Remarkable 14th century Franciscan text survivor leads Bonhams £1M book sale

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Top item in the sale was a 700 year old Franciscan manuscript. Estimated to sell for £20,000 to £30,000 it achieved £49,250. Photo: Bonhams. LONDON.- Many items in Bonhams sale of ‘Early Printing and English Books’ yesterday (2.10.12) were purchased on behalf of British libraries and achieved a total of £1,081,675 with 95 per cent of lots sold. Top item in the sale was a 700 year old Franciscan manuscript described by Bonhams Book Dept as: “A remarkable 14th century survival from Italy. A lovely thing to hold in your hand with great illustrations by a monk.” Estimated to sell for £20,000 to £30,000 it achieved £49,250. The manuscript titled GREGORY I, Saint and Pope it is a remarkable survival of two fourteenth century Franciscan texts in an early Italian blind-stamped binding. The Dialogues of St Gregory (Dialogi de vita et miraculis patrum Italicorum, in four books were orignally written c.593-594, in the early years of Gregory's papacy. They record the stories and miracles of Italy's great Saints and holy men and women, in order to prove tha ... More