Indian Constitution's rare first edition auctioned for record price of…

A rare first edition of the Constitution of India was sold at an auction for ₹48 lakh, its highest price so far

A rare first edition of the Constitution of India was sold at an auction for ₹48 lakh recently, it's highest price yet, reported The Times of India.

A rare first edition of the Constitution (not pictured here) was auctioned for ₹48 lakh

The edition of the Constitution is one of only 1,000 printed by the Survey of India offices in Dehradun and was published by the central government in 1950.

The blueprint of this copy of the Constitution is safely guarded in a special helium-filled case in the library of the Parliament of India.

More than just a book, it is a document containing India's history. The copy features the printed signatures of its makers, including B.R. Ambedkar, the architect of the Constitution.

Handprints of all 284 members of the 1946 Constituent Assembly are marked on the blueprint of the Constitution, along with the Hindi signature of author Kamla Chaudhary and English signature of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

It also contains calligraphy by Prem Behari Narain Raizada and illumination by the modern artist Nandalal Bose.

This copy of the Constitution was part of a three day online auction from July 24 to 26, conducted by Saffronart, which comprised antiques representing centuries of Indian history, art, literature, photography and more.

Going beyond just aesthetic value, Saffronart sought to present and document India's rich heritage. Co-founder of Saffronart, Minal Vazirani, considers the addition of the Constitution as a significant marker of their goals with this auction “for its deep emotional resonance as a marker of an independent India and the values it stands for”.

The calligraphist Raizada took six months from Nov 1949 to April 1950 to write down the laws that would serve as a foundation for the country on sheets of handmade Millbourne Loan paper supplied by the controller of printing & stationery. He was awarded ₹4,000 for the job.

The sheets of paper were later decorated and illuminated by Nandalal Bose and other artists from Shantiniketan's Kala Bhavan, with inputs from Nehru on having real gold spray on the margins and illumination on the borders of every page.

Bose also made 22 illustrations, one each at the beginning of each part of the Constitution, rendered mostly in the miniature style, with vignettes from different periods of India. He was paid ₹21,000 in total for crafting and expressing India's art and history in the 221-page Constitution which took 4 years.