This handsome manuscript volume containing books of the Bible in Latin is remarkable for two main reasons. Firstly, it is an outstanding example of well-preserved medieval painted edge decoration. It is highly unusual for coloured ornate decoration to be so clearly defined in an item of this age. Secondly, the story of what happened to the original binding is a fascinating tale in itself, and the reason why the book is exceptional and unique to UCL. The volume is now re-bound in half-red goatskin, with oak boards and a large ornate brass clasp. A delicate floral design is stamped on the border.

The story of this Bible’s early history is laid out in a manuscript letter tipped into the fly leaf, dated October 1859. According to the letter, the book belonged to an unnamed Spanish lawyer who was obliged to leave Spain owing to his political opinions and resided in England as a refugee for some years. Before it reached England’s shores, however, the original substantial bindings were ‘violently torn away’, to make it a lighter load for transporting ‘on the backs of Mules’ across Spain, and ‘still worse the Manuscripts (sic) fell into very bad hands’. Whether the original owner re-bound it or not is unknown, but we know the half-red goatskin and oak boards replacement was bound by W H Smith, probably in 1904.

The manuscript is written throughout by the same hand in a very neat, well-executed Gothic minuscule of the 13th (or perhaps 14th) century. It is in brownish ink, with text laid over two columns with 47 lines per column. Set within 69 larger initials are beautifully executed miniatures on a blue background, overlaid with silver, red and blue flourishes. Images from the Gospels dominate the pages and delight the eye – though a number of them are missing, having been cut out, according to the manuscript letter, ‘as was believed, to give away to Women and Children, and other leaves taken, to be used, as and for thread papers’. These losses are the only defects in an otherwise magnificent example of medieval craftsmanship.