Collection Expansion 1 of 2

From King Louis the Saint into the possession of J. P. Morgan in New York via the Shah of Persia: one of the most famous manuscripts of the Middle Ages, lavishly illuminated with 283 expressive, gold-decorated miniatures

Paris (France) — Ca. 1250

Perhaps the most beautiful testimony to a style all its own: an early Spanish Bible created under Arab rule by two Christians in a monastery abandoned for over 1,000 years

Monastery San Pedro de Valeránica, Tordómar (Spain) — June 19, 960

The gorgeous art of ancient Egypt and one of the most fascinating testimonies to this earliest of advanced civilizations: one of only four books of the dead on papyrus that have survived to the present day and one of the greatest treasures of mankind

Possibly Thebes (Egypt) — 1240 BC

A rare golden masterpiece for the Byzantine liturgy: one of the oldest pieces of Marian poetry in Christendom, adorned with expressive miniatures and fantastical initials on a luminous gold background

Istanbul (Turkey) — End of 14th or beginning of 15th century

Epistles of Peter, the apocryphal correspondence of 3 Corinthians and the birth of Mary: a fascinating insight into the origins of the Bible in a nearly 1,800-year-old papyrus

Egypt — 3rd century

With 158 expressive and lifelike pen and ink drawings by a virtuoso master of illumination: the biblical and apocryphal stories of Jesus, Mary and Pilate united in an impressive work of the Italian Trecento

Milan (Italy) — Second half of the 14th century

The ancient starry sky in a richly decorated, splendid Carolingian manuscript: The marvelous constellations of Aratos of Soloi in 42 opulent miniatures of luminous colors and radiant gold

Benedictine Abbey of St. Bertin (France) — 10th century

Ancient astronomy for Emperor Louis the Pious: Aratos of Solois' highly esteemed treatise on the stars, celestial phenomena and meteorology as a gold-decorated Carolingian masterpiece for Charlemagne's son

Aachen (Germany) / Metz (France) — After 825

A manuscript as a luminous mirror for the beauty of the cosmos: the first astronomical poem of Italian humanism, adorned with gorgeous illuminations commissioned by the learned English Earl John Tiptoft

Padua (Italy) — Ca. 1460

A wonderfully preserved, thousand-year-old copy of an even older original: the astronomical-didactic poem by the ancient celestial scientist Aratus of Soloi with 30 fascinating illuminations

Fleury or Limoges (France) — 11th century

At the behest of Cardinal Giovanni d'Aragona: gold-decorated eclipses, the 4 element theory of Aristotle, and references to the war between Naples and Florence in Christianus Prolianus' Astronomia

Naples (Italy) — 1478

A splendid astronomical manuscript for King Ferdinand I of Naples or his son: Ancient mythology and the astronomy of Aratos of Soloi in 40 beautiful, gold-adorned Renaissance miniatures by Matteo Felice

Court of Ferdinand I of Naples, Naples (Italy) — Second half of the 15th century

The fusion of art and science in the eternal fascination with the night sky: a collection of the most beautiful miniatures from medieval astronomical and astrological manuscripts

Paris (France); Bruges (Belgium) and others — 9th–16th century

By Jewish scholars for the anti-king of the Holy Roman Empire: one of the most influential astronomical works of the Middle Ages adorned with 50 vibrant full-page miniatures

Italy — 13th or 14th century

Renaissance everyday life and astrology in beautiful paintings by Cristoforo de Predis, the painter of the Sforza and Visconti: one of the most beautiful astrological works of all time, created for a member of the Sforza court

Milan (Italy) — Ca. 1470

Isidore of Seville's "Book of Wheels" in a intriguing Carolingian anthology: ancient knowledge of the time, the world and the stars in more than 60 colorful diagrams and miniatures

Probably Laon (France) — 9th century

110 full-page masterly miniatures by the Munich-born illuminator Hans Mielich: the magnificently illuminated inventory of the jewels of the Duke and Duchess of Bavaria

Munich — 1552–1555

For the appropriate education of a future pope: golden arithmetic tables and splendidly illuminated texts on arithmetic and geometry, commissioned by Lorenzo de' Medici for his son Giovanni the future Pope Leo X.

