Antiphoner, in Latin, manuscript on vellum

218 leaves (plus 3 endleaves made from sixteenth-century paper liturgical leaves), 415mm. by 300mm., complete, a few leaves excised from later gatherings, else complete, collation: i^{9 (ix a singleton), ii9 (ii a singleton), iii-vi10, vii8, viii9 (ix a singleton), ix-x10, xi6, xii-xiii8, xiv9 (ii a singleton), xv10, xvi6 (a number of leaves wanting), xvii8 (2 leaves wanting after v), xviii10, xix-xx8, xxi6, xxii8, xxiii-xxiv10, xxv8 (2 superfluous leaves excised from end), horizontal catchwords, written space 273mm. by 203mm., eight 4-line red staves with text in an accomplished Gothic bookhand, rubrics and numbers in margin in red, small initials touched in red and yellow, numerous small initials in alternate red or blue with penwork to contrast, eighteen large initials (up to half the height of the page) in red and blue with elaborate penwork infill and extensions throughout borders to contrast (1r, 11v, 13r, 14r, 15v, 16v, 19r, 103r, 118r, 121r, 145r, 148r, 153v, 155v, 156r, 159r, 160r, 164v, many with minor water damage), a number of additions, especially to leaves at end of volume, some damp-staining to leaves at top of volume at each end, repairs to a few leaves at base, fols. 109 and 113 trimmed at base, a number of gatherings loose, but main text block in good condition, sixteenth-century binding of wooden boards (reused from another volume, and added to at base: added piece now missing from front board and back board now split), with leather cover now deteriorated and present only in patches, back board attached to 2 of 4 thongs, front board 1 of 4, three contemporary metal bosses on back board, more modern central boss on front board}

provenance

1. Written in a Franciscan community (litany including SS. Francis and Clare on fol. 99v; St. Francis also appearing in the Requiem on fol. 163v) in southern France in the last decades of the thirteenth century; and presumably retained there receiving a number of additions in French hands, and its present binding.

2. Small modern bookplate of Julien Chapée of Le Mans on inside of front board; similar paper ticket with his arms on inside of back board.

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."

text

The text includes both the Temporal from the first Sunday of Advent through to the twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost and the Common of Saints and Requiem.

The present manuscript is remarkable both for is early date and and its place of origin. Liturgical manuscripts from southern France are far from common, and antiphoners of such an early date are almost always Italian in origin: the Schoenberg database lists twenty-three Italian antiphoners from the thirteenth century, and only six identified as certainly from France (an antiphoner with a breviary, from Cambrai c. 1300, was sold by Quaritch in November 1880; an antiphoner with a gradual owned by Sydney Cockerell, and identified as France c. 1300, was sold in our rooms, 26 July 1920, and is now Yale, Beinecke, MS. 530; Phillipps 1312, from northern France, perhaps Paris, was sold by Christie's 21 June 1989, lot 15; an antiphoner identified as coming from the monastery of Val-Des-Choux in Burgundy, c. 1215, was sold by Denesle, 26 June, 1991; a fragment of a French antiphoner dated to c. 1280 which was owned by Millar and then Cron, was sold in our rooms, 21 June 1988, lot 92; and an antiphoner described by De Ricci (Census, i, 780, item 147) as "probably written in southern France" and late thirteenth century, was sold by Gruel & Engelmann and is now Walters Art Museum, Baltimore). Thus, the present manuscript would appear to be one of two known southern French antiphoners to appear on the market, and is the only one of those in private hands. In addition, the Franciscan origin of the present manuscript is worth note as the order only formed in 1209, and remained mostly confined to Italy until the mid to late thirteenth century. Presumably, this explains the fact that the appeal to St. Clare is inserted into the Litany by the main hand, as an apparent afterthought, in smaller script squeezed in between the appeals to St. Agnes and all saints: she died in 1253 and was canonised in 1255.  It seems probable that the present manuscript was copied in the closing decades of the thirteenth century from an exemplar which pre-dated her canonisation; and so represents a liturgical tradition from the very beginning of the order, and a witness to the earliest foundations of Franciscan conventual churches and friaries beyond the borders of Italy.