More Expensive than a Textbook

Annonce de Peter Kidd : The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles has bought the Northumberland Bestiary, a 13th-century English Gothic illuminated manuscript.Considered an outstanding example of medieval art, the encyclopedia of animals, both real and imaginary, is richly illustrated in 112 colored ink drawings that includes a full-page miniature depicting Adam naming the beasts, from hawks and monkeys to griffins and dragons.Sotheby's had auctioned the manuscript in London in 1990. The seller then was the 11th Duke of Northumberland, whose family had owned it since the 18th century. Bernard Quaritch bought the manuscript at Sotheby's for $5.8 million. Manuscript experts said they believed his client was Ladislas von Hoffman, a Washington collector.The manuscript will go on view at the Getty today (through July 29) as part of Medieval Beasts, an exhibition of animal images.

This article was found on http://blog.pecia.fr/. If you have time you should give this blog a look. It's devoted to Medieval manuscripts and book culture and is rather fascinating. The only problem is that it's most in French, the anglophones among us may have trouble with it.