Most Expensive Books in the World
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Humans have been telling stories and sharing thoughts through printed works for thousands of years. Some of those books — if they manage to survive — are worth millions of dollars.
These books are the most expensive tomes, documents and religious works ever sold.
Note: Sale prices are adjusted for inflation in 2021 dollars, and rankings are based on the inflation-adjusted prices. We did not include books that were solely made of art. For example, "The Lilies" sold for $5.5 million in 1985, but the volumes were made of individual watercolors and later divided among investors. However, we did include books that were sold because of their art.
30. Liber Insularum Archipelagi
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Original price: $1.76 million
Year sold: 2012
Inflation-adjusted price: $2 million
Why Liber Insularum Archipelagi Is So Expensive
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Cristoforo Buondelmonti, an Italian priest and explorer, was passionate about sharing his knowledge of Greece, its history and its geography. He made this illuminated Atlas of the Greek Islands in 1450.
Its age is the root of its exceptionally high price tag. It was previously owned by Thomas Phillipps, and could easily hold a place in a history museum.
29. Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye
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Original price: $1.85 million
Year sold: 2014
Inflation-adjusted price: $2 million
Why the Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye Is So Expensive
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Recuyell, coming from the French word "recueil," translates to "collection." The title equates to "A Collection of the Histories of Troy," which was a French romance written by one of the chaplains of Philip III, Duke of Burgundy.
This 1464 translation by William Caxton was the first book printed in English.
28. Hortus Eystenttensis
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Original price: $1.41 million
Year sold: 2001
Inflation-adjusted price: $2.1 million
Why the Hortus Eystenttensis Is So Expensive
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The Hortus Eystettensis was a work commissioned by Bishop Johann Konrad von Gemmingen to Basilius Besler in 1613. The botanical codex of the bishop's garden took 16 years to complete, requiring the help of professional engravers and painters.
Though the bishop died before it was completed, it became the first detailed example of botanical art on record. Previous botanical illustrations were drawn roughly, since most of the focus had been on herbology and medicine.
This colored first edition was originally owned by Giovanni Faber.
27. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
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Original price: $1.54 million
Year sold: 1998
Inflation-adjusted price: $2.4 million
Why Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Is So Expensive=
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"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," more commonly shortened to just "Alice in Wonderland," is one of the most well-known works of English fiction from the Victorian era.
Written in 1865 by Lewis Carroll (whose real name was actually the much less interesting "Charles Dodgson"), Alice in Wonderland was one of the first popular books of the literary nonsense genre.
It had a huge influence on pop culture and literature, inspiring movie reproductions and being reprinted in 97 different languages. Finding a first edition copy is extremely difficult, and this one was first owned by Lewis Carroll himself.
26. De Humani Corporis Fabrica
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Original price: $1.65 million
Year sold: 1998
Inflation-adjusted price: $2.6 million
Why De Humani Corporis Fabrica Is So Expensive
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De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem, which translates to "On the fabric of the human body in seven books" was written by Anreas Vsalius in 1543.
Prior to its publication, the work of a Greek physician named Galen was the best, and only, guide on human anatomy.
Vesalius's work was a significant step up, and this copy sold in 1998 is the only colored copy known to exist. It was most likely the copy Vesalius gifted to Charles V the year it was published.
25. Wycliffe New Testament
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Original price: $1.69 million
Year sold: 2016
Inflation-adjusted price: $2.8 million
Why the Wycliffe New Testament Is So Expensive
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Wycliffe's Bible is the name not of a single book, but rather a collection of biblical translations made by John Wycliffe. He wrote them between 1382 and 1395, and they were so influential they inspired an entire religious movement called the Lollard movement.
This copy of the translated New Testament was written on vellum, and was previously owned by Alexander Peckover and Apsley Cherry-Garrard. There isn't another book like it in the world.
