Psalter, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [south-western Germany (perhaps Konstanz) or Switzerland (perhaps St. Gallen), mid-fifteenth century]

82 leaves (plus one sixteenth-century vellum flyleaf at each end), 102mm. by 82mm., wanting a leaf or so at end, collation: i-iv¹⁰, v⁸, vi-viii¹⁰, ix⁴, single column, 31-33 lines, written space 72mm. by 55mm., written in brown ink in a gothic bookhand, rubrics in red, one- and 2-line initials in red or blue, larger initials the same with purple pen-flourishing including foliage decoration, the penwork on some picking out grotesque and zoomorphic figures and also a dog (fol. 81r), two with partial borders of scrolling foliage (fols.71v, 82v), 9 large initials formed of fleshy acanthus in red, blue, green, pink, purple, or finely pounced burnished gold, on bi-coloured grounds with decoration in the same, with partial borders of delicate scrolling foliage terminating in flower buds (fols.18v, 24r, 31r, 36v, 43r, 49v, 56r, 64r, 76v) at the beginning of Psalms 21, 33, 46, 60, 73, 85, 102, 109 and 142, one large full-page initial ‘B’ formed of burnished gold and pounced with small flowers, on a purple ground with white penwork, enclosing a blue ground formed of fleshy acanthus in blue, the remaining letters of the word written in the lower margin of the miniature, with a full foliage border at the beginning of Psalm 1 (fol.11r), one circular diagram to calculate the golden number and the dominical letter, with tree-like acanthus growing from its centre (fol.7v), very occasionally small corrections in the margins, originally blank leaf on fol.10v with contemporary computistic inscriptions, the first and last flyleaves inscribed by a sixteenth-century hand in German and Latin, heavily cropped, affecting the ‘KL’ letters in the Calendar and the illuminated borders, short strip of illuminated border pasted to the bottom of last leaf (fol.82r), illumination rubbed, in fair condition, sixteenth-century blind-stamped pigskin over wooden boards with two clasps, wormholes, scuffs and small areas of loss to leather at edges, small sticker inscribed ‘Aa. V. 135.’ pasted inside upper cover, remains of paper label inscribed ‘…15 / I’ on spine

This is a fine illuminated Psalter made for use in south-western Germany or Switzerland, in the region of Konstanz or perhaps St. Gallen, in the mid-fifteenth century. The Calendar (fols.1r-10r) includes St. Gall (16 October: in red), as well as Othmar (16 November: the first abbot of St. Gallen, and named there as "nacione sweuus") and Conrad (26 November: bishop of Constanz). This is followed by the Psalms (fols.11r-80r), Canticles (fols.80r-81r and 82v) and the Athanasian Creed (fols.81r-82r).