The Rare Treasures Of Eton College

How many times do you stand inches away from an original Guttenberg Bible?

Yesterday we were privileged to in a very small party of Royal Warrant Holders at Eton College. After an uplifting service in the Chapel, visiting the oldest classroom in the UK with names of former pupils carved into ever pew and over every wall, visiting the old school kitchens and the refectory we went to the college library.

The library itself wasn’t huge, some two generous rooms with a mezzanine floor but with walls shelved from top to bottom with rare books. The librarian, Michael Meredith led us straight to the original Guttenberg Bible, a volume of which was sitting open and proud on its stand waiting for us. The first thing that struck you was that it wasn’t behind glass, nor was Michael wearing white gloves when he handled it. It had been brought out especially for us and was in as near perfect condition any 600 year book can be.

Michael told us the story of how it had been donated to the college and that it is one of only a few complete works remaining. The neat two columns of text on each page vary in the numbers of lines between 40 and 42 and make it one of the first to come off the press or presses.

Looking at the pages you were struck by the quality and clarity of the print on this the paper rendition showed no damage or foxing. Each page had been rubicated by hand, but this was minimal and compared to the illuminated manuscripts of the time, must have been viewed as very plain. You immediately thought that this had the look of the first mass produced book. On one page rubication error had been made and instead of neatly covering the rubication, or erasing it, they had simply colour blocked it out with their red ink. Did this reflect what they thought of the book’s value at the time?

Micheal then showed us some other books from their collection that he thought we would be interested in.

There was a Qu'ran which dated back to the times of Saladin’s in Spain and was scripted in gold! Michael told us of a group of school children who visited the library and of a young thirteen year old girl, who read the Arabic out loud and then translated them to English. We wondered how many could read and translate the western works and Latin of that time?

There was the banned work of Copernicus, in which he stated that the planets revolved around the sun, an exquisite Dutch illuminated Book of Hours, the first book on the Art of Anatomy with skeletons and muscles, Microscopia with a gate fold of a flea depicted from the first microscope in the 1600s.

The library boasts some 400 books from before Guttenberg and among its many scrolls was one depicting the history of the world from God Adam and Eve to 1600s and another signed by Elizabeth I, which listed all her Christmas gifts. There was a triple column timeline illustrated volume with first known book illustration of the head splitting of Thomas Becket and depiction of St Francis of Assissi. Sitting proud in full colour was an Edward Lear’s ‘Parrots’ which thankfully had not been broken up like many of its contemporises.

We were shown the first edition of the Complete Works of Shakespeare sitting next to two original first folios from the Globe. Michael noted that there were often variations between the two, as the complete works was taken from his original manuscripts and the folios often contained amendments made by the prompters at the theatre.  Which one is now right?

Finally, Michael introduced us to the college’s new ‘Record of Remembrance’ exhibition of the First World War with its MacNaghten War Memorial Library, which was donated to the college and just as we were leaving we noticed sitting on the wall was a painting and ornate frame which looked somewhat out of place, it was a Rossetti!

Some may say that Eton is for the privileged and we certainly felt privileged on the day.

British Library Opens Its Rare Treasures In Apps

You can now view 100 of The British Library’s rarest works on your iPhone, iPad or an Android device.



Search categories such as Science, History, Music, Literature, Religion, Map, and Illuminated Manuscripts and discover treasures you will not require white glove to handle. The mobile app presents high-resolution images of rare works such as the world's oldest bible, Nelson's battle plan for Trafalgar and sketches by Leonardo da Vinci. Expert curators can even guide you through audio excerpts and videos.

The Treasures mobile app is available for the iPhone and Android versions at a cost of £2.39 ($3.99 in the US) and for the iPad at £3.49 ($5.99). However, they can be bought before 24th January at £1.19 ($1.99) and £2.39 ($3.99) respectively.

You now have the potential to visit national libraries and museums, view rare works and do so on the move for what is chump change.

Books can be an Investment

We hear so much about the death of the book in paper but today we read about the rare book sale of all sales. The prices achieved at Duke’s in Dorchester were somewhat amazing:
Jane Austin’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’, first edition £26,000
A 1897 edition of ‘The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer’ £90,000
Sir Isaac Newton’s ‘Principia Mathematica’ £90,000
Charles Darwin’s ‘The Origin of Species’ £50,000
A first edition from 1482 about the ancient Greek mathematician Euclid £74,000

Most of the books came from Sir Henry Newton and former university librarian Jean Preston’s libraries and we doubt if ABE or Alibris could have ever realised these values and an auction on eBay would have probably missed the reserve.

It’s ironic that in the latest ‘The Quarterly’ Christiaan Jonkers writes about collecting first editions. He claims Conan Doyle’s first Holmes novel published in 1887 would fetch £100,000 and even if it were rejacketed £30,000. Obviously it has to do with the volume printed, the demand for the title and the price someone is willing to pay. Even recent first editions of titles such as the Fleming Bond novels or Hornby’s ‘Fever Pitch’ have appreciated in value. Best of all is his number one tip ‘always buy the best copy of a book that you can within your budget’.