Rare Gospel purchased by British Library

The British Library has bought Europe’s oldest intact book for £9 million, saving it from the possibility of being sold to an overseas buyer.

The St Cuthbert Gospel is a copy of the Gospel of St John that was produced in north-east England in the late 7th century and placed on St Cuthbert’s coffin on Lindisfarne around the year 698.

The manuscript is bound in red leather with a beautifully worked front cover.

It was secured through the British Library’s largest ever fundraising campaign.

The appeal received a £4.5 million grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund. Other major gifts came from the Art Fund, the Garfield Weston Foundation and the Foyle Foundation.

The St Cuthbert Gospel is the only surviving high-status manuscript from this period in British history to retain its original appearance inside and out.

It can now be viewed at the British Library in central London as part of a wider display exploring its creation, travels and near-miraculous survival across 13 centuries.

Chief Executive of the British Library, Dame Lynne Brindley, said: “To look at this small and intensely beautiful treasure from the Anglo-Saxon period is to see it exactly as those who created it in the 7th century would have seen it.

“The exquisite binding, the pages, even the sewing structure survive intact, offering us a direct connection with our forebears 1300 years ago.

“Its importance in the history of the book and its association with one of Britain’s foremost saints make it unique, so I am delighted to announce the successful acquisition of the St Cuthbert Gospel by the British Library.

“This precious item will remain in public hands so that present and future generations can learn from it.”