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A rare first edition of Albertus Magnus’ De meteoris, printed in Venice by Reynaldus de Novimagio, 24 May 1488, a folio of 98 leaves with seven woodcut diagrams. Albertus Magnus (circa 1200–1280) played a major role in introducing Aristotelian natural philosophy to the universities during the Middle Ages, and in this work, a commentary on Aristotle’s Meterologica, Albertus discusses the various phenomena produced by moist and dry exhalations from the earth, such as meteors, winds, floods, earthquakes and volcanoes

The silver seal-die of the Providence Island Company, an English chartered company founded in 1630 to establish a colony on Providence Islands (Nicaragua). The seal was made in London around 1630. The circular face is engraved with a device of three islands in waves with a motto from Isaiah 42.4, LEGEM EIUS INSULAE EXPECTABUNT [the islands shall wait for his law], suggesting that a Christian mission will justify plantation. The citation links to the Stuart `Unite’ coinage, first introduced by James VI and I--and continued under Charles I--in its justification of colonization, nation-building and empire.

This manuscript contains the earliest known translation into English of any work by the great humanist scholar and reformer, Desiderius Erasmus (d.1536). The volume, which had been the subject of a temporary export bar, is the only known manuscript of a contemporary English translation of Erasmus’s most popular work, the Enchiridion militis Christiani, or ‘Handbook of the Christian soldier’. It is possible that this is the 'lost' translation of the work made by William Tyndale.

Oliver Messel (1904-1978) was an English artist and one of the foremost stage designers of the 20th century. He was born into a creative family of wealthy bankers and the family home, Nymans, was a great influence throughout his life. Messel left Eton early to study at the Slade School of Fine Art, where he became friends with Rex Whistler. His career as a world-renowned theatre designer continued into the 1970s, whilst his reputation also flourished in film, opera, ballet, interior décor and textile design. At the core of the archive are 38 boxes of correspondence from actors and artists, theatre and film directors, society figures and royalty. Messel was a member of the ‘Bright Young Things’ and developed friendships with many of the famous names of the day, including Cecil Beaton, Lauren Bacall, John Gielgud and Stephen Tennant. The Archive also contains thousands of photographs.

This is an ‘office copy’ of the letter, written by one of Locke’s amanuenses, Locke being careful to keep a record of both sides of his correspondence. Locke's correspondent was Thomas Molyneux (1661-1733), one of the most prominent doctors in Ireland, and a fellow of both the Royal Society and the Dublin Philosophical Society, whom Locke had known since they met in Leiden in 1684. The letter laments the death of Molyneux’s brother, William Molyneux (1656-98), a natural philosopher who, as founder of the Dublin Philosophical Society, is regarded as the founder of modern science in Ireland.

This 15th-century Latin manuscript Psalter (with some added German vernacular prayers) from the convent of Medingen is a new addition to the corpus of surviving manuscripts from the Cistercian convent of Medingen in Lower Saxony, and joins the two examples (an Easter prayer book and a Manual for the Provost) already in the Bodleian.

This important record of the Pre-Raphaelite artists has remained with May Gaskell’s descendants, consists of more than 200 letters dating from 1892 up to the year of Burne-Jones’s death: three albums of intimate letters from the artist to Mrs Gaskell; two albums of illustrated letters to Mrs Gaskell and her daughter, Daphne; and other ephemera such as the artist’s brushes which he used when painting the portrait of Amy Gaskell. The letters are one of the most endearing records of all Burne-Jones’s friendships. They recount both his innermost thoughts and feelings and feature a cast of humorous characters, fictitious and real.

A small but varied collection mostly relating to Miss Moyra Goff (1897-1990) and her family, of The Courts, Holt, near Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire. The Courts is an eighteenth-century mansion which was donated to the National Trust, together with its grounds, in 1943. The archive includes a quantity of letters from the period of the First World War, including a letter from Victor Tait Perowne to Moyra Goff, containing a detailed description of the poet Siegfried Sassoon upon his arrival at Craiglockhart War Hospital, Scotland. Perowne describes Sassoon as ‘nice looking in a Greek way’, but ‘talks a lot about himself in a bashful, modest, way and lives for hunting…’

Two volumes, containing 7 rare printed works relating to 18th century French art, from the stock of the late antiquarian bookseller Diana Parikian. The first contains six short works on the visual arts in Paris in the 1750s and 1760s, bound together. The second volume is M. Michel, La Peinture: Poëme, Lyon 1767.

The collection offers a compelling insight into Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies’ professional and personal life, as well as the performing arts scene of her time. There is correspondence with most of the leading performers and writers, including John Gielgud, Vivien Leigh, Ellen Terry, Edward Gordon Craig, Ian McKellen and Peggy Ashcroft. Photograph and press cutting albums further illustrate the career of this remarkable British actress. Her diaries, address books and memorabilia including some belonging to her father, the baritone David Ffrangcon-Davies, provide further insight into her life.