Arranging plumage

My business partner, an avid follower of all things elegant, informed me that Sotheby's is auctioning off the world's most expensive book later this year. So, I ran a little search and discovered that not only is an extremely rare copy of John James Audubon's "Birds of America" up for bid, but so is another little volume of Shakespeare's plays... first edition. An exciting day (December 7th, incidentally) for book collectors-well, for the extremely rich book collectors, anyway. (Had my last scheme worked out, I may have been able to classify myself with those collectors. Alas, I must resign myself to the avid spectators category.)

Of course, it is very unlikely that I will ever come within spitting distance of so rare a book (the reference to "spitting" alone is likely to get me banned from all rare book exhibitions), but I can claim a little piece of that greatness by creating my own record for said folio.

Title: The birds of America /

Author(s): Audubon, John James, 1785-1851.

Publication: London, Pub. by the author, 1827-38

Description: Audubon described this book as a "double elephant folio." (I.e. It's huge.)

Copy/Holding Information

Call Number: QL674 .A9 1827

Copies: If you have more than one, you are entirely too wealthy.

Cost: If you lose this, you might as well throw in the shirt off your back. (The last copy was sold by Christie's for 8.8 million.)

Related works:

There aren't any.

Related links:

Sotheby's

Yahoo News

John Audubon's rendition of the State Bird of Nebraska

A slideshow of the book on the block

Registering money

Did you know that money doesn't grow on trees?!?! No really; It doesn't. It's fabricated, not grown!

I can only imagine the circumstances under which this knowledge was imparted to me: Four-year-old Autumn has decided to carelessly chuck quarters into the fountain. The afore-mentioned is quoted by a well-meaning parent and elicits the response, "Yes, but I though water might cause expansion." Hmm.

So maybe that isn't exactly how I learned that money must be earned, but it makes for a much better story than the age-old I-went-to-college-then-graduated-and-had-to-pay-back-student-loans narrative. So however it happened, I have developed a new strategy since then and am ready for implementation. Are you ready?

I will create a record for money and then add multiple copies. It's as simple as that. (Don't you wish you were a librarian now?)

One Dollar Bill /

by The National Treasury.

Washington D.C.: Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1862.

Description: 2.61 x 6.14 in. : green.

Summary: Featuring a portrait of George Washington, this denomination is the most common of all United States currencies. While the most humble, the dollar bill is the most popular of the bills. Consequently, it has the shortest life span at 18-22 months.

Copies: Millions and millions

Copy/Holding Information

Location: bank : wallet

Collection: financial

Status: circulating

Call No.: $1

Alternate titles

Bill

Almighty Dollar

Greenback

Cash

Single

One

Bone

Subjects

Collection

Distribution

Counterfeiting

Investment

Resources

http://www.moneyfactory.gov/home.html

http://www.ustreas.gov/

http://onedollarbill.org/index.html

*If this doesn't work out, I suppose I'll have to console myself with some words of wisdom via Warren Buffet: If past history was all there was to the game, the richest people would be librarians. Wow. I feel like a millionaire already.