Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts Medieval Illuminated Books of Hours

The Kerry Stokes Collection presents a lecture by celebrated author and expert on medieval manuscripts Dr Christopher de Hamel.

This richly illustrated talk will look at the variety and history of medieval illuminated manuscripts in collections across Australia, why and when they got there, how they were first recorded and identified, and why they matter. 

Dr Christopher de Hamel will recount stories of his childhood in 1960s New Zealand and his fascination with manuscripts as a schoolboy. He will discuss his later work at Sotheby’s in London and Cambridge University and his collaboration with the late Margaret Manion in cataloguing and exhibiting the manuscripts of both Australia and New Zealand. 

Finishing with the extraordinary manuscripts in the Kerry Stokes Collection here in Perth, including the Rothschild Prayerbook, the most expensive manuscript ever sold at auction. 

Enquiries to erica.persak@acequity.com.au

Christopher de Hamel

Dr Christopher Francis Rivers de Hamel FSA is a British academic librarian and expert on mediaeval manuscripts. He is a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and a former Fellow Librarian of the Parker Library. 

During his long career at Sotheby's and Cambridge University, Christopher has probably seen and catalogued more medieval manuscripts than anyone alive, and his delight and enthusiasm run through all he writes. He is the author of many books, including A History of Illuminated Manuscripts, The Book in the Cathedral, and Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts, which won both the Duff Cooper Prize and the Wolfson History Prize.

Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts Christopher De Hamel