Little book of psalms from 1640, which is believed to be the first book printed in the today’s United States, sold yesterday for $14.2 million at Sotheby’s New York thus setting the auction record for a printed book . ” Bay Psalm Book ” was sold at auction in Manhattan, was estimated to be worth between $15 and $30 million. By comparison, the book John James Audubon ” Birds of America” held the previous record at auction when was sold in 2010 for $11.5 million.
Only 11 copies of the book ” Bay Psalm Book” exists today, in varying degrees of preservation. The book, which was sold at auction is one of two owned by the Boston Old South Church, built in 1699, which decided to sell out of financial reasons. It was printed by Puritan settlers in Cambridge, Massachusetts and contains translations of the Hebrew Psalms into English , and then printed 1,700 copies.
The book was bought by American businessman and philanthropist David Rubenstein who plans to be on loan to libraries in the country .
Auction record for any printed version keeps the “Da Vinci Code”, a personal notebook of scientific diagrams and notes which was sold in 1994 at Christie’s for $30,8 million.
