A VERY EXPENSIVE LITTLE BOOK

Carrying on with the old books theme, here's news of The British Library currently attempting to raise £9m to buy the oldest intact book in Europe.

The St Cuthbert Gospel (pictured above) is palm-sized, leather-bound & still in its original cover. It's believed to have been buried with Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne in 698, before he and his home were later reburied in what eventually became Durham Cathedral.

The British Library's chief executive, Lynne Brindley, tells the Telegraph: "This is a beautifully preserved window into a rich, sophisticated culture that flourished some four centuries before the Norman conquest." All the best of luck to them, but whichever way you look at it, that's a very expensive little book.