There’s a Real Page Turner on Display at Maidstone Library

There’s no doubt that many children will be looking out for their personal favourites as World Book Day approaches tomorrow, but a book of a very different kind is causing a stir at Maidstone library.

Maidstone library is home to the Lambeth Bible

Dating back to the mid 1100’s, the book, known as the Lambeth Bible, is one of the oldest and most expensive books in the county. It is estimated to be worth about £1 million and can only be handled when wearing protective gloves.

It is kept in a glass case at the St Faiths Street building, and staff must make sure that the pages are turned with regularity so they are not exposed to too much light. It is thought that an unpaid scribe – possibly a monk – would have laboured for several years over the perfect writing back in the mid 1100s, although even today the marks showing how he kept the lines straight are still visible if visitors look closely. Its pages are made of vellum, a type of animal skin, rather than paper and the red dye used in some of its details may have been made with cochineal, otherwise known as beetle blood.

Collections officer Samantha Harris said: "It is a really beautiful book. At the time this was written very few people would have been able to read or write so this person would have been considered highly educated, although they would not have been paid."

It is the second volume – the first is housed in Lambeth Palace Library – and the illuminated manuscript would have once stood on a church lectern, with a priest reading from it to his congregation, who would not have been able to read it themselves.

It has been linked to Faversham Abbey as it is believed it was produced for King Stephen and Queen Matilda. It was brought closer to its current home when it was resident at All Saints’ Church in Mill Street, Maidstone, in 1716.