The Cambron Abbey Bible, with the prologues of Saint Jerome and the Interpretation of Hebrew Names, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum

543 leaves, 225mm. by 149mm., complete, collation: i-xx^{24, xxi20, xxii24, xxiii19 [of 20, blank xx cancelled], double column, 50 lines, written-space 156mm. by 98mm., small gothic script, red headings, chapter numbers and running-titles alternately red and blue, chapter initials throughout in red or blue with full-length contrasting penwork,} over 150 large illuminated initials in colours and burnished gold, including 96 with lacertine animals and dragons, full-length historiated Genesis initial on fol.4r with the Six Days of Creation, God blessing the world on the seventh and the Crucifixion with the Virgin and Saint John, all with branching extensions, some signs of use, medieval liturgical readings entered in margins, some pages rather rubbed and slightly smudged, last leaf creased, generally sound and well-preserved, early nineteenth-century English 'cathedral' binding of brown morocco over wooden boards, profusely gilt, one silver clasp (of two, apparently hallmarked for 1816), gilt doublures, blue watered silk endleaves, gilt edges

provenance

(1) Doubtless written in Paris, illuminated in the style of the Mathurin workshop, which clearly specialised in Bibles with distinctive Genesis initials including the Crucifixion (R. Branner, Manuscript Painting in Paris during the Reign of Saint Louis, 1977, pp.75-7 and 214-5).

(2) Cambron Abbey, the great Belgian Cistercian monastery in Hainault, founded from Clairvaux in 1148, with their late medieval ownership inscriptions "De camberone" added in no fewer than 221 times in margins throughout the manuscript.  The practice of inscribing a monastery's name on random internal pages, to confound thieves, began at Cîteaux itself and became characteristically Cistercian, but no other house practised it as compulsively as Cambron.  The manuscript was evidently used for swearing of professions when novices entered the community.  Names of four monks who professed in 1554 are entered on the last page, including for Robertus d'Osterlart, who later became abbot of Cambrai in 1574, vicar-general of Belgium in 1580 and died in 1613.  Three manuscript Bibles were recorded at Cambron in c.1631, a folio set in 4 volumes and two smaller Bibles (A. Sanders, Bibloiotheca Belgica Manuscripta, 1641, I, p.351), but only one, doubtless the present volume, remained there in 1782 (R. Plancke, Les catalogues de manuscrits de l'ancienne abbaye de Cambron, 1938, p.47, no.92).  The library of Cambron was scattered in the early nineteenth century, and at least 34 of its manuscripts were bought in the 1820s by Sir Thomas Phillipps (Munby, Phillipps Studies, III, 1954, pp.22-3).

(3) William Hasledon Pepys (1775-1856), F.R.S., Quaker scientist and inventor, with his bookplate; his sale in our rooms, 3 December 1856, lot 212, £15.15s., and by direct descent to the present owner.

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."