The most expensive wallpaper in the world

The most expensive book in the world is considered to be The Birds of America by John James Audubon (1785–1851), an American ornithologist and painter, published in the years 1827–1838. Only 120 copies of this work have survived to this day. It is no wonder that it commands sky-high prices at auctions. The record was broken in December 2010, when a copy was sold at an auction in London for 7,321,250 pounds (approx. 11.5 million dollars). It is a huge work, each volume contains 435 hand-coloured plates, in a format of 99×66 cm.

Meanwhile, near Leeds, Audubon enthusiasts can see his work used as… wallpaper at Temple Newsam, near Leeds. In 1827, Lady Isabella Hertford (1759–1834) used Audubon’s illustrations to decorate her drawing room, having run out of Chinese wallpaper, which had been offered by the Prince of Wales twenty years earlier.

Lady Isabela herself was an extraordinary figure who made no secret of her Tory political sympathies. In 1807 she became the mistress of the future King of Great Britain, George IV. The relationship, if we are to believe Charles Greville's diaries, lasted until 1819. It is her merit that the then Prince of Wales abandoned his sympathies towards the Whigs.