Complex sentence: The three volumes previously in Amsterdam were acquired in two separate purchases by the 19th-century English antiquary and book collector Sir Thomas Phillipps and have subsequently been sold twice, most recently by Sotheby's of London on 7 December 2010.
Split into simpler sentences: The three volumes previously in Amsterdam were acquired in two separate purchases by the 19th-century English antiquary and book collector Sir Thomas Phillipps and have subsequently been sold twice. The manuscript was sold by Sotheby's of London on 7 December 2010.