Sotheby's said the price of 7,321,250, including buyer's premium, paid for John James Audubon's Birds Of America was a record for any printed book at auction.
The illustrated book by the renowned ornithologist, naturalist and painter (1785-1851), a landmark of natural history, was expected to fetch between 4m and 6m.
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Hide AdIt was bought by Michael Tollemache, a London dealer, a spokesman for Sotheby's said.
Mr Tollemache described the work afterwards as "priceless". Sotheby's said the hammer price for the book was 6.5m.
A first collected edition of Shakespeare's plays, the First Folio, which dates from 1623, fetched 1,497,250 yesterday, the spokesman said.