Monastic Offices, in Latin, decorated manuscript on vellum

192 leaves (including 2 original endleaves at beginning), 128mm. by 70mm., made up from a number of smaller groups of gatherings, and so perhaps wanting a few leaves, collation: i10, ii14, iii-iv10, v-vi8, vii-xiii10, xiv6, xv-xvi7 (both with the first leaf as a singleton), xvii-xviii10, written space of text pages 103mm. by 45mm., approximately 25 lines in black ink in a number of hands, rubrics in red, numerous 1- to 3-line initials in red, musical notation on a 4-line red stave for most of volume (occasional 4-line black stave), modern additions of a printed image of St. Anthony of Padua at the front and printed image of Crucifixion at back, in nineteenth-century marbled pasteboards with leather spine, somewhat battered, and with splits in thongs between a number of gatherings, else good condition

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."

The volume has been owned and used by a number of Italian ecclesiastics in the vicinity of Siena: inscription on front flyleaf recording its presentation by the Franciscans of St. Bernardino of Siena (d. 1444) to John 'the German', perhaps its original owner. A lengthy sixteenth-century inscription on the last leaf records that the book was then in the use of Brother Georgius of Siena, who gave it to Brother Albertus of Sartonis on 13 February 1530, with a clause stating that it should revert to John of Siena if he should call for it. It was still in use in the seventeenth century when a final ownership inscription on fol. 130v names the owner as Petrus de Bi[...]is (placename partially erased), who added antiphons on that folio and the last leaf.

This pocket-sized volume contains a number of monastic texts including the Seven penitential Psalms (fol.1r); a Litany (5v); and the Office of the Dead (11r) in a small and precise fifteenth-century hand.  To these a number of antiphons has been added by a larger contemporary hand, each with music on a 4-line stave, beginning with those for the Office of the Dead (25r) but including many others for the celebration of the ecclesiastical year. From fol. 71 a number of hands of the fifteenth and early sixteenth century have added further gatherings of antiphons.