24. Doria Atlas
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Original price: $2.56 million
Year sold: 2005
Inflation-adjusted price: $3.4 million
Why the Doria Atlas Is So Expensive
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The Doria Atlas dates back to the 16th century. It was commissioned by Giovannie Andrea Doria, a Genoese military general. The 186-page long atlas contains both printed and manuscript maps, as well as some Italian maps that can be traced back to the 1620s.
Some of the maps included detailed commentary on the political and military interests of Doria's family. The rare book remains one of the most expensive books in the world.
23. The First Book of Urizen
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Original price: $2.5 million
Year sold: 1999
Inflation-adjusted price: $3.9 million
Why The First Book of Urizen Is So Expensive
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"The Book of Urizen" was one of the masterpieces of the famous English author William Blake. It was written in 1794, when mass-producing books wasn't really a thing. At all. Copies had to be hand-printed, and there are only eight known copies of the original, color-illustrated version.
This copy was owned by John Hay Whitney until the 1980s when it was purchased by a private collector.
22. Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica
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Original price: $3.72 million
Year sold: 2016
Inflation-adjusted price: $4 million
Why Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica Is So Expensive
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Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, which translates to the "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy," was written by Isaac Newton in 1687.
The work was a continuation of his studies of the law of motion and the laws of gravity. If that doesn't explain its extraordinary price tag already, the edition sold was a first edition, and it's considered one of the most valuable and momentous collections of scientific discoveries in history.
21. Rochefoucauld Grail
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Original price: $ 3.77 million
Year sold: 2010
Inflation-adjusted price: $4.5 million
Why the Rochefoucauld Grail Is So Expensive
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The Rochefoucauld Grail is the oldest known version of the legend of King Arthur and the Holy Grail, dating back to the 14th century. It was written in French prose, and four volumes of the grail were discovered.
This one was first owned by Guy VII de La Rochefoucauld, but it was later sold to Thomas Phillipps followed by Joost Ritman. Other volumes can be found in the Bodleian Library in Oxford and the John Rylands Library in Manchester.
20. A Treatise of Fruit-Trees
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Original price: $3.7 million
Year sold: 2006
Inflation-adjusted price: $4.8 million
Why A Treatise of Fruit-Trees Is So Expensive
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This spectacularly boring five-book volume all about fruit trees was written in the 18th century and fetched €2.85 million ($3.7 million at the time) at auction in Brussels in 2006.
But the writing isn't what people are after. The actual draw of this sale was the 421 watercolors by Pierre-Antoine Poiteau and Pierre Jean Francois Turpin included in the set.
If you hate yourself, you can read all about the 16 different fruit trees and their varietals in Duhamel du Monceau’s "Traite des Arbres Fruitiers" on the Internet Archive.
19. Tales of Beedle the Bard
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Original price: $3.98 million
Year sold: 2007
Inflation-adjusted price: $4.9 million
Why Tales of Beedle the Bard is So Expensive
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The only modern author to make this list is J.K. Rowling, whose hand-illustrated and handwritten book "Tales of Beedle the Bard" brought $3.98 million at a 2007 charity auction. Rowling created seven of these books. Six were given out as gifts, and one was used to raise money for Rowling’s children’s charity (now known as Lumos), which works to place orphaned children in loving homes.
These original copies of "Tales of Beedle the Bard" are bound in leather and encrusted with semi-precious gems, but Rowling also turned the story into a book for the regular reader—you can get a paperback edition for $6 on Amazon.
In 2016, another of the six originals sold for $467,000.
18. The First Atlas
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Original price: $3.9 million
Year sold: 2006
Inflation-adjusted price: $5 million
Why the First Atlas Is So Expensive
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Also known as the "Cosmographia," "Geographia" or simply "The Geography," this book written by the Greco-Roman Claudius Ptolemy is considered the world’s first printed atlas.
While these were "printed" in the ancient world, the three oldest surviving copies date back to the early 15th century. One sold for $3.9 million in 2006.
