A copy of Bach's Clavier Ubung part two led an auction of music books and manuscripts at Sotheby's London on May 24.
The lot sold for £449,000 ($650,421), beating an estimate of £150,000 ($217,290) by 199.3%.
 Bach may have annotated the book himself |
Around 15 copies of the book survive, with this being the last known specimen in private hands - a factor likely behind the huge increase.
The edition was printed in 1736 and corrects the errors that occurred in the first printing.
Despite this, a number of mistakes found their way in.
This copy displays annotations that match those in the copy housed in the British Library, which is believed to have been edited by Bach himself.
The auction house describes it as "one of the finest copies of a Bach first edition that we have seen."
Bach was one of history's greatest composers and items associated with him are in high demand.
A manuscript for one of his cantatas made a record £337,250 ($493,767) in a 2012 auction at Christie's.
Sibelius' handwritten working manuscript for his tone poem Pohjola's Daughter realised £221,000 ($320,141).
Sotheby's commented in the run-up to the sale: "Major autograph manuscripts by Sibelius are the utmost rarity at auction.
"No manuscript of this importance and calibre has appeared on the market for over ten years."
We have this astonishing handwritten music manuscript by John Coltrane.
Please sign up to our free newsletter to receive exciting news about music memorabilia auctions.
