The British Library announced on 16 April 2012 that it has acquired the St Cuthbert Gospel, the earliest intact European book and still in its original binding, having successfully raised £9 million to purchase it from the Society of Jesus ( British Province).
On long-term loan to the British Library since 1979, the work is a manuscript copy of the Gospel of St John which was produced in the North of England in the late seventh century. It was buried alongside St Cuthbert on Lindisfarne, apparently in 698, and later found in the saint’s coffin at Durham Cathedral in 1104.
One-half of the purchase price has come from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, and there were also major gifts from the Art Fund, Garfield Weston Foundation and the Foyle Foundation. Further contributions were made by other charitable trusts, foundations and individuals.
The Gospel can be viewed in the Sir John Ritblat Treasures Gallery in the British Library, with a separate special display exploring its creation, travels and near-miraculous survival over the centuries. A public event to celebrate the acquisition will take place at the British Library on 15 May. A full digital facsimile is being made freely available online.
The acquisition involved a formal partnership between the British Library, Durham University and Durham Cathedral and an agreement that the book will be exhibited to the public equally in London and the North East. The first display in Durham is anticipated to be in July 2013 in Durham University’s Palace Green Library.
Further information and comment can be found in the British Library’s press release at:
http://85.133.72.14/Content/Detail.aspx?ReleaseID=1420&NewsAreaID=2&ClientID=1
Dr Clive D Field, OBE
email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
webpage: http://clivedfield.wordpress.com/
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