George Washington’s annotated Constitution fetches almost $10 million

Having set a world record, George Washington’s personal copy of the Constitution is heading home.

A book containing Washington’s annotated Constitution and a draft of the Bill of Rights was purchased for almost $10 million by the Mount Vernon Ladies‘ Association in a Friday auction at Christie’s in New York.

Printed and bound in 1789, the book features Washington’s signature on the title page and sold for a winning bid of $9,826,500 - an amount the venerable auction house said was a world auction record for an American book or historical document.

Part of Washington’s original private library at Mount Vernon, the book will once again be housed at the historic Virginia estate, as part of the collection at the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington, currently under construction and set to open next fall.

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