Fury over sale of replica Gospels

Date: 2003-05-17, Publication: The Journal

Experts at the British Library have been accused of selling the region short, after it emerged that copies of one of the North-East's greatest treasures are being marketed by a Swiss printing firm.

The row blew up as one of two facsimile versions of the Lindisfarne Gospels destined for the region was receiving its blessing at Durham Cathedral yesterday, as part of a new exhibition being staged by the London institution.

A second reproduction is due to be handed over to Lindisfarne Heritage Centre at a ceremony on Holy Island today, while a third is set to travel the nation.

The copies - exact replicas of the unique 8th Century illuminated manuscript, which was penned by a monk on Holy Island in Northumberland - were presented as gifts by the British Library to the people of the region.

But campaigners calling for the real Gospels to be returned to the North-East were furious to discover yesterday that a further 977 editions of the magnificent book are being sold to private collectors by Faksimile Verlag Lucerne, the Swiss printers commissioned by the British Library.

With the price starting at nearly £10,000 for the plain leather-bound edition, rising to almost £14,000 for a bejewelled Victorian binding, campaigners claim the region's cultural heritage is being cheapened.

Graeme Danby, a campaigner with the Northumbrian Association which is fighting to return the Gospels to Durham, called the sell-off "a disgrace".

He added: "This gesture of giving the North- East two copies of a treasure which, in reality, belongs here has been shown up to be nothing more than a sop.

"We thought these two copies were a unique gift to the people of the region. Instead we find out by chance that we are just one recipient in a long line of buyers. The net value of this commercial enterprise is at least £10m." He added: "Someone somewhere stands to make a fair bit of money out of this, at the expense of the region's most iconic treasure. That is wrong."

But Jill Finney, strategic marketing and communications director at the British Library, defended the project.

She said: "Money from the exhibition at Durham will go towards the refurbishment of the cathedral, while at Lindisfarne money will go towards a new social housing scheme.

"The production cost of these carbon copy facsimiles was extremely high, so the British Library will only make a marginal profit from their sale.

"The overall aim of the project was to improve access and offer the people of the North-East a near-perfect copy of the original Gospels both at Durham and Lindisfarne.

"Commercialism was a completely secondary issue."

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