PLEASE do visit the link given at the bottom to see some hand engraved illustrations. ========================== Rare Ornithology Book Sells Online for $191,000 (February 2015) Online book shopping has entered the six-figure era after AbeBooks sold a rare ornithology book from 1765 for $191,000, smashing the record for the most expensive item to sell on the Internet marketplace in its 19-year history. The book's lengthy Italian title can be translated and shortened to A Natural History of Birds. Published in Florence in Italian in five volumes, it contains 600 beautiful hand-colored engraved plates of birds. Commissioned by Maria Luisa, the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, the book took 10 years to complete. This copy's fine condition enhanced its value along with the fact that it is a scarce book - only 10 complete copies have been offered at auction in the past 40 years. The previous most expensive items to sell through the AbeBooks marketplace were a 1937 first edition of The Hobbit and a 1644 copy of Areopagitica, John Milton's defense of press freedom, which sold for $65,000 each in 2003. "We're thrilled to have sold such a valuable book for one of our booksellers," said Richard Davies, merchandising manager at AbeBooks. "We have been expecting a sale of this magnitude for some time. In 2013 we sold a book worth $60,000 and last year we had two sales of books priced over $40,000. A small number of people are comfortable spending large amounts of money online." The book's artwork was drawn and etched by Violante Vanni and Lorenzo Lorenzi, while the text was penned by Saverio Manetti - an Italian physician, ornithologist, and director of the botanical garden in Florence from 1749 to 1782. The artwork was created using dead specimens from an Italian nobleman's ornithology collection as models, and the birds are displayed in rather dramatic, eye-catching poses. Some consider the book to be a commentary on 18th-century Italian high society because the bird poses are almost human. Aside from the remarkable sale of Manetti's masterpiece, January 2015 also saw several other expensive books sell during the month, including an early arithmetic textbook from 1579, The Grounde of Artes, that sold for $22,083 and a set of first editions of the Lord of the Rings trilogy that sold for $19,500. So what else can be purchased for around $191,000 on AbeBooks? 1. Storia naturale degli uccelli trattata con metodo e adornata di figure intagliate in rame e miniate al naturale. Ornithologia methodice digesta atque iconibus aeneis ad vivum illuminatis by Violante Vanni, Lorenzo Lorenzi & Saverio Manetti - $191,000 Translates as a 'Natural History of Birds Treated Systematically and Adorned with Copperplate Engraving Illustrations, in Miniature and Life-Size.' Five volumes containing more than 600 hand-colored engraved plates of birds from around the world. Published in 1765 http://www.abebooks.com/rare-books/most-expensive-sales/ever.shtml?cm_mmc=nl-_-nl-_-C150217-h00-birdbkAH-121224GN-_-01cta&abersp=1 -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.