Shown above is what is believed to be the only complete copy of The Mirror of Recluses, a 15th century Middle English translation of the Latin rule for recluses, Speculum Inclusorum.
The manuscript became known to scholars in 2014 and includes substantial amounts of text that are missing from the only other extant copy (now in the British Library) and begins with a previously unknown translator’s prologue.
It has been suggested that the copy was produced in Barking Abbey as part of the female education campaign of Abbess Sybil de Felton in the first half of the 15th century.
Formerly in the collection of the Liberal British politician Allan Heywood Bright (1862-1941), it will be offered for sale at Bloomsbury Auctions in central London on July 2.
Estimate £70,000-90,000.
