Inhabited initial on a leaf from a Bible, in Latin [England, c.1230-50]

single leaf, 200x148mm, vellum, with a LARGE INITIAL 'A' PAINTED WITH TWO DRAGON-HYBRIDS AND A DOG at the start of the book of I Chronicles, 2 columns, 50 lines, 162x100mm, a large puzzle initial at the start of the preceding capitula list, margins cropped, with loss of the running-title, minor staining at the gutter edge, but generally in very fine condition

The inclusion of capitula lists before books of the Bible (a list of headings summarising the contents of the following chapters), while common in the 12th century, were rare after the spread of the ‘Paris’ Bible from the 1220s onwards. The text is written ‘below top line’, however, suggesting that it is no earlier than about 1230. It seems likely that the volume was produced during the period when the Paris Bible was being adopted in England, perhaps in a provincial centre, rather than Oxford or London. Sold in our rooms, 21 June 1988, lot 7, to the present owner.