What if you had unlimited funds? A swimming pool filled with champagne? Pillows stuffed with genuine dodo down? What if you won the lottery, or an eccentric, distant and obscenely wealthy relative left you everything?

Well, for the book-lovers, AbeBooks is offering a chance to own 10 priceless and rare books including “An Atlas of England and Wales” from Christopher Saxton dated back to 1574, leading with a price tag of $750,000. The atlas was commissioned by Queen Elizabeth I. Each map bears the Royal Arms as a symbol of her supervision and endorsement.

Any other treasure that you would add to your bookshelf? If you answered “Ptolemy’s first Atlas printed in Germany, from 10 years before Columbus sailed the ocean blue,” (Cosmographia, pictured above), you’d be in for a bargain, at a cool $1,800,000.

One of the most important works by Pablo Picasso to appear on the market over the last several years will be offered by Sotheby’s in New York on the evening of November 3, 2008.

Arlequin dates to 1909, a pivotal moment in the history of modern art; just two years after Picasso completed his watershed composition, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. Modeled with luminous shades of jade, rose and amber, this spectacular portrait depicts a harlequin, one of the most poignant motifs in the artist’s oeuvre.

For the last 50 years, this jewel of Picasso’s Cubist production has been a treasured possession of the Surrealist artist Enrico Donati, who died earlier this year at the age of 99. He purchased it in the 1940s directly from Daniel Henry Kahnweiler, the legendary dealer of Picasso and the Cubists.

The painting, which is expected to bring over $30 million, has been consigned by Mr. Donati’s estate. It will be seen by the public for the first time in more than 45 years when it goes on view at Sotheby’s London beginning October 3, 2008. It will then go on display at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art from 16-19 October and Sotheby’s New York from 29 October to 3 November.

Emmanuel Di-Donna, of Sotheby’s, said it was one the “greatest” Cubists to be sold on the open market. He added: “International collectors have not been presented with such a fantastic opportunity to compete for one of the great Picasso portraits since Sotheby’s sale of Dora Maar au chat.

Lucian Freud is universally acclaimed as Britain’s most famous and expensive living artist.

A Freud painting when it goes on the market is now guaranteed a seven figure reserve price and in May, the portrait “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping” sold to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich for $33 million, setting a new world record for a living artist !

However, the 85-year-old artist was recently informed that one of his subjects, Bernard Breslauer, a famous New York antiques book dealer – who once bought a Gutenberg Bible – had wrecked his portrait.

The first auction devoted solely to contemporary design will take place at Christie’s in New York this autumn.

“It really is an increasingly popular market,” said Carina Villinger, design specialist of Christie’s New York. “There is a huge overlap with contemporary art. It has got to the point where we need a separate auction.

The Christie’s sale will feature items such as a polyurethane table by the London-based Iranian architect Zaha Hadid, who designed the aquatics centre for the London Olympics, estimated to raise $200,000.

Another lot will be a highly polished steel sofa by the British-born Israeli designer Ron Arad for $300,000. Arad’s work will be exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York next year.That sofa is made of steel that’s polished to match the reflection of a real mirror!

Christie’s sold last week Jeff Koon’s Ballon Flower (Magenta) for $25,752,051, a world record price for the artist at auction.

This work is one of five unique versions: Magenta, Blue, Orange, Yellow, Red and was executed between 1995 and 1999.

Balloon Flower (Magenta) 1995-2000 is from a top Dallas art collector who paid less than £600,000 for it seven years ago. It was the first time a work of this scale and quality by Koons were publicly offered in London.

Both Sotheby’s and Christie’s are holding significant Impressionist and Modern evening sales in London this week. “We’re seeing a very strong market for top quality Impressionist paintings this summer,” the vice chairman of Impressionist & Modern Art Worldwide at Sotheby’s, Helena Newman, said.

On Wednesday, Sotheby’s will put up Monet’s “La Plage à Trouville” expected to fetch between $14 million and $20 million. “It’s an iconic work,” Ms. Newman said. “Monet was exploring the effects of the wind and the light on the water, all quintessentially Impressionist effects.”

Monet completed his painting in 1870 while vacationing with his wife and son at the tony French resort town of Trouville.