The original "Geographia" was created circa 150 A.D. You can check out a later version of the atlas — and its 27 hand-drawn maps — at the World Digital Library.
17. Hours of Albrecht of Brandenburg
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Original price: $4.17 million
Year sold: 2001
Inflation-adjusted price: $6.1 million
Why Hours of Albrecht of Brandenburg Is So Expensive
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Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg was both an aristocrat and an avid, almost obsessive, art collector. Some pieces he commissioned himself, including the "Book of Hours."
It was illuminated by Simon Benning, one of the predominant Flemish illuminators of the era, and was completed by 1523.
Benning was best known for evocative and inspiring religious imagery, which can be seen in the examples pictured above.
16. Monypenny Breviary
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Original price: $3.03 million
Year sold: 1989
Inflation-adjusted price: $6.3 million
Why the Monypenny Breviary Is So Expensive
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The Monypennys of Ardwenny were a wealthy French family who held lands through most of the 15th and 16th century. This illuminated breviary was first owned by William Monypenny.
It has been speculated that the breviary was made for the first wife of Louis Malet de Graville, Admiral of France. Malet de Graville was an avid book collector, and the standards of his collection were sky-high.
This particular manuscript is thick and packed with illuminations, produced by the school of Bourges at the beginning of the 16th century. It was most likely illuminated by the famous Jacquelin de Molisson, and the entire breviary is highly detailed.
15. The Deeds of Sir Gillion de Trazegnies in the Middle East
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Original price: $6.2 million
Year sold: 2012
Inflation-adjusted price: $7 million
Why The Deeds of Sir Gillion de Trazegnies in the Middle East Is So Expensive
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"The Deeds of Sir Gillion de Trazegnies in the Middle East" is an illuminated, chivalric romance story written on vellum. It was first owned by Louis de Gruuthuse, and subsequently by Louis XII of France, then William Cavendish.
The main reason that it's so incredibly valuable is how old it is. It was made in 1464, making the book over 550 years old.
14. The Northumberland Bestiary
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Original price: $4.1 million
Year sold: 1990
Inflation-adjusted price: $8.2 million
Why the Northumberland Bestiary Is So Expensive
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This bestiary is an awesome collection of animals, monsters and moral tales from the mid-13th century.
It includes pictures and tales of hydras, satyrs, elephants, donkeys, panthers and apes in its beautifully illustrated pages, which you can read here.
The book sold for $4.1 million in 1990 but is currently owned by the J. Paul Getty Museum.
13. Yongle Encyclopedia
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Original price: $9.19 million
Year sold: 2020
Inflation-adjusted price: $9.3 million
Why the Yongle Encyclopedia Is So Expensive
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The Yongle Encyclopedia was made for the Jiajing Emperor between the years of 1403 and 1408. Back then, producing any book, let alone an entire encyclopedia, was an extremely time- and labor-intensive endeavor. Only a few thousand volumes of the encyclopedia were made, and the original copy was never discovered.
This manuscript version, made somewhere between 1562 and 1567, includes two volumes of the encyclopedia, which encompassed chapters 2268-2269 and 7391-7392.
They were privately owned by a collector in France before they were bought by a Chinese collector in 2020.
12. Shakespeare’s First Folio
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Original price: $9.98 million
Year sold: 2020
Inflation-adjusted price: $10 million
Why Shakespeare's First Folio Is So Expensive
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William Shakespeare’s First Folio — a collection of plays published in 1623 — is one of the most coveted books in the English language, and it has a price to match. Although those prices can vary.
One copy sold at auction in New York for a record-setting price of $6.166 million in 2001, and five years later, another copy fetched $5.153 million.
In 2016, a set of the first four editions of Shakespeare’s folios fetched $3.68 million at auction. That included a first edition of the First Folio that had previously not been known to exist.
But in 2020, new records were set. For a complete copy of the 1623 book, an anonymous buyer paid $9.98 million for the tome (pictured) at auction.
About 56 complete First Folios are known to exist.
