- 4
Leaves from Lectionaries, in Latin and German, on vellum [twelfth to fifteenth century]
Estimate
4,000 - 6,000 GBP
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Description
- Vellum
8 leaves: (a) bifolium, each leaf approximately 375mm. by 290mm., with a white vine initial ‘B’ (opening “Baptizatus ihesus confestim …”, the opening of Matthew 3:16, here opening a homily), rubrics in red, double column with remains of 38 lines in brown ink in a rounded Romanesque bookhand, Italy (perhaps Tuscany), mid-twelfth century; (b) single leaf, 382mm. by 275mm., with a single large initial ‘I’ (opening “In cotidiana nobis …”, Gregory the Great’s Homily for Easter) in split red strokes, another smaller initial and rubrics in red, double column, 34 lines in brown ink in a fine Romanesque bookhand, back scrubbed clean from reuse in binding, Italy, first half of twelfth century; (c) bifolium, each leaf approximately 335mm. by 225mm., rubrics in red, single column, 26 lines in 2 sizes of a monumental and tall early gothic bookhand, capitals touched in red, small initials and rubrics in red, one 2-line initial in blue with red penwork, France, late thirteenth century; (d) single leaf, 365mm. by 230mm., double column, 36 lines in two sizes of an angular gothic bookhand, with instructions in German in main hand for the reading of the lessons (including 31 lines in German), capitals touched in red, initials in red and blue, one with contrasting penwork, border cut away on outermost vertical edge of leaf with losses to a character or so of text column, Germany, c.1300; plus two more leaves from a fifteenth-century German Lectionary, 330mm. by 235mm., and a monumental fourteenth-century Bible, with text from Isaiah (probably German), 360mm. by 255mm.; all recovered from bindings and with small stains, holes and damage to edges, overall good to fair condition
Catalogue Note
The use of vernacular German instructions for the readings in item (d) is a rare feature of medieval liturgical practise.