The Gutenberg Bible is the First Book to Sell for over $1 Million (Documented in One of the Wikipedia's Unusual Lists)

In 1978 the Gutenberg Bible owned by the Pforzheimer Foundation (formerly in the library of Carl H. Prfozheimer) was purchased by the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin for $2,400,000. This was the first time that a book sold for over $1 million in a transaction that was publically recorded; whether any private deals for books selling for more than $1 million occurred before that date may never be known.

This information comes from a tabulation in the Wikipedia called List of most expensive books and manuscripts that I first noticed in October 2020. Because I have participated in and followed the rare book market for most of my life this list, with all its associated documentation, is of great interest. It demonstrates, as much as any Wikipedia article could demonstrate, the value of Wikipedia articles on the most amazing range of topics.

Among the many details that immediately caught my attention when I searched the list of most expensive books and manuscripts by Date of Sale was that no less than three copies of the Gutenberg Bible were sold in 1978.

Another of the many details in the list was that by October 2020 no less than eight copies of Audubon's The Birds of America had sold for more than $1 million.

As far as I know, this list within the Wikipedia may be the only list of the most valuable items sold in the rare book and manuscript market since 1978. Though I was previously aware of the kind of range of the most expensive items, the actual range of items in this list surprised me. From Babe Ruth's contract with the Boston Red Sox sold for $1,020,000 in 2014 to the first edition of Detective Comics #27 with the first appearance of Batman sold for $1,070,000 in 2010, to more conventional pillars of world culture such as the first folio of Shakespeare.

NOTE: I should point out that when I reviewed the Wikipedia list in October 2020 it was, as many lists, incomplete. Within this database you will see documentation of two or perhaps three sales records for copies of the first edition of Superman selling for over $1 million.