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Lot 25

MAGNA CARTA, PRINTED ON VELLUM
Engraved Facsimile of the 1215 Magna Carta, ENGRAVED BY JOHN PINE AND PRINTED ON VELLUM, [1733]

14 November 2023, 14:00 GMT
London, Knightsbridge

Sold for £12,800 inc. premium

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MAGNA CARTA, PRINTED ON VELLUM

By Permission of [...the named...] Trustees of the Cottonian Library. This Plate being a Correct Copy of King John's Great Charter... Engraved Facsimile of the 1215 Magna Carta, ENGRAVED BY JOHN PINE AND PRINTED ON VELLUM, engraved central panel of text surrounded by a series of 25 hand-coloured coats-of-arms of the Barons, hand-coloured representation of the remains of King John's Great Seal, all panels surrounded by hand-coloured oak leaf and acorn borders, age soiling, light damp-stain at lower margin (more visible on blank verso) with several old creases, 2 very small holes (one in border of a heraldic device, one in blank lower margin), platemark 700 x 485mm., overall sheet 770 x 570mm., Sold by J. Pine, engraver against Little Britain in Aldersgate Street, and by the Booksellers of London and Westminster, [1733]

Footnotes

PRINTED ON VELLUM, THE FIRST PRINTING OF THE ORIGINAL TEXT OF MAGNA CARTA, King John's Great Charter of 1215, the most celebrated legal document in the English-speaking world.

This attractive engraving was taken from one of the two original copies owned by Sir Robert Cotton, now in the British Museum. John Pine (1690-1756) was a publisher, print- and map-seller, as well as Bluemantle Pursuivant at the College of Arms, and Engraver to the King's signet and Stamp Office. It is thought that one of the motivations for publishing this facsimile in the present form was the fire on 23 October 1731 in which one of the two Cottonian originals was damaged.

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