Top 10 most expensive books sold on AbeBooks for February 2009

1. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger - $11,000
First edition, first printing from 1951. Fine copy of the true first printing.

2. Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama - $8,500
First edition, first printing of this 1995 book, signed by Obama.

3. Summa Theologiae, pars Secunda by Antoninus Florentinus – $6,218
Published in 1496, these two volumes attempt to describe the fields of ethics and economics in and around Florence.

4. Peter Beard: Art Edition by Owen Edwards – $5,495
Limited edition elephant folio photobook from Taschen, published in 2006. Each of the 2,250 copies were signed by Beard.

5. Forever Odd by Dean Koontz – $4,550
One of 26 signed lettered copies (this copy was E) of the second book to feature Koontz’s character, Odd Thomas.

6. De Urbibus, Arcibus, Castellisque Condendis, ac Muniendis Rationes Aliquot, Praesenti Bellorum Necessitati ac Commodatissimae by Albrecht Dürer - $4,200
Published in 1535, this work includes 12 woodcut illustrations on 10 folding leaves. This copy is the first Latin edition.

7. Persian Hunting Manuscript – $4,004
No exact printing date on this hunting manuscript from the late 18th or early 19th century. Decorated with 10 paintings attributed to Muhammad Sadeq or her school.

8. Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing - $3,999
Twenty one volumes containing 80 issues of the famous scientific quarterly journal.

9. Le Maitre-d’Hotel Francais, Traité des Menus a servir a Paris, a St-Pétersbourg, a Londres et a Vienne. Tome premier et second by Marie Antonin Carême – $3,588
A book of menus served in Paris, St. Petersburg, London and Vienna. Carême (1784-1833) cooked for King George IV, Czar Alexander I and Emperor Francis I of Austria.

10. The Colonization Scheme Considered, in its Rejection by the Colored People by Samuel E. Cornish & Theodore S. Wright – $3,500
Published in 1840, this pamphlet sets forth the objections of two African Americans to the plans of colonization schemes. (Link to reprint)