Two fifteenth-century private devotional books, in Latin and German, decorated manuscripts on vellum and paper

two manuscripts, (a) 73 leaves (main text block vellum with paper additions at either end), 143mm. by 142mm., text complete, collation: i^{6, ii-iv8, v9 (ix a singleton), vi13 (i a singleton), vii10, viii11 (xi a singleton), single column, c. 22 lines in black and dark brown inks in various late medieval German hands, rubrics in red, numerous 1- to 4-line initials in red, some decorative cadels touched with red, corners of first and last leaves scuffed, else in good condition, modern paper binding with name "Barnheim" written on front cover in late nineteenth- or early twentieth-century hand (also at base of first page); (b) 18 paper leaves (with 8 blank modern endleaves at back), 134mm. by 102mm., complete, collation: i6, ii6, iii7 (vii a singleton), written space 93mm. by 67mm., single column, ruled for 16 lines in bright red ink, written in black ink in a number of late medieval German hands, rubrics and numerous 1- or 2-line initials in red, good condition, eighteenth-century binding with marbled pasteboards}

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing where appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

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The first of these two volumes was written in the fifteenth century in the Benedictine monastery of St. Peter in Salzburg (founded 696); note the incipit to the office of the Virgin: incipit officium be(a)te marie v(ir)gnis secundum conswetudi(n)es monasterii scti Petri saltzb(urgensis), and the presence in the litany of SS. Rupert who founded the monastery, and Erndrudis, whose relics were there. It was a private book used in the daily office, and for collective singing in the abbey church (note the two annotated hymns to St. Peter), which still stands. The main vellum text block (fols. 7-38) was written in the mid-fifteenth century, and within a few decades had paper leaves added to its front and back, making up an apparent loss at the beginning, and adding to its contents at the end. The volume includes the Penitential Psalms in Latin (fol. 1r), a litany and accompanying prayers (fol. 5v), the Office of the Virgin in Latin, for Vespers (fol. 12r), and Compline (14v), prayers for various liturgical events in Advent in Latin (18v), prayers to the Holy Spirit, Christ and Virgin saints in German (37v), the Office of the Dead for Matins (41r), a number of hymns added perhaps in the late fifteenth century with music on a five-line stave and notes in Latin and German (51v), contemporary rhyming exhortational verse in German on fol. 53v , nine lections for the Office of the Dead (66v), various prayers including those for the bishop, the community, and the founders of the community (69v), hymns with music on five-line staves to be sung at Vespers and Lauds in the Cathedral of St. Peter (71r), and later prayers on the verso of the last leaf. The second volume is a similarly private devotional collection, which once was perhaps part of a larger volume, and includes two short prayers to Christ and the Virgin, and another two prayers which make up a lengthy text identified as the psalterium sancti augustini episcopi, beginning: Domine sancte pater omnipotens eterne ..., and composed almost entirely of short quotations from all 150 Psalms (fol. 2rv), various prayers including a lament of St. Bernard, and prayers to various parts of Christ's body (12v), in Latin and in a number of different hands.