Stowe manuscripts
The antiquary and palaeographer Thomas Astle left his collection of manuscripts to the Duke when he died in 1803.[1] The entire collection was purchased by the 4th Earl of Ashburnham in 1849, having been prepared for sale by auction following the bankruptcy of the 2nd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos.In July 1883 the 5th Earl of Ashburnham sold the Stowe manuscript collection to the British government for £45,000.in Dublin, with the cumdach or book-shrine of the Stowe Missal subsequently being transferred to the National Museum of Ireland.[3] The 1085 Stowe manuscripts at the British Library continue to be catalogued as a separate, closed, collection.