The expensive items are listed among the city’s heritage assets
Think about the collection of books you have at home. No doubt there’s a favourite, maybe one that’s been read cover to cover countless times.
There may even be one you care about deeply and protect from sticky fingers or dog eared pages. It might be worth a little bit too.
However, it’s probably fair to say your favourite book isn’t worth more than £7m – unlike a collection of illustrations of birds held by Liverpool Council. As part of its statement of accounts for the last financial year, the local authority has listed the heritage assets it holds.
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Among them is a copy of The Birds of America, a book by naturalist and painter John James Audubon first published between 1827 and 1838. According to a specialist valuation by fine arts expert Sotheby’s, the book – which contains illustrations of a wide variety of birds of the United States – is worth £7.5m.
The accounts statement said the council does not own or maintain the city’s museums or an art gallery but holds a trust in historic buildings such as St George’s Hall, Croxteth Hall and the Town Hall. It added: “These buildings do contain assets that are considered to be heritage assets (paintings, antiques, statues, civic regalia, etc).
“Some of these heritage assets can be considered to be on display to members of the public (in as much as the public has access to those buildings) but they are not on display in the sense of a formal exhibition or display environment.”
Several of the heritage assets managed by the local authority are on long term loan from National Museums Liverpool. Detailed inventories of heritage assets are maintained for management and insurance purposes.
In general, it is the responsibility of the manager of each historic building to determine the most appropriate safeguarding arrangements for these assets. The document said limited resources are available to the council to spend on maintaining heritage assets.
Audubon’s book contains 435 life-size watercolours of North American birds, all reproduced from hand-engraved plates, and is considered to be the archetype of wildlife illustration.
Among the other heritage assets held by the council include various sketch and wash drawings by Edward Lear to illustrate travels in Italy thought to be worth £1.3m. A history of painting in Italy dating to 1828 by L Lanzi is reported to be worth £1.2m while chandeliers in the Town Hall, which are cut glass Georgian are worth £1.4m.
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