Medieval Book of Hours Expected to Sell for as Much as $2.5 Million at Auction

Aleteia ^ | 2/19/21 | Zelda Caldwell

[etabeta]

Doing my part! While I wait, I am leafing through my gorgeous Book of Kells.

[KingLudd]

Book of hours in the Library of Congress:
https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2003rosen0014/?st=gallery

Library of Congress also holds a “perfect” Gutenberg Bible on velum (no missing pages, tears, stains, etc.)

[Ezekiel]

Don’t even ask about “The Book of Decades” ...

LOL. Thanks for the laugh first thing in the morning.

It's like the old adage,

If you have to ask, you can't afford it.

Who's even got that kind of time?! :)

[Hebrews 11:6]

Saving your Lindisfarne Gospels for dessert, then.

[etabeta]

Nope, learning from Le Livre de la chasse (Gaston Phoebus, Count of Foix, on how to hunt liberals. If you are not familiar with that book, google it, the images are remarkable, 14th c.

[Daffynition]

You'll find me at the library's book sale.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

The year 1440 was in the fifteenth century.

[Daffynition]

The *best* tip, about books I can give ya:

[Ezekiel]

So *that’s* what those little ketchup packets are really for.

One thing we learned from Clark Griswold is not to use sap, ‘cause that stuff’ll rip the pages right out!

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks SteveH.

[SunkenCiv]

LOL!

[Rebelbase]

" I'll give you fifty bucks".

[Bigg Red]

There is also one at the British Library.

[Fresh Wind]

Too bad it’s not Book of Ours, or better yet, Book of Mine!

[Daffynition]

I believe in life after death....and it will be a library. ;)

[DennisR]

Is that one an original? There are actually 1-1/2 originals in Mainz.

[Bigg Red]

Yes.

From the British Library website:

A contemporary witness, Enea Silvio Piccolomini, reports that the Bible was said to have been produced in either 158 or 180 copies. More information on Piccolomini’s report.

We know that Gutenberg increased the print-run after work had begun. Perhaps he realised that he had already found a buyer for each copy. It may be that the two figures quoted by Piccolomini reflect an awareness of this change.

The figure of 180 has been confirmed by modern studies of the paper supply. It is now thought that Gutenberg produced about 135 copies on paper and about 45 on vellum. There are 48 copies of the Gutenberg Bible still in existence, not all of them complete, some being only substantial fragments of one of the two volumes. Of these, 12 are printed on vellum. Only four vellum copies and 12 paper copies are complete. Both copies in the British Library are complete.