Were the monks on drugs? How The Book of Kells went fully psychedelic
Spirited to Ireland to save it from the Vikings, this wild illumination of the New Testament, full of gilded curls and coils, is one of the most ecstatic artworks ever – and now it’s gone gloriously immersive
November 2023
Researcher uncovers a new body of work believed to be by Louisa May Alcott
Academic says the seven short stories, five poems and one non-fiction work could be written by the Little Women author under the name EH Gould
August 2023
‘Unparalleled treasure trove’ of 16th-century texts worth $25m up for auction
The collection of T Kimball Brooker comprises more than 1,300 texts, including an early edition of Leonardo da Vinci’s treatise on painting
May 2023
‘Mad and offensive’ texts shed light on the role played by minstrels in medieval society
The Heege Manuscript which ‘pokes fun at everyone, high and low’ is among the earliest evidence of the life and work of a real minstrel
December 2022
My illuminating theory about a lovesick monk
Letters: A possible explanation from Marianne Puxley for the secret marks discovered on a medieval manuscript
November 2022
Woman’s name and tiny sketches found in 1,300-year-old medieval text
Exclusive: Old English name, Eadburg, repeatedly scored into manuscript had remained hidden for more than 12 centuries
October 2022
Book of the day
The Posthumous Papers of the Manuscripts Club review – the joy of turning over an old leaf
Christopher de Hamel’s account of the people who created illuminated manuscripts in the middle ages, and those who now preserve them, is a witty treat
September 2022
Folio from ‘world masterpiece’ illuminated manuscript goes up for auction
Section of the Shah Tahmasp Shahnameh is expected to fetch between £4m and £6m at auction next month
August 2022
Salted owl and roasted puppy: Cambridge University to digitise medieval cures
Curious Cures is a two-year project to conserve more than 180 manuscripts, revealing the ‘precarity of medieval life’ and strangeness of pre-scientific medicine
July 2022
Unpublished Ted Hughes poems about partner Assia Wevill to be sold
The recently found notebook of fragments and finished work has been described as the poet’s ‘most direct’ response to the suicide of his partner and daughter in 1969
January 2022
Art Weekly newsletter
Walk into a human body, book dealers’ vandalised treasures and a 2D world – the week in art
Alison Katz gets autobiographical , the V&A recovers images cut from medieval manuscripts and Emily Speed sees life in two dimensions – all in your weekly dispatch
December 2021
Lessons from Mary, Queen of Scots in folding away secrets
Mary, Queen of Scots ‘locked’ final letter using paper-folding, research finds
October 2021
‘Solved’: the mystery of the ‘slut’ scrawled on The Grapes of Wrath manuscript
Swedish academics think they can explain why the derogatory term appears at the end of Steinbeck’s text
September 2021
Fragments of medieval Merlin manuscript found in Bristol library reveal ‘chaster’ story
Parchment fragments discovered in bindings of much later volumes reveal ‘subtle but significant’ variations on Arthurian legend
July 2021
Ancient Gilgamesh tablet seized from Hobby Lobby by US authorities
€4.55m Marquis de Sade manuscript acquired for French nation
June 2021
Lost memoir paints revered philosopher John Locke as ‘vain, lazy and pompous’
UK libraries and museums unite to save ‘astonishing’ lost library from private buyers
May 2021
‘Priceless’ Brontë manuscripts could be lost to private buyer, warn experts
Historic holdings including handwritten poems by Emily Brontë are set to be auctioned by Sotheby’s, but MPs are being urged to save them for the public
