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The Magna Carta has been called ‘a sacred text, the nearest approach to an irrepealable "fundamental statute" that England has ever had’ (Pollock and Maitland, History of English Law), and is the most celebrated legal document in the English-speaking world. This engraving was the work of John Pine (1690-1756), publisher, print- and map-seller, as well as Bluemantle Pursuivant at the College of Arms, and Engraver to the King's Signet and Stamp Office.

The 1215 issue of Magna Carta now in the British Library (BL Ci), from which the engraving is taken, was badly damaged by fire after the engraving was made; thus the Pine engraving is highly significant. Only four 1215 documents of Magna Carta survive in the country: two at the British Library (including Ci), one at Salisbury Cathedral and one at Lincoln Cathedral. Canterbury is one of the five ‘Magna Carta towns’ because of Archbishop Stephen Langton’s association with the issue of the charter, and it has been suggested that BL Ci may be the Magna Carta originally held at Canterbury Cathedral, straying from the collections after the Reformation. It is highly appropriate to be able to ‘bring home’ this copy of Magna Carta and we are grateful to the Friends of the National Libraries for helping us to do so.

The soke of Conisbrough was no single-village manor; centred upon its celebrated chief messuage Conisbrough Castle (notable for its place in Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe), this was a franchise initially made up of thirty townships scattered across the southern reaches of the West Riding. By the mid-14th century much of the lordship had passed into other hands, but 16 townships remained from that point until modern times.

This is neither the largest nor the most complete series of manor court rolls, but it is exceptionally good, with 148 parchment rolls extant for the 368 individual accounting years between 1265-1266 and 1633-1634: a 40% survival rate.

Cambridge University Library is very grateful for the grant from the Friends of the National Libraries which enabled us to acquire this very rare illustrated anatomy by the French royal surgeon Ambroise Paré (1510?–1590). The Anatomie universelle is a much enlarged edition of Paré’s earlier Briefve collection de l’administration anatomique (Paris, 1549) and illustrated for the first time with one engraving of Paré and 49 woodcuts—the anatomical ones according to Vesalius, the surgical ones of Paré’s own devising. Paré was surgeon to Henry II, Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III and his writings were influential across Europe. He is remembered primarily for his contributions to surgery, and regarded knowledge of anatomy to be of paramount importance for its practice. The Anatomie universelle filled the need for an affordable manual in the vernacular at a time when most anatomies were either still in Latin or too expensive for barber surgeons.

This is a collection of pre-eminent importance. Many of the drawings are by Chief Engineer Marc Isambard Brunel himself, by his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Resident Engineer, and by Richard Beamish, Assistant Engineer. Some are by Joseph Pinchback, the Tunnel’s chief mechanical draftsman, but all are exquisitely drawn in great detail.

This is one of the last known volumes from the library of John Donne in private hands with the support of the Friends of the National Libraries. It is a copy of Adam Blackwood’s Adversus Georgii Buchanani dialogum, de iure regni apud scotos, printed in Poitiers by François Le Page in 1581. The work was written in defence of Mary Queen of Scots and argued against George Buchanan's De jure regni apud Scotos.

The British Library has been offered the opportunity to purchase the Mostyn Psalter-Hours. The manuscript is a late thirteenth-century Psalter-Hours produced in London in the ambit of Edward I’s court (r. 1272-1307). As a Psalter that can be securely located to London, the national heritage value of the manuscript is high.

The original 16-folio manuscript of Handel’s vocal trio, Se tu non lasci Amore, HWV 201a, scored for two sopranos, bass and continuo, and written in July 1708 shortly after Handel’s arrival in Naples. This manuscript is the only autograph version of this ‘Terzetto’.

Charles William Vane-Stewart, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, (1778-1854) was a British soldier and politician, and half-brother to Lord Castlereagh. He had a highly distinguished career. Initially commissioned into the British Army as a Lieutenant at the age of 16, he saw service in Flanders in 1794, and was Lieutenant Colonel of the 5th Royal Irish Dragoons during the Irish Rebellion of 1798.

One of the most important documents for the history of Ludlow Castle to emerge in recent times, this heraldic roll appeared in Portobello Road, and, through the good offices of Mr Hugh Wood, a local heraldic expert, was acquired for the Friends of Ludlow Museum. Dating from around 1576, this roll lists and displays the coats of arms of 11owners of Ludlow castle, 9 Lord Presidents of the Council of Wales and the Marches and all 22 members of the Council appointed in 1570. The roll appears to have been produced as a record of coats of arms placed in the chapel in Ludlow Castle in 1574.

The application process to apply for funding from the Friends of National Libraries was very straightforward and the decision made within an exceptionally short timeframe.