December 17, 2014
By Lodovico di Varthema, is selling for the cool sum of $579,875.01 at abebooks.com
The book was published in 1516 by Johann Knobloch Strasbourg. di Varthema, a gentleman adventurer and soldier from Bologna, left Venice at the end of 1502. The book is a chronicle of his travels in Ethiopia and Arabia.
Other “less expensive” Ethiopia-subject books are listed at abebooks.com for $193,291.67 and $161,076.39. Could these high prices be the clue to why old books are being siphoned off from Ethiopian libraries?
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