Maggs Bros Ltd

In 1916 Maggs Bros bought the penis of Napoleon Bonaparte from the descendants of Abbé Ange Paul Vignali, who had given the last rites and surreptitiously cut off the member in question.

[7] Maggs Brothers pulled off the greatest bookselling coup of the inter-war period, when in 1932 they successfully negotiated with the government of Soviet Russia to acquire not only a Gutenberg Bible, but also the celebrated Codex Sinaiticus.

Some time later, Maggs received a postcard saying that the Soviet government would be prepared to sell the Codex Sinaiticus for £200,000.

The British government agreed to pay half the amount and guaranteed the remainder if it were not raised by public subscription.

[8] Maggs have regularly set book price records; in 1947 they bought a second Gutenberg Bible—the Dyson Perrins copy—for £22,000, on behalf of Sir Philip Frere, and a few years later resold it to Mrs. Doheny of California, this latter copy now the only one in Japan.