The practice of taking apart medieval manuscripts and selling the pages individually has a long history – and in some cases their are items from the Middle Ages where we only have a page or less remaining from the original. Since then the manuscript has been dismembered and the pages sold individually for a few hundred to a few thousand dollars each. In her blog Text Technologies, Elaine Treharne details how she learned that a 15th century Book of Hours was sold at auction in 2010 for £25,000. While these practices are legal, many medievalists have raised serious moral issues about selling manuscripts this way, which basically makes it impossible for any research to be done on these works. There are certain dealers that sell them on their own websites or through eBay. The recent article Broken Manuscripts and Scattered Leaves in The New Yorker highlights one of the major issues in the medieval manuscript market – taking apart complete manuscripts and selling them page by page. Taking part in auction will involve a registration process, but one does not normally have to show up in-person to place a bid on an item, as these companies offer online and telephone services as well. For example, at a recent auction at Sotheby’s this late-15th century Book of Hours sold for £5,000. While the media often focus on the most expensive of these items, these sales usually offer a large number of more affordable manuscripts. Major auction houses such as Sotheby’s and Christie’swill occasionally have sales that include medieval manuscripts. Image courtesy Les Enluminures Buying at Auction 1490ġ3 full-page miniatures, 10 small miniatures, 24 calendar miniaturesġ6.7 x 11.5 cm. In Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on parchment, Paris, c. Master of the Chronique Scandaleuse Book of Hours (Use of Paris) In addition to European medieval manuscripts, they are also sell manuscripts from the Middle East and Asia. Sam Fogg – this London-based dealer actually sells a wide variety of medieval art, including sculptures and stained glass. They produce a series of catalogues that detail the manuscripts currently available. Antiquariat Bibermühle AG – also based in Switzerland, this company is owned by Heribert Tenschert.
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