The Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) announced on 24 October that Culture Minister Ed Vaizey has imposed a temporary export bar on one of the most important items from the Mendham Collection, the cream of which was offered for sale at Sothebys by the Law Society on 5 June 2013, amidst a storm of protest.
The item concerned is a hybrid manuscript and printed volume from the 1550s concerning the marriage of priests and was formerly owned, and partly written, by John Ponet. It formed lot 64 at the Sothebys sale and was sold to a foreign buyer for £116,500 (including buyer’s premium). A description of the volume can be found in the Sothebys catalogue, which is still online at:
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2013/the-mendham-collection-l13409/lot.64.html
The Government’s decision to impose a temporary export bar follows a recommendation from the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, which held a case hearing on the item on 4 September, at which the opinions of independent experts were considered.
The papers from this case hearing should shortly be available on the Reviewing Committee’s website. For the moment, it can be noted that the Reviewing Committee took the view that the item is of outstanding national significance for the history of the English Reformation and the adversarial culture of publication in sixteenth-century Europe.
The initial deferral of export is until 23 December. This may be extended until 23 March 2014 if a serious intention to raise funds to keep the item in the UK has been notified to the Reviewing Committee. Prospective purchasers must match the auction price of £116,500.
The DCMS press release can be read at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/battle-of-the-bishops
and there is coverage in today’s edition of The Guardian at
http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/oct/24/reformation-bishops-marriage-export-bar
In an unrelated development, St Paul’s Cathedral announced on 12 August that an anonymous donor had enabled it to complete a private treaty purchase of another item from the Mendham Collection, which had formerly been in the Cathedral Library. This is a rare Latin Missal printed in Paris in 1502, which had belonged to one of the Bishops of London. It was lot 103 at the Sothebys sale but had failed to find a buyer on the day of the auction. The Cathedral’s press release is at:
http://www.stpauls.co.uk/News-Press/Latest-News/150-years-overdue-rare-book-returns-to-St-Pauls-library
Four other items in the Mendham Collection, including a mid-fifteenth-century manuscript book of hours from the Southern Netherlands, were purchased by The British Library at the auction on 5 June. They are described in a blog at:
http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2013/06/new-acquisitions-in-manuscript-and-print.html
Efforts have been continuing to prevent the Law Society from further dispersing the Mendham Collection.
Dr Clive D Field, OBE
email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
webpage: http://clivedfield.wordpress.com/
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