"It's funny how the Earl of Macclesfield failed to notice that the gaily coloured old book in his library was one of the greatest works of art in British history. Perhaps he was just secretive. Whatever the reason, the animal-hide pages that can now be seen in glass display cases in a Cambridge museum lay unknown in his library until his books started to be sold off.
What happened after the manuscript - which, in perhaps unjustified deference to its former owner, has been named the Macclesfield Psalter - came up for auction at Sotheby's on June 22 2004 is now the stuff of heritage legend. An attempt to buy it by Cambridge University's Fitzwilliam Museum was foiled by the dastardly J Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. But Californian dollars were deflected by a temporary government export ban and, with assiduous use of the media and support from a worthy list of caring trusts and funds, this great British art treasure has stayed in Britain."

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