In 1816, the London bookbinder John Whittaker (also described as a bookseller or associated with other book-related occupations [1]) produced a luxury edition of Magna Carta on its 600th anniversary. [2] [3] It was officially styled Magna Carta Regis Johannis XV. Die Junii Anno Regni XVII. [4]
The text of Whittaker's Magna Carta was in gold. [5] Copies in the small edition were intended for the king and other nobles; [3] George III and either John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, or his son, were known to have copies. [6] Different copies use different materials: some are printed on vellum, others on satin or paper. [7] About 40 were auctioned in the 20th century. [8] Thomas Frognall Dibdin described Whittaker's Magna Carta as "gorgeous and truly unrivalled" in Bibliographical Decameron. [7]