Notable Sales

Significant Placements and Provenance Highlights

Where provenance, scholarship, and connoisseurship meet. This archive records some of the notable sales of rare books and manuscripts placed in major collections across the globe by Stephen Butler. Each entry highlights an important work we’ve placed into private collections or institutional libraries, often with distinguished provenance or unique features.

They also reflect our role in guiding collectors and institutions to acquire pieces of lasting significance. Explore the stories behind these placements and discover why provenance, rarity and scholarly importance remain central to building meaningful collections.

Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarius  — Carolingian illuminated fragments

    An exceptionally early and rare example from a monastic herbal from c.825 Two illustrated leaves (one complete, one partial) from a Carolingian medical manuscript of the Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarius, in Latin, on vellum. [Southern Germany, [...]

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ST. JEROME, Vitae sanctorum patrum, sive Vitas patrum.

  ST. JEROME, Vitae sanctorum patrum, sive Vitas patrum. Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 7 May 1478 A monumental edition in fine medieval binding, with superb historiated initial in gold leaf. Most likely a chained binding with evidence [...]

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Rhetorica C8th fragment with uncial script

We were pleased recently to place this beautiful ‘R’ initial C8th fragment with uncial script into the hands of an Institution. A previously unknown written document from the first half of the 8th century: Fragment of [...]

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Book of Hours from the Workshop of Birago, Lombardy, c.1490

We are delighted to note the recent placement of a sumptuous Book of Hours in a U.S. library collection. Produced in Italy, almost certainly Brescia in Lombardy, c. 1490, this manuscript reflects the richness of late [...]

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3 fragments of Oxyrhynchus papyrus

We are proud to have recently handled papyrus manuscripts from Oxyrhynchus, which we successfully placed in a U.S. library collection. The Oxyrhynchus Papyri are among the most important manuscript discoveries of the modern age. Excavated in [...]

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