Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Magna Carta

Those of you with really healthy acquisitions budgets might want to take a look at this article which discusses the upcoming auction of a copy of Magna Carta that dates from 1297. The document is currently opened by The Perot Foundation, which plans to use the proceeds of the auction for charitable purposes. According to Sotheby's, the auction house that is handling the auction, there are "fewer than 20 copies of the Magna Carta and...only two held outside of Britain." The Australian government owns the other copy, which also dates from 1297. Sotheby's has valued the Perot copy at $30,000,000. I hope this manuscript ends up in a library and not in the hands of a private collector.
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2 comments:

  1. Marie S. Newman10:52 AM

    Ahe here's the URL for the New York Times article on the same topic: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/25/nyregion/25magna.html?_r=1&oref=slogin. It has more detail than the article I linked to in my posting.

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  2. Betsy McKenzie11:22 AM

    Thanks, Marie! I hope the Library of Congress or some such govt. org ends up with it -- maybe a generous donor will white knight it.

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