Lot 44

Apocalypsis et Epistolae Catholicae with glossa ordinaria, in Latin, decorated manuscript on vellum [Italy (probably northern Italy), mid twelfth century]

Estimate

12,000 - 18,000 GBP

bidding is closed

Description

Vellum

129 leaves, 205mm. by 145mm., wanting single leaves after fols.44 and 123 and from end of volume, else complete, collation: i-v^{8, vi^{4, vii^{7 (first wanting, last two singletons), viii-xvi^{8, xvii^{6 (of 8; wanting first and last leaves, but probably blank and cancelled), three columns, 10-14 lines in brown and black ink in a number of early gothic bookhands, one- and 2-line initials in red or blue,}}}}}three large initials in red with blue penwork (fol.8r, 44r and 46r), space left for initial on fol.1r (later crudely filled in), 2 lines of ornamental capitals in red and blue on fols.1r and 46r, with gloss both as marginalia and interlinear in a tiny contemporary hand, some small stains (especially at front of volume), else good condition, modern brown leather over early wooden boards, with the panels of an Italian blind-tooled binding (of rope-work designs and an agnus dei) superimposed on the front and back covers

Provenance

provenance

1. The manuscript was written in Italy. The tall and thin ornamental initials on fols.1r and 46r are also found in early legal codices from Bologna and a Bible with a medieval provenance in Milan (Florence, Bib. Ambrosiana, B.28; Gengaro and Guglielmetti, Inventario dei Codici Decorati e Miniati, 1968, pp.91-2, pl.87), and may suggest an origin in the north. Similar initials are also found in a copy of Peter Lombard on the Psalms (now BnF ms.lat.409; Avril and Zaluska, Manuscrits enluminés d'origine italienne, 1980, no.154).

2. Lionel Robinson (1897-1983), private collection; his sale in our rooms, 24 June 1986, lot 66.

3. Bergendal MS.80: Bergendal catalogue no.80; Stoneman, 'Guide', p.197; Pope, 'The Library', p.159.

Catalogue Note

text

The manuscript comprises the Apocalypse of St. John (fol.1r) with the short prologue ascribed to Jerome at its end; the Epistