I found this small picture in the newspaper this morning.

The idea that this sort of book is still around - and will be able to be seen in public (well, for a short time anyway) is just fantastic.

Here's a bit of background about it.:

"A manuscript Bible produced in Italy in the middle of the 13th century with extensive and exquisite painted illustration. It appears to have been made for the use of a convent of Dominican friars - but the borders include diverting genre scenes and fantastical creations far from the routine religious illustrations that might be expected. The death of Theodoric Borgognoni (c.1296) is recorded in the Calendar and he may have commissioned the work: not only a Dominican friar and Bishop of Cervia he was one of the most significant and innovative surgeons of the medieval period." As per artknowledgenews.com

The people in the know have estimated the sale price to be somewhere between £2,500,000 to £3,500,000 ( approx. aus$4,000,000 to aus$6,000,000).

The thing that amazed me the most about this gorgeous, nearly 900 year old book - is that the person that is holding it up in the photo isn't wearing any gloves to offer the book some protection. That just seems ludicrous for such an old and very expensive piece of history.

My understanding of the processes involved with making books from that era is that they were usually written on parchment, which was made from goat or calf skin. But the more "important" books (bibles would fall under this category) would be made from vellum which seems to be a much higher quality parchment. Intersting enough - vellum is still used today, but in paper form. Apparently now, as was then, the animal kind is very expensive to come by.

That's really all I have to say. I would have assumed that the person holding the very expensive book would have worn some sort of protection - or at least not put their hands on the pages. 

But maybe that's ok to do?ipt Bible produced in Italy in the middle of the 13th century with extensive and exquisite painted illustration. It appears to have been made for the use of a convent of Dominican friars - but the borders include diverting genre scenes and fantastical creations far from the routine religious illustrations that might be expected. The death of Theodoric Borgognoni (c.1296) is recorded in the Calendar and he may have commissioned the work: not only a Dominican friar and Bishop of Cervia he was one of the most significant and innovative surgeons of the medieval period.