The world’s most expensive photography books

The production of limited-edition photography books has provided a lucrative trade for art book publishers, with glossily packaged coffee-table tomes selling for six-figure sums. Take a look at some of the most expensive works of all time
  
  


Photography books: Benedikt Taschen and Helmut Newton with Sumo
Book publisher Benedikt Taschen, left, and photographer Helmut Newton pose with a copy of Sumo, a book of Newton's photographs. The first copy, autographed by more than 80 of the celebrities featured in it, sold for $430,000 in 2000, and broke all previous records to become the most expensive book produced in the 20th century Photograph: Taschen
Photography books: Catherine Deneuve, Nouvel Observateur, Paris (1983) in Helmut Newton's Sumo
Catherine Deneuve (1983), one of Helmut Newton's celebrity subjects in Sumo Photograph: Helmut Newton
Photography books: Neil Armstong photographs his shadow on the moon
Repackaged to commemorate the moon landing on 20 July 1969, and now on sale for £650, Norman Mailer's book Moonfire brings together the author's text with photography from NASA, Life magazine archives. In this picture, Neil Armstong photographs his shadow Photograph: Nasa/Taschen
Photography books: Aldrin and Armstrong's plaque on the moon
Another photograph from Moonfire, showing the plaque left behind on the moon after Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong departed, reading: 'We came in peace for all mankind' Photograph: Nasa/Taschen
Photography books: Truman Capote in the book A Wonderful Time by Slim Aarons
Slim Aarons's book, A Wonderful Time (1974), collected together his portraits of glamorous celebrities and their parties. It has had continuing commercial success, with first editions fetching up to £650. In this picture, author Truman Capote poses with a book and cigarette in his New York apartment Photograph: Slim Aarons
Photography books: Muhammad Ali, photographed at Ali vs Liston II, in GOAT
Ali vs Liston (1965), by Neil Leifer is taken from GOAT (Greatest of All Time), a collector's edition book about the boxer Muhammad Ali. The book cost £2,500 when originally published in 2004. A separate Champ's Edition, signed by Ali himself and featuring a limited-edition artwork by Jeff Koons, was priced at £12,000 Photograph: Neil Leifer/GOAT/Taschen
 

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