BY SOTHEBY'S: ‘Pristine’ first printing of the Talmud to be auctioned. Sacred text sat in Westminster Abbey for 450 years; London diamond dealer selling it as part of huge private collection of Hebrew books, manuscripts. Also on auction, Hebrew Bible from 1189, only such manuscript from before Jews expelled from England in 1290. (VERENA DOBNIK, AP).
As the article notes, this collection (the Valmadonna Library), was displayed by Sotheby's in 2009 for sale as a unit, but it didn't sell. Now some of the most valuable objects are going up for auction, with the rest to be sold next year. Background here, here, here, here, and here.
As always, I hope that, if the manuscripts and books must be sold, a philanthrophist (or philanthropists) will buy them and donate them to a library or museum. Failing that, I hope the buyer(s) will make sure to keep them available for scholars to study.
