'BIBLIOMANIACS' from Ascot's Papplewick School saw the past come alive at Eton College library as they got to see and admire British, German and Chinese maps and atlases dating from the Middle Ages.

Papplewick’s Bibliomaniacs are the youngest antiquarian booksellers in the world. The boys from the school in Windsor Road, all aged between ten and thirteen, meet every Thursday to discuss recent book sales and discover more about the history of literature, books and printing. They also produce catalogues of books for sale.

Their visit to Eton on Tuesday, November 4 was one they will never forget. Assistant librarian Dr Stephanie Coane showed them a collection of British, German and Chinese maps and atlases dating from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century, as well as Eton’s collection of ancient charters.

They saw incunabula (books published before 1501) in an exhibition about the Venetian printer Aldus Manutius, probably the most famous printer in the 15th century apart from Gutenberg. However, the highlight was being able to view Eton’s copy of the Gutenberg Bible itself with its illumination in the Erfurt style and its marvellous contemporary binding.

Headmaster Tom Bunbury said: “Our Bibliomaniacs have become so skilled that the master-in-charge, Jonathan Cooper, formerly of Sotheby’s book department, now only has to provide chocolate to power inspiration.”

Money raised through book sales has allowed the boys to sponsor three quarters of an acre of forest owned by the Woodland Trust at Bisham Wood, near Maidenhead.

Papplewick’s Bibliomaniacs have built their own website www.bibliomaniacs.co.uk, where their latest blogs can be viewed.

They are pictured at Eton with Jonathan Cooper at Eton College Library.