Whittaker Magna Carta

In 1816, the London bookbinder John Whittaker (also described as a bookseller or associated with other book-related occupations[1]) produced a luxury edition of Magna Carta on its 600th anniversary.[2][3] It was officially styled Magna Carta Regis Johannis XV. Die Junii Anno Regni XVII.[4]

The text of Whittaker's Magna Carta was in gold.[5] Copies in the small edition were intended for the king and other nobles;[3] George III and either John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, or his son, were known to have copies.[6] Different copies use different materials: some are printed on vellum, others on satin or paper.[7] About 40 were auctioned in the 20th century.[8] Thomas Frognall Dibdin described Whittaker's Magna Carta as "gorgeous and truly unrivalled" in Bibliographical Decameron.[7]

  1. ^ Gregory 2018, pp. 212–213.
  2. ^ Gregory 2018, p. 211.
  3. ^ a b "An Illustrated Catalogue of 'A Scholars' Paradise: A Centenary Exhibition of Notable Books and Manuscripts'". Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester. 82: 152. 2000. ISSN 0301-102X.
  4. ^ Friend 1944, p. 39.
  5. ^ Gregory 2018, p. 212.
  6. ^ Friend 1944, p. 41.
  7. ^ a b Maggs 2000, p. 271.
  8. ^ Maggs 2000, p. 272.