Skip to content
Sign in
Creasy Spines

“Every crease is a story.”

Illustration of the kind of find described. We don't reproduce press photographs.
Other· Late 13th–early 14th century

Merlin hiding in the binding of a Suffolk land register

By the Editors · As reported by University of Cambridge, 25 March 2025

FoundCambridge, United Kingdom

Tucked inside the Huntingfield Manor register (16th-century binding)

While re-cataloguing manorial records at Cambridge University Library in 2019, staff noticed that the cover of a sixteenth-century register for Huntingfield Manor in Suffolk had been made from a medieval manuscript. It held part of the Suite Vulgate du Merlin, a French sequel to the Arthurian romances copied around 1275 to 1315, including a scene with Merlin disguised as a harpist at Arthur’s court. Too fragile to unfold, it was read in place using multispectral imaging and CT scanning, and published online in 2025.

This is our summary of a find reported in the press. For the full story, photographs and any updates, read the original report in University of Cambridge.

More finds