[Opinion. As a book guy my whole life, it’s no wonder I have an axe to grind! I urge all readers to go to the URL and watch the <horrifying> video. I’ll tell you why. First of all, the idiot turning the pages is not wearing library gloves to protect the incunabulum from skin oils and sweat—microscopic but every idiot with bare hands has a cumulative effect. Furthermore, as he turns the pages, he does not take care to avoid the verso crease; eventually, these creases will crack and the page require professional restoration. It is quite remarkable for such a book to still exist, not destroyed by fire, flood, war or pillage. And in the same family for 700 years! Personally, I would value this book far more than the money. My hope is that whoever buys it immediately donates it to the proper institution for availability to all…wearing gloves!] Medieval King Arthur manuscript could fetch £2m at auction Book containing early versions of the Merlin and Grail legends has remained in private hands for 700 years Donna Ferguson The Guardian: 26 May 2026 In one illustration, painted on vellum and decorated with gold leaf, the sorcerer Merlin is depicted as a powerful shape-shifter who has transformed into a talking stag. In another, the Knights of the Round Table are shown returning, victorious, from battle. The illustrations appear in one of the earliest manuscripts to tell the tale of King Arthur and the search for the holy grail – a richly illuminated medieval tome which, for more than 700 years, has been in private hands. Dating from c1290 to 1310, the manuscript contains texts from the Old French Lancelot-Grail cycle – the foundational myths of King Arthur, Merlin and the holy grail – and 126 miniature illustrations, including a rare depiction of Merlin as a stag. Only three such manuscripts are known to be held in private collections, said Dr Eugenio Donadoni, director of medieval and renaissance manuscripts at Christie’s, which is selling the work in its valuable books and manuscripts sale on 8 July: “Ours is the earliest of the three and the most profusely illustrated. Its text is unique.” Known as the Lebaudy manuscript, after it was collected by the French industrialist Jean Lebaudy in the 20th century, it is thought to be the earliest copy of the Lancelot-Grail cycle ever to appear at auction. “Many of the miniatures are in burnished gold, [created] using gold leaf, which was polished very aggressively to make it shine,” said Donadoni. Previous owners of the manuscript have included a 15th-century knight, a jouster who died young, and the obsessive medievalist and bibliophile Sir Thomas Phillipps, while Lebaudy fought in two world wars and twice won the croix de guerre. “You can see how, throughout history, this manuscript might have appealed to these people,” Donadoni said.
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