Western Manuscripts and Miniatures

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Lot 63
  • 63

Psalter with canticles, in Latin, decorated manuscript on vellum [Germany (probably Bavaria), thirteenth century]

Estimate
7,000 - 9,000 GBP
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Description

  • Vellum
109 leaves, 200mm. by 160mm., wanting 2 leaves from first gathering, a single leaf after fol.36 and a gathering at end (of which only a stub of a single leaf remains), else complete, collation: i6 (wanting i and iv), ii-iv8, v7 (ii probably a singleton), vi-x8, xi4, xii-xiii8, xiv4, xv8, single column, 21-22 lines in brown ink in a German early gothic bookhand, one- and 2-line initials in red, six 7-line initials in variegated red and blue with penwork extending into margins (that on fol.18v with a simple rabbit), large Beatus initial (11-line) on fol.3r in red and blue geometric interlace on yellow grounds, with red penwork terminating in blue baubels and flowers (slight rubbing), some readings with hufnagelschrift neumes (see fols.3r and 59v), first gathering repaired with pieces of thirteenth-century text, border cut away from fol.83, space left for initial on fol.36v, discoloured and slightly battered throughout, contemporary tawed pigskin over wooden boards, 5 metal bosses on both upper and lower covers, remains of two clasps, slipcase

Provenance

provenance

1. Written in Germany in the mid-thirteenth century, probably in Bavaria (Calendar with SS. Ulric, bishop of Augsburg, 4 July; Willibald, bishop of Eichsatt, 7 July; and Kilian, first bishop of Wurzberg, 8 July).

2. Bergendal MS.59; bought in our rooms, 6 December 1983, lot 51: Bergendal catalogue no.59; Stoneman, 'Guide', p.189; Homiletic and Pastoral Review, March 1995, pp.30-31 and 48-52.

Catalogue Note

text

This monastic volume has great charm despite its rustic quality. It includes a Calendar (fol.1r), the Psalms (fol.3r), seventy-four of which have been prepared for practical recitation during the Divine Office by the addition of their antiphons with early musical notation, followed by the nine canticles (fol.102r), the Athanasian Creed, the Te Deum and the Magnificat.