← All 50 obscenities
Lot 4/5 · Historical Antiquities2013
#4 Most Expensive
The ItemThe Bay Psalm Book

The first book ever printed in what's now the United States sold for over fourteen million dollars.

$14,200,000

The Item

Printed in 1640 by Puritan settlers in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Bay Psalm Book predates the United States by more than a century.

It represents one of the earliest examples of printing anywhere in the American colonies.

Why It's Obscene

This copy, from Boston's Old South Church, sold in 2013 for $14.2 million.

A 350-year-old book of psalms is worth more than almost any home in America.

The Bay Psalm BookVerified · Public record
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