The leading bibliographer of Ruskin has outlined the story of this sale:
In England, George Allen, who was Ruskin's publisher from the early 1870s, had built up an enviable collection of Ruskin manuscripts. He had also been scrupulously careful to obtain documentary evidence from Ruskin that these manuscripts belonged to him. Very soon after Ruskin's death in 1900, plans began to be laid for the publication of the Library Edition of The Works of John Ruskin (see Cook and Wedderburn), and a lot of scheming took place.... At about this time George Allen decided to part with his Ruskin manuscripts. The reason is not clear. He may have been selling them to raise money to finance the new edition, or more likely - in my opinion - to put the manuscripts firmly beyond the reach of Joan Severn, Ruskin's legatee, and Alexander Wedderburn, the clever King's Counsel, who was also one of Ruskin's literary executors. Whichever may have been the case, in the spring of 1902 Allen sent Pierpont Morgan a list of the Ruskin manuscripts which he was prepared to sell. The list included the manuscripts of The Stones of Venice, priced at £6,000, and Modern Painters, at £7,700, together with a dozen others. Morgan replied offering £5,000 for Modern Painters, and Allen accepted his offer. At first sight, £5,000 may not seem very much. But people who know about these things tell me there is a formula for updating 1902 prices to their present-day equivalent - and Morgan was effectively paying £450,000 for the manuscript, by to-day's standards. ( Dearden,'Ruskin To-day', p.19.)