Dominican Breviary-Antiphoner, in Latin, fragment of a manuscript on vellum

52 leaves (plus 9 added paper leaves of sixteenth century), some gatherings and a few leaves wanting from beginning, and one leaf wanting from main text, 244mm. by 175mm., collation: i^{6, ii5 (i-iii wanting), iii-v8, vi7 (wanting viii), vii2, viii8, ix9 (paper leaves added at end), horizontal catchwords, written space 175mm. by 13mm., double column, approximately 28 lines in black ink in several sizes of accomplished liturgical bookhands, with text accompanied with 4- line red staves, rubrics in red, underlining in red, paragraph marks in blue, numerous 2- to 3-line initials in red or blue with elaborate penwork tracery in red or purple to contrast, many additions to calendar but few elsewhere, overall parchment in good condition but with fraying and rodent bites to edges and some mould damage to last few leaves (without serious effect to text), contemporary white leather binding over pasteboards (now detached), reusing  fragments of liturgical text c.1300}

provenance

Written in a Dominican convent in south-eastern France (perhaps that of Arles, see below) in the second quarter of the fourteenth century, and most probably retained there for a number of centuries, receiving additions to its calendar, a number of paper leaves with sixteenth century liturgical additions, and the eighteenth-century note to fol. 1r, that ce collectaire a eté ecrit lors de la fondation du couvent.

The Condition is described in the main body of the catalogue entry when 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 manuscript includes a calendar for Dominican use (with St. Dominic and his translation as totum duplex on 6 August & 24 May, and the Dominican feast of benefactors on 5 September, together with many other Dominican entries, some added later), and has entries which suggest Arles or its immediate vicinity (honorati abbatis, 16 January in a later hand; who held office as archbishop of Arles c. 350-429), and this is supported by the inclusion of an Oratio S. Trophimi discipuli Iesu Christi among the sixteenth-century additions at the end of the volume. St. Trophimus (obit c. 290) was claimed by Arles as its first archbishop, and his cult was centred there on a spectacular Romanesque cathedral which still stands. The statement that he was a disciple of Christ follows a medieval tradition local to Arles, based on a confusion of their saint with the Trophimus mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as a companion of St. Paul. The eighteenth-century record that the manuscript was in a convent and from the period of the foundation of that house is highly suggestive that the present manuscript came from the Dominican's of Arles itself, which was originally founded as a house for men outside the walls of the city in 1231, but revived on the banks of the Rhône within the city in the fourteenth century as a house for women.

The manuscript also includes a list of the antiphons for the Dominican office for the entire liturgical year (incipit: Principia antiphonarum inchoandarum ab illo qui facit officium ...), with accompanying musical notation; a number of liturgical offices; a litany for the community; later prayers to SS. Louis, Raymond de Penafort, Archbishop Illefonsus of Toledo, Abbot Romuald, Eulalia of Barcelona, Trophimus of Arles and others, and a number of later liturgical additions to both pastedowns.

Liturgical manuscripts of southern French origin are by no means common, and we are pleased to offer two in this sale (see also lot 52). No other such manuscript for Arles is recorded by Leroquais, although several features of the present manuscript are shared with the Aix-en-Provence Breviary (Leroquais, Les Bréviares Manuscrits, 1934, i, n. 2) and the Breviary of Draguignan (ii, n. 253). It would appear to be the unique record of this community's liturgy.