Florence (Italy) — 1491

Ovens, distillation apparatuses, and other laboratory utensils for the production of drugs in 52 woodcuts: Part II of Dr. Conrad Gessner's pioneering pharmacological treatise on pharmacological chemistry

Zurich (Switzerland) — 1569

A moral-religious perspective on nature and one of the most beautiful representatives of this genre: the famous Oxford Bestiary with its more than 130 golden pictures of wild animals and fantastic mythical creatures

Possibly Peterborough or Lincoln (United Kingdom) — Ca. 1210

Over 600 traditional medicinal plants and other remedies in pictures and texts: An equally extensive and artistic Dioscorides manuscript from the possession of Pope Alexander VII

Italy — Ca. 1400

Created for the inquisitive Staufer Emperor Frederick II: the state of medicine in the High Middle Ages in over 500 richly detailed miniatures of plants, symptoms, and treatment methods

Italy — 13th century

Applied science on behalf of Emperor Charlemagne: groundbreaking insights into the ancient healing power of plants as astonishing testimony to the Carolingian Renaissance

France — 9th century

A royal gift from the court of the powerful Gian Galeazzo Visconti in Milan: Ibn Butlan's influential medical encyclopedia in a large and magnificently illuminated pictorial codex for King Wenceslas

Milan (Italy) — End of the 14th century

The fabulous botanical garden of the bishop of Eichstätt: More than 1000 copperplate engravings by Basilius Besler of native and exotic plants executed in impressive beauty and botanical accuracy

Eichstätt (Germany) — 1613

Instructions for self-treatment for critics of medieval orthodox medicine: a medical handbook critical of doctors, with ancient texts and fascinating pictures of plants, animals, and therapeutic scenes

Southern Italy, possibly in the circle of the Staufer court (Italy) — 1st half of the 13th century

A masterpiece of the German Renaissance commissioned by the Fuggers: the secret teachings of alchemy in beautiful full-page miniatures pregnant with meaning

Probably Nuremberg or Augsburg (Germany) — Ca. 1531–1532

Impressive and realistically illuminated by Gherardo Cibo: gorgeous plant illustrations from the groundbreaking work by the famous botanist Pietro Andrea Mattioli

Venice (Italy) — 1568

A testimony to humanism in Spain, written by the personal physician of Emperor Charles V: Bernardino Montaña de Monserrates' manual of anatomy in vernacular Spanish with 13 detailed woodcuts of the human body

Valladolid (Spain) — 1591

A far-traveled classic of medical history: a gorgeously illuminated copy of Abu'l Qasim's magnum opus, created in Bologna, later part of the Bibliotheca Corviniana and taken to Constantinople as spoils of war

Bologna (Italy) — Ca. 1250–1325

Powerfully orchestrated by the brilliant artist and botanist Gherardo Cibo: the translation and additions by the famous physician Pietro Andrea Mattioli to the groundbreaking De Materia Medica by Dioscorides

Italy — Ca. 1564–1584

457 naturalistic miniatures for illustration and to avoid misunderstandings: a late 15th century manuscript of the great medieval pharmacopoeia by Matthaeus Platearius

France — Second half of the 15th century

Over 15,000 remedies in a splendidly bound codex for the Prince-Elector of the Palatinate, Frederick III: the invaluable and extensive work of the gifted doctor and pharmacist Christoph Wirsung

Heidelberg (Germany) — 1568

A medieval “Encyclopedia Britannica” concerning nature: the comprehensive work of Thomas of Cantimpré illuminated in hundreds of miniatures by the Regensburg illuminator Martinus Opifex

Vienna (Austria) or Bavaria (Germany) — Ca. 1440

The first encyclopedia of the Middle Ages in a comprehensively illuminated manuscript from the famous monastery of Montecassino: Hrabanus Maurus' work on almost all aspects of early medieval life in 335 miniatures

Montecassino Abbey (Italy) — 1022–1035

The rediscovery of ancient sports medicine: Girolamo Mercuriale's popular bestseller on the “art of gymnastics” and health care in antiquity with striking copperplate engravings by Cristoforo Coriolano

Amsterdam (Netherlands) — 1672

The magnum opus by one of the “ Fathers of Botany”: The German translation of Leonhart Fuchs' long-lasting standard work on herbal medicine, complemented by more than 500 detailed colored woodcuts

Ort — Jahr

Foldouts of the eye in Georg Bartisch's milestone of medical history: 92 fascinating, partly multi-layered woodcuts in the oldest comprehensive German textbook and first Renaissance work on ophthalmology

Dresden (Germany) — 1583

Rediscovered only a few years ago: official documents on the trial against the Knights Templar and the interrogation protocol of Jacques de Molay as testimony to one of the most notorious and mysterious events in history

Poitiers (France) — 1307–1312

The unbroken fascination of the Knights Templar: original documents stolen in 1985 as testimonies of the daily life, organization and ceremonies in the life of the Knights Templar, their persecution and their absolution in Spain and Portugal

France/Spain — 1308–1312

The History textbook of the young Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: one of the most popular historical works of the 17th and 18th centuries with 156 small portraits and 328 copperplate engravings by Matthäus Merian the Elder

Frankfurt am Main (Germany) — 1743

Written by the Grand Master of the Order of Saint John and illustrated with 52 full-page miniatures: a pictorial account of the successful defense of Rhodes against the Turks in 1480

Paris (France) — 1482–1483