Half-Eaten Cookie Found Inside 16th Century Tudor Manuscript

One timid schoolboy is believed to be leafing through the book which seems to be a chocolate chip cookie about 50 years ago. The manuscript — which dates back almost 500 years — was given to the university by a grammar school in 1970.

The 1529 volume from the complete works of St Augustine is stored inside the university’s rare books archive, where no food, drink or even pens are allowed.

Emily Dourish, the deputy keeper of rare books and early manuscripts, discovered the biscuit.

She explained to The BBC: “It was probably a schoolboy looking at the book over 50 years ago who then accidentally dropped a biscuit and it was forgotten about.”

“When we received the book, somebody will have had a brief look at it, then stored it away. Nobody has properly looked at it since.”

“I was stunned. When we gave it to our conservationist, his jaw dropped.”

Restorers were able to remove the decaying “dry and crumbly” biccie — but it has left a greasy stain on a handwritten page.

The university’s special collections library tweeted: “For future reference, we have an acid-free paper to mark your place. Please don’t use baked goods.”