & that marriage performed by the restored priesthood can last
eternally not just until the end of our moral life on April 6th
1830. The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints was officially organized
& Joseph Smith was sustained as the 1st elder & leader of
the Church. He was died on June 27th 1844..
1.The
Codex of Leicester
Author:
Leonardo Da Vinci
Original
Price: $30.8
million ₹229.89 Cr.
Inflation
adjusted price: $54.4 million ₹406.05 Cr.
Why:
Leonardo
Da Vinci’s Codex Leicester as known as the Codex Hammer, the most expensive
book ever sold. The 72 page linen manuscript includes Leonardo’s thoughts,
theories & observations of the world like the movement of water, Gossils
& Luminosity of the moon. In 1980, industrialist, Armand Hammer purchased
Codex for $ 5.8 million (₹ 43.29 Cr.)[ $ 18.4 million (₹ 137.34 Cr.)]. It then
sold $ 30.8 million ₹ 229.89 Cr. in 1994 to Bill Gates, who was not yet the
richest person in the world-although he was certain wealthy. After buying the
Codex, Gates had it digitally scanned, then released some images as screen
saver & wallpaper for Windows 98 plus. That is quite a journey for a book
written in 1510.
Author
Life:
He
was a painter, sculpture, architect, engineer & scientist. He was born on
April 15th 1452, in tour of Vinci, Italy. His father name was Piero
Da Vinci & mother’s name was Caterina. Not much is known about his
childhood other than his father was wealthy & had a number of wives. Very
little is known about Leonardo Da Vinci’s early life & for many years.
About the age of 14 he became a apprentice to a famous artist named Verrochole.
He learned to paint & sculpt under him & was also taught the basics of
metallurgy, drafting, chemistry, botany, cartography & carpentry at his
workshop. He collaborated with Verrocchio on a number of paintings such as “The
Baptism of Christ”. By 1472, Leonardo qualified as a master in the Guild of St.
Late an association of artists & doctors. One of his earliest drawings in
“Arno Valley”, a sketch of the valley of the same name, which was made on
August 5th 1473 with the help of Verrocchio. In 1478 he received 2
important painting commissions “St. Jerome in the Wilderness” & “Adoration
of the Magi” both of which were never completed. From 1478 to 1480 he painted
“Madonna of the Carnation”, an oil painting with the central motifs of Young
Mary & Baby Jesuson her lap & a carnation in her left hand. The next
important works were “Virgin of the Rocks” & “Madonna of the Rocks” which
is similar in style, but differed in composition. He was commissioned to create
a massive horse statue for a patron. One of his
greatest paintings, “The Last Supper”, was commissioned to him by the
Duke Lodovico Storza & Leonardo worked on it from 1495 to 1498. In 1500,
Leonardo was appeared as military architect & engineer. In 1502 he entered
the Lervice of Cesare Borgia the son of Pope Alexander VI, & created a map
of Cesar’s city at a time when maps were not common. In 1803, Leonardo went to
Florence & began painting a mural of “The Battle of Anghari” which took him
2 years to complete. He started painting his masterpiece “Mona Lisa”, also
called “La Gioconda” around the same time & completed it in 1506. In 1506
returned to Milan & many of his prominent pupils began to work with him. He
was obsessed with flight & had plans for building something similar to a
helicopter in 1502. He wrote several books throughout his lifetime, including
“Codex on the Flight of Birds” in 1505, a scientific palimpsest containing 18
folios. The “Vitruvian Man” is a drawing created by Leonardo Da Vinci. In 1490
& depicts 2 superimpused position of a male figure. He was not attracted to
women, but developed a close friendship with his patrons Cecilia Gallernai
& the 2 Este Sisters Isabella & Beatrice. Vinci died on May 2nd
1519, in Chateau Du Clos Luce, Amboise, Kingdom of France at the age of 67.
