Christie, Manson & Woods Ltd (London)

(30 cm), 61 (5) pp., illustrations. Lots numbered 101-102. Publisher’s pictorial wrappers. - Offprint from the sale catalogue “Works of art from the collection of the barons Nathaniel and Albert von Rothschild” conducted by Christie’s, London, 8 July 1999. The Cornaro Missal (lot 101) had been appropriated from the Rothschild family in 1938, and until its restitution in 1998 was in the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (Codex Vindobonensis Series Nova 28443). Estimated £150,000-£200,000, it realised £2,861,500. The Prayerbook likewise had been appropriated in 1938, and restituted in 1998 (formerly Codex Vindobonensis Series Nova 2844). Estimated to sell for £2-3m, it attracted five bidders, and realised £8,581,500: “the last discernible bid in the room was from Ferrini at something over £5m” (saleroom report in The Book Collector, Autumn 1999, pp.423-424). The prayer book returned to the market at Christie’s, New York, 29 January 2014, lot 157; then, estimated $12-18m, it sold for $13,605,000, to the Australian businessman Kerry Stokes (Margaret M. Manion, An Illumination: The Rothschild Prayer Book and other works from the Kerry Stokes Collection c. 1280-1685, West Perth: Kerry Stokes Collection, 2015). ¶ Unmarked copy. Photocopy of List of prices realised loosely inserted.