In the morning was the Western Manuscripts sale (previewed here), which took in £1,704,739 total. More than half of that went to the miniature, showing silver mining in Bohemia, which formed the frontis of an illuminated manuscript choirbook (lost since the 1920s and probably not exhibited publicly since the Middle Ages, est. £200,000-300,000). It more than doubled its estimate, making £612,450. The illuminated copy of the gospels in Greek from the 12th century (illuminated late in the 14th), made £289,250, and the pre-Wycliffe English translation of the Psalms by Richard Rolle, once owned by Thomas Phillipps sold for £217,250 (better than tripling the estimate). Full results here.
The afternoon session was Music and Continental Books and Manuscripts, which took in £1,160,350. Top sellers were the manuscript of Anton Bruckner's motet "Christus Factus Est," which fetched £61,250. A Beethoven letter to Karl Holz sold for £58,850, and a 35-volume set of Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopédie (1751-1780), made £49,250. Full results here.
