![]() The document’s importance lies in the connections it makes between the author and their life’s work. Once I know what I am dealing with, my next question is, ‘How important is this?’įor instance, it could be a thank you note from Charles Dickens to someone we’ve never heard of, or it might be something he wrote to the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen discussing his first novel. I can be deciphering the text of a medieval papal charter or trying to understand mathematical equations on a PhD thesis from the 1960s. Unfortunately it's never going to happen - they are all owned by British public collections.Ī huge part of my job is puzzle-solving. There are only four documents in the world with Shakespeare’s signature on them. My dream consignment would be to come across one of them - they are as close as you’ll ever get to a personal connection with one of the greatest and most mysterious figures in literary history. Reading his thoughts as they came into being on paper was like time-travelling to his cabin on board HMS Victory in the months before the battle of Trafalgar. In 2012 we sold an autograph letter signed by Lord Nelson. It was very special.Īutograph documents take you back to a moment in history. My dad came to see it in my office and we listened to the music while turning the pages of Bach’s original score. In 2016 Christie’s consigned a rare manuscript (below) by Bach - the most important figure in organ music by a million miles - which sold for £2.5 million. We lived right next to the cathedral and my parents were organ builders. I grew up in Durham, in the northeast of England. Working at Christie’s can throw up magical moments. Monks read from it during rituals at their Lindisfarne Priory on Holy Island, a. (British Library) The book is a spectacular example of Insular or Hiberno-Saxon artworks produced in the British Isles between 500900 C.E., a time of devastating invasions and political upheavals. It was a slightly eccentric childhood by today’s standards, and I probably should have got out more. Lindisfarne Gospels, John’s cross-carpet page, folio 210v. The time I spent reading as a child was great preparation for what I do now. Books were my absolute world. Hire top professional book editors in the United Kingdom. A few years ago, a specialist held up a manuscript at an auction without gloves and someone wrote in afterwards saying, ‘I can think of no quicker way of damaging a manuscript!’ Well, I can think of lots of quicker ways. The close connections between England and Norway in the first centuries after the Christianization of Norway left their mark on Norwegian liturgical books. 1 But this data also looks at the history of manuscripts that preceded printed books.You shouldn’t wear gloves when handling books and manuscripts. The crucial event that changed the history of book production was the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg around 1440. On this page, you can find historical data and visualizations relating to manuscript and book production. Literacy is a crucial indicator of human development and education. Even prior to the invention of the first printing press by Gutenberg, around 1440, societies communicated in written form using tablets, scrolls, sheets of papyrus, and other materials.įinally, books also provide a good proxy for literacy rates within a population. ![]() Writing has been key in the generation and communication of ideas. We can also look at trends, beyond income and education, to understand how religion, culture, and other context-specific factors might influence book publications and sales. Studying the production and sales of books over time can therefore give us an idea for how income and wealth have changed over the last centuries. Historically, books were a luxury commodity: only affordable to the most wealthy. Books, manuscripts, and written communication have played a crucial role in the spread of ideas and the development of culture. ![]()
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