16th and 17th Century Vellum Books

This collection of over 450 vellum bound books dates back to the 16th and 17th centuries. The rows of filled shelves glow from the vellum bindings and covers. It is as if the process of covering and binding these amazing literary works gave them a glowing life of their own. Many volumes have been hand tooled and hand stamped with such attention to detail they are works of art unto themselves. This collection came from a private collector and I am told there are less than ten collections of this size and time period in today’s world. These beautiful volumes have come from the monasteries, convents and European universities as well as from private collections in Europe. This particular collection was amassed for the beautiful hand worn vellum covers thus the works contained include; theology, history, bibles, poetry and stories. Dating back over 400 years these books enlighten us to the world from before. Most of these works are done on cotton paper. There are even several handwritten manuscripts. The majority are in Latin or Italian.

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