Description
213 leaves (4 blank), 130mm. by 95mm., complete, collation: i12, ii-ix10, x8, xi-xv10, xvi4, xvii-xviii10, xix8, xx4, xxi-xxii10, xxiii7 (last blank and cancelled), single column, 13 lines in black ink in a fine gothic hand, rubrics in red, one-line initials in red or blue, two-line initials in blue or gold with contrasting penwork, six initials (4-line) in coloured foliage with bezants on burnished gold grounds (fols.26v, 41r, 46v, 52r, 57v, 62v, 72r), five large historiated initials in same (fols.13r: Virgin and Child, with putti supporting a smudged coat of arms in bas-de-page; 101r: skeleton with a liquid gold crown, skull in upper border; 155r: Christ before the Cross; 183r: the Kiss of Judas, large burnished gold cross in bas-de-page; 187r: David with his harp, another harp within the border), with full borders of ornamental vines, flower buds, fruit and bezants, very minor thumbing to first historiated initial, slightly trimmed, else in excellent condition with wide and clean margins, modern articulated silver covers with two clasps, with central cabochon of Virgin and Child on front cover enclosed within panels of foliage and red stones, by the silversmith Jakob Tostrup of Oslo with date 1947 engraved on back cover and inside lower clasp
Provenance
provenance
1. Almost certainly produced in the last years of the fifteenth century in Florence (their first bishop and patron saint, Zenobius, in Litany on fol.204r), for a patron whose arms are in the bas-de-page of fol.13r, perhaps a member of the Pollo family (gules, with 4 balls azure bisected by a bar azure).
2. Einar Munksgaard (1890-1948) of Copenhagen: his name engraved inside modern silver cover. Perhaps acquired in France: early twentieth-century French bookseller's description inside cover (item "92").
Catalogue Note
text
The text comprises: a Calendar (fol.1r); the Hours of the Virgin, with Matins (fol.13r), Lauds (26v), Prime (41r), Terce (46v), Sext (52r), Nones (57v), Vespers (62v) and Compline (72r); the Office of the Dead (101r); the Great Hours of the Cross (155r); the Lesser Hours of the Cross (183r); the Seven Penitential Psalms (187r) with a Litany (102r) and prayers.
