Sanctoral from a Breviary, in Latin, manuscript on paper

Estimate

800 - 1,200 GBP

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Description

56 leaves, plus 2 vellum flyleaves (re-used from another Breviary), 202mm. by 140mm., apparently complete but doubtless once part of a full Breviary, collation: i-iii^{12, iv^{14, v^{6 [of 12, all after vi cancelled], with horizontal catchwords, old foliation faulty, double column, 35 lines, ruled in plummet, 132mm. by 91mm., written in brown ink in a slightly backward-sloping gothic hand, rubrics in red, many small initials in red or blue, some with contrasting or similar penwork which sometimes meanders up and down the margins in red and brown, spaces left for other initials, some stains and wear, nineteenth-century vellum over pasteboards, red morocco title label gilt, paper endleaves}}}

Catalogue Note

The old spine title describes the text as being “sanctorum Venetiarum” and indeed the two long offices for the apparition and invention of Saint Mark and the translation of his relics are both consistent with Venice. However, the script is not entirely Italian; the watermark is Briquet 11800, recorded in Germany but not Italy, 1463-85; and the longest office here is for Saint Servulus the martyr, with octave. In view of the undoubted Istrian provenance of several other manuscripts from the present private collection (lots 69 and 77-78), this may be part of a Breviary from Capodistria, where the patron saint of the cathedral is Saint Servulus, or Zoel. Capodistria was a colony of Venice in the late Middle Ages but is on the land mass of the Holy Roman Empire and for many centuries it was part of Austria.