In the tranquil town of Shaqlawa, Iraq, the Hiran Tekke—a 400-year-old Sufi lodge—safeguards a remarkable collection of rare manuscripts, including a surviving page from a 1297 divan by Seljuk poet Enveri and Ottoman-era texts printed for Sultan Abdulaziz. Despite enduring...
A seemingly modest acquisition by Harvard Law School in 1946—a $27.50 purchase believed to be a facsimile—has been revealed as an authentic 1300 exemplification of the Magna Carta, issued under King Edward I. This discovery, confirmed by medieval historians David...
A 13th-century manuscript fragment, long hidden within the binding of a 16th-century property register, has been unearthed at Cambridge University Library. Identified as part of the Suite Vulgate du Merlin, a rare Old French sequel to the Arthurian legend, the...
A 13-page manuscript from 1598, penned by Spanish colonial governor Hernando Arias de Saavedra and detailing laws governing Indigenous life in Paraguay, has been repatriated after being stolen from the nation's archives over a decade ago. Valued at $20,000, the...
Dating to circa 1458, the Black Book of Hours—one of only seven known manuscripts on black-dyed vellum—has emerged as a focal point at TEFAF New York. Believed to have belonged to Maria of Castile, this Flemish-crafted devotional work is undergoing...
A rare 1596 edition of Officium beatae Mariae virginis, printed by the renowned Plantin Press, has been rediscovered in McMaster University's William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections. Previously considered lost, this diminutive Latin prayer book—adorned with copper engravings—is...
