By Carolyn Kellogg

A are book sold via AbeBooks for $191,000, smashing all the online bookseller's records. The largest previous sale was for $65,000. The $191,000 book is "Storia naturale degli uccelli trattata con metodo e adornata di figure intagliate in rame e miniate al naturale. Ornithologia methodice digesta atque iconibus aeneis ad vivum illuminatis," a rare Italian illustrated book of birds published in 1765.

The book, known in English as "A Natural History of Birds," was written and illustrated by by Violante Vanni, Lorenzo Lorenzi and Saverio Manetti. The book was commissioned by Maria Luisa, the grand duchess of Tuscany, and has 600 hand-colored engraved plates of birds from around the world.

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Source: http://www.latimes.com/