Books can hold all sorts of unexpected treasures, and this discovery is one of them!

At the University of Reading in England, special collections librarian Erica Delbecque discovered a page leaf that came “from a medieval priests’ handbook that had been printed by William Caxton, who introduced the printing press to England.” The paper had been “pasted into another book for the undignified purpose of reinforcing its spine.”

The page leaf is approximately 540 years old and was part of a handbook for priests written in Latin called  “Sarum Ordinal” or “Sarum Pye” which was used by priests for “instructions on what biblical readings to use and how to dress at Mass on different religious feast days for English saints.”

Read more about this discovery here!