Lacock Abbey Manuscripts at Christie's

Harry Potter fans will have t duke it out with medieval manuscript collectors for two educational manuals coming up for auction tomorrow at Christie's in London. The fourteenth century manuscripts are the only known survivors of the library at Lacock Abbey, aka Hogwarts in the Harry Potter movies. Classroom scenes from several entries in the movie franchise were filmed in Lacock Abbey's side-rooms and cloisters. In a pleasing coincidence, the manuscripts are educational in their subject matter, seeking to enlighten aristocratic children of the 14th century in the finer points of French.

Lacock Abbey, founded as a nunnery in 1229, flourished through the later Middle Ages. After the Dissolution, Henry VIII sold Lacock to Sir William Sharington, who converted it into a private residence. The Abbey passed down through Sharington lines until purchased by the Talbot family in the 18th century. William Henry Fox Talbot, founder of modern photography, conducted his experiments at Lacock. Talbot produced the earliest known photographic negative, which shows a window in the Abbey's south wall. The Abbey, and its surrounding village, were given to the National Trust in 1944.