We all know about the Elgin Marbles, but I didn't know about the Kingston Lacy Euripides volume until I started reading Anne Sebba's biography of William Bankes (The Exiled Collector, William Bankes and the Making of an English Country House) following a visit to the National Trust property at Kingston Lacy, Dorset.
In her chapter on "Exploration" (p. 65) she writes of Bankes' collecting trips and of his visit to St. Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai, where he "rummaged in an astonishing library of 2,000 dusty volumes including several manuscripts and ancient works in Greek and 'brought away' several volumes. Perhaps the monks allowed him, or Bankes decided to help himself. One volume is today in the library of Kingston Lacy, a 1503 copy of Euripides annotated on the flyleaf: 'Brought from the convent of St Catherine upon Mount Sinai in August 1815 by Wm. John Bankes'. If he removed (or was given) others, they were apparently returned."
I'm curious to know if the Euripides volume contains any significant textual variants or lost plays.
What else is in the library or lies in the cellars at Kingston Lacy?
Much of great interest it would appear.
Bankes Family Archive, Dorset History Centre (UPDATE July 2015)
The Bankes Homer
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