Manuscript

Part of a medieval manuscript stolen in Italy more than 30 years ago has been returned with the help of London firm Bloomsbury Auctions.

Armenian manuscript demolishes estimate to take six figures in London saleroom

A richly illuminated leaf from a late 15th century manuscript account of the life of St Catherine sold at a high-estimate £30,000 at Bloomsbury Auctions (25/20/12% buyer’s premium).

This 15th century copy of the Life of St Radegund is an illuminated biography of the canonised sixth-century Frankish queen Radegund.

Charles Carroll’s printed copy of the Declaration of Independence – discovered earlier this year in a Scottish family home – sold at auction in Philadelphia for $3.7m (£2.85m) plus premium.

The opening lot in Hake’s June 29-30 auction Pennsylvania, is a 1767 promissory note hand-signed by a prominent Virginia slave owner – George Washington.

The Brontë museum hopes to raise funds to buy rare manuscripts from a rediscovered library collection coming up for sale at Sotheby’s.

In the bicentenary year of his death, relics connected to Napoleon will inevitably catch the eye.

The handwritten journal of Colonel Christopher Rigby, recording his success in securing freedom for thousands of slaves in east Africa, was the highlight of a collection of his papers sold in London.

A manuscript volume sold for £4200 was the main attraction of a sale held by Crow’s (22% buyer’s premium) of Dorking.

Simple, undated note by the Beethoven bought for $220,000 at Heritage auction by a big fan

Unpublished work by mathematician John Wallis who was also a major influence in code breaking sells at Dominic Winter

Several decades on from the last of the five major auctions Sotheby’s held to disperse items from the remarkable collections of American historical documents and letters formed by Philip (1902-75) and Elsie Sang (1906-97), a further selection appeared at Sotheby’s New York (26/20/13.9%).

An item of local interest to bidders at Bamfords in Derby was this 18th century account book for Radbourne Hall, the seat of the Chandos-Pole family.