11. Bomberg Babylonian Talmud
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Original price: $9.3 million
Year sold: 2015
Inflation-adjusted price: $10.26 million
Why the Bomberg Babylonian Talmud Is So Expensive
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The Bomberg Babylonian Talmud is one of only 14 complete multi-volume sets from the early 16th century still in existence.
The buyer attempted to remain anonymous, but reports say the book was purchased in 2015 by billionaire Leon Black, an investor, art collector and founder of Apollo Global Management.
The book is the most expensive piece of Judaica to ever sell at auction. Previously, it had been sitting at Westminster Abbey for some 400 years, where apparently no one knew just how valuable it was.
10. The Canterbury Tales
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Original price: $7.5 million
Year sold: 1998
Inflation-adjusted price: $12 million
Why The Canterbury Tales Is So Expensive
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An extremely rare 1477 first edition of Geoffrey Chaucer’s "Canterbury Tales" sold for $7.5 million in 1998 to the highest bidder, the late British billionaire and philanthropist John Paul Getty Jr.
There are only a dozen known copies of the first edition in existence.
9. The Gutenberg Bible
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Original price: $5.4 million
Year sold: 1987
Inflation-adjusted price: $12.43 million
Why the Gutenberg Bible Is So Expensive
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The Gutenberg Bible was the first complete book to be printed from movable type in 1455 and, as such, was one of the books that changed the world. Understandably this book has a hefty price tag.
Since there was no Gutenberg Bible in Japan in 1987, the Maruzen Company, a Japanese bookseller, purchased an incomplete copy for $5.4 million.
There are 49 Gutenberg Bibles known to exist, but only 21 are complete. You can flip through one of them at the University of Texas at Austin.
8. Birds of America
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Original price: $11.5 million
Year sold: 2010
Inflation-adjusted price: $13.8 million
Why Birds of America Is So Expensive
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Copies of John James Audubon’s beautifully illustrated, awe-inspiring four-volume set, "Birds of America" have fetched millions of dollars several times. In 2000, a Qatari prince and art collector purchased one for $8.8 million ($13.4 million today). Another copy sold for $5 million in 2005 ($6.7 million today), and in 2010, the highest bid went for $11.5 million ($13.8 million today).
In 2012, another full edition "Birds of America" sold for $7.9 million ($9 million today), and in 2018, another copy sold for $9.6 million ($10 million today).
Adjusted for inflation, these copies of Birds of America have sold for over $51 million.
7. The Rothschild Prayerbook
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Original price: $13.6 million
Year sold: 2014
Inflation-adjusted price: $15.3 million
Why the Rothschild Prayerbook Is So Expensive
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The Rothschild Prayerbook is a 16th-century Flemish illuminated manuscript filled with incredible paintings by master Renaissance miniaturists and lined with gold. The book takes its name from the wealthy Rothschild family, who acquired the book sometime after 1868. It’s unknown where it had been in the prior 350 years.
In 1938, the book was stolen by the Nazis. Four years later, Hitler gave it to the National Library in Vienna. Incredibly, the library refused to return it to the Rothschilds. It wasn’t until 1999 that the book would be returned to its rightful owners.
The Rothschild Prayerbook first sold to an anonymous bidder in 1999 for $13.38 million ($21.5 million adjusted for inflation today). It sold again in 2014 to billionaire Australian businessman Kerry Stokes for $13.6 million ($15.3 million adjusted for inflation). Adjusted for inflation, the value of the book has decreased by $6 million between sales.
6. Bay Psalm Book
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Original price: $14.2 million
Year sold: 2013
Inflation-adjusted price: $15.94 million
Why Bay Psalm Book Is So Expensive
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Printed in 1650, 20 years after settlers landed at Plymouth Rock, the Bay Psalm Book was the first book printed in British North America.
In 1947, a copy of the Bay Psalm Book — there are 11 copies known to exist — broke world records when a copy of it sold at auction for $151,000 (about $1.8 million today).
