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Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 8819, 14 June 1889, Page 5

The Dearest Book in the World.— The Bulletin de I’lmprimerie contains the following query, which I think (says the Paris correspondent of the Bookseller) likely to interest your readers: —“What was the highest price ever given for any hook ? We leave this question to be decided by competent authorities among book-lovers. We may, however, venture to say that we know of one for which a sum of 250,000 fr (£10,000) was paid by its present owner, the German Government. That book is a missal, formerly given by Pope Leo X, to King Henry VIII. of England, along with a parchment conferring on that Sovereign the right of assuming tho title of ‘ Defender of the Faith,’ borne ever since by English Kings. Charles 11. made a present of the missal to the ancestor of the famous Duke of Hamilton, whose extensive and valuable library was sold some years ago by Messrs Sotheby, Wilkinson, and Hodge, of London. The book which secured the highest offer was a Hebrew Bible, in the possession of the Vatican. In 1512 the Jews of Venice proposed to Pope Julius 11. to buy the Bible, and to pay for it its weight in gold. It was so heavy that it required two men to carry it; indeed, it weighed 3251 b, thus representing the value of half a million of francs (£20,000). Though being much pressed for money, in order to keep up the ‘ Holy League ’ against King Louis XII. of France, Julius 11. declined to part with the volume.”