Oxford-based researcher of medieval manuscripts; formerly of the Bodleian and the BL; especially interested in provenance and illumination; currently preparing a catalogue of the medieval and renaissance manuscripts of University College, Oxford.
Peter Kidd
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The Christie's summer sale (7 July) of medieval manuscripts is now online, and includes some very nice things.
This large (c. 300 × 300mm) Don Silvestro cutting, for example. (It belonged to William Young Ottley, and was lot 184 in his 1838 sale).
www.christies.com/en/auction/v...
I have read of unwanted medieval parchment MSS being used by gold beaters in the making of gold leaf, but a conservator friend recently poured cold water on the notion. So I was glad to find evidence that the practice was stilled used as recently as the 1950's (but using post-medieval MSS)
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Announced for publication in November:
Fragmented Illuminations: The many lives of manuscript cuttings, ed. by Catherine Yvard
uclpress.co.uk/book/fragmen...
I was just out in the garden and a man asked me if I'd seen his pet rabbit. "It's black, grey, and brown. I didn't lose it today", he explained, "it went missing two and a half years ago."
Also, he lives in Littlemore, a couple of miles away, on the other side of the Thames. I wished him good luck.
In this Pathé film www.britishpathe.com/asset/75508/ you can see the whole process; and in this selection of out-takes, at 6:50-7:07, you can clearly see them using re-used parchment documents: www.britishpathe.com/asset/75521/
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Also, in colour and with commentary, here from 1:40 youtu.be/2Lak64SAaIY?...
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Standard tickets for a 40-minute visit to the Bayeux Tapestry exhibition will be £33. Some reductions are available, but even 16-year old students pay £25.
This seems expensive to me; I'll wait until the Tapestry is back in Bayeux, and go see it there.
www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/...
"Iran’s parliamentary speaker and chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, took to X to deliver a derisive one-line epitaph.
“Operation Trust Me Bro failed,” he wrote."
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...
“Given the very high number of instances of plagiarism, the complainant’s issue is not merely poor citation practice, but a fundamentally flawed understanding of what constitutes plagiarism,” judges wrote in the decision
retractionwatch.com/2026/05/05/c...