In 2013, it sold again at auction, this time for much more. Billionaire American businessman David Rubenstein purchased it for $14 million. He has since loaned it out to various libraries.
5. St. Cuthbert Gospel
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Original price: $14 million
Year old: 2012
Inflation-adjusted price: $15.95 million
Why St. Cuthbert Gospel Is So Expensive
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The earliest intact European book was purchased by the British Library in London in 2012 for $14 million after a successful fundraising effort. The gospel was buried with its owner and writer, St. Cuthbert, who died in 687. The book is in remarkably good condition and still retains its binding and beautiful red cover, despite being 1,300 years old.
The gospel was unearthed in 1104 when Cuthbert’s remains were being moved from a grave to a shrine—and for a while, it was used as a protective talisman from time to time. By the early 17th century, the book was owned privately until it was donated to a Jesuit community in Belgium, where it remained for 250 years.
You can check out the book at the British Library’s online digitized manuscripts database.
4. The Magna Carta
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Original price: $21.3 million
Year sold: 2007
Inflation-adjusted price: $26.9 million
Why the Magna Carta Is So Expensive
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A copy of the Magna Carta was on the auction block, and not in a museum, in 2007. The billionaire co-founder of the Carlyle Group, David Rubenstein, alarmed that the historic (but not quite priceless) manuscript would end up with an owner overseas, decided to plunk down a $19 million bid for the copy.
Including fees and commissions, the final cost was $21.3 million. Rubenstein, who also uses his $2.8 billion net worth for philanthropic efforts, put the Magna Carta back into the National Archives.
It’s unknown precisely how many copies of the Magna Carta were made, but it’s estimated there were maybe 250 copies. In 2015, an original copy of the Magna Carta was found in an old scrapbook in a British coastal town (it’s speculated to be worth about $15 million, but it hasn't been put up for sale yet).
3. Gospels of Henry the Lion
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Original price: $11.7 million
Year sold: 1983
Inflation-adjusted price: $30.73 million
Why the Gospels of Henry the Lion Are So Expensive
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The Gospels of Henry the Lion is an illuminated Romanesque book that was published sometime during the late 12th century and sold for $11.7 million in 1983. It was the most expensive book in the world for quite some time.
King Henry the Lion was a crucial figure in founding Germany, and the bidders — which included the German federal government and private donors — pooled their money together to bring this book home.
It is only displayed six weeks per year in the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel.
2. The Book of Mormon (Printer’s Manuscript)
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Original price: $35 million
Year sold: 2017
Inflation-adjusted price: $37.35 million
Why The Book of Mormon Is So Expensive
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The Mormons have almost enough money to rival Bill Gates. The Church of Latter-Day Saints is worth at least $40 billion, and they also aren’t afraid to spend big money on books.
According to the LDS Church, this 1830 handwritten manuscript is a copy of the one that Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism, dictated to his scribes. It is also the manuscript used to typeset the original Book of Mormon.
In 2017, the book was sold to the LDS Church by the Community of Christ, which had owned it for 114 years.
1. Codex Leicester
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Original price: $30.8 million
Year sold: 1994
Inflation-adjusted price: $54.4 million
Why Codex Leicester Is the Most Expensive Book in the World
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Leonardo da Vinci’s "Codex Leicester," also known as the "Codex Hammer," is the most expensive book ever sold. The 72-page linen manuscript includes Leonardo’s thoughts, theories and observations of the world, like the movement of water, fossils and the luminosity of the moon.
In 1980, industrialist Armand Hammer purchased the codex for $5.8 million (about $18.4 million today). It then sold for $30.8 million in 1994 to Bill Gates, who wasn’t yet the richest person in the world — although he was certainly wealthy. After buying the Codex, Gates had it digitally scanned, then released some images as screen savers and wallpapers for Windows 98 Plus.
That’s quite a journey for a book written in 1510.