"Manuscripts changed the face of the world … Croford Sterling in Abu Dhabi Book 2025"

Abu Dhabi, April 30 / WAM / The “Cruford Sterling”, specialized in selling rare manuscripts and books, participates in the activities of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair 2025, through a special suite in which a distinguished collection of old print books and rare manuscripts that represent prominent stations in literary, religious and cultural history.

Benjamin Kroford, founder of Croford Sterling in the United States, stressed that the company is concerned with the acquisition and sale of some of the rarest and most valuable printed books in the world, noting that their participation in the exhibition this year includes displaying exceptional materials of great historical importance.

“We are here today to display in our wing rare materials dating back to Gothenburg Press, the first printing press, which produced the first book in the world to be printed using moving metal letters. We not only display one paper, but two original papers from this historical book, where each paper represents a page of this revolutionary achievement that changed the face of the world.”

He added that the interaction of visitors was amazing, as thousands flocked to see these treasures, among them also a bright manuscript of the Middle Ages that were fully written, and the stages of making books are depicted before the invention of printing and this piece is characterized by the beauty of its decoration, and it was implemented with a commission of Pope Clement V towards 1310, signed by the copyist in his handwriting, and it was previously owned by a family Da Vinci, the ancestors of the famous artist Leonardo Da Vinci.

During her participation, Cruford Sterling also presented a group of rare literary and historical treasures, the most prominent of which is a very rare version of the Bible in the Latin language dating back to the early fourteenth century and bearing the slogan of Nabala for the Da Vinci family.

This manuscript is a prominent artistic and cultural achievement in the history of the Middle Ages in the Middle Ages, as it reflects a unique interaction between art and the text written to convey knowledge and cultural memory between generations.

The pavilion also includes a rare paper from the “Prague Gospel” known as a “Hajj travel”, and it is printed within the first version of the Gothenburg Gospel that was printed in Mainz, Germany in 1455.

The paper contains the full text of Hajji travel, which deals with the issues of national development, spiritual renewal and collective responsibility, in a symbolic expression of the spirit of change that print later to the world and contributed to spreading knowledge on a large scale. This paper is only one of two full sheets of this travel, still preserved within special groups.

Another original paper of the Gothenberg Gospel is also displayed within the wing, which is part of the first book printed in metal letters in Europe, which makes it a living testimony to the birth of the era of printing and the beginning of cultural and cognitive transformation in the Western world.

Cruford pointed out that Croford Sterling is focused on the acquisition, organization and management of cultural assets with the aim of preserving cultural wealth, with a commitment to transfer this legacy to future generations, explaining that the company also provides individual sale services for rare first editions, early printed books, luxury binds and moderate medieval manuscripts.

The house is currently displaying a unique group that documents the civilization of the West through some of the greatest artworks preserved in history, among them copies of the Bible, and this group covers a temporal spectrum that extends from Greek manuscripts to the Gothenburg Gospel, and from the Hebrew Torah to the Lunar Bible, which makes it a rare testimony to the development of the Bible as a religious and cultural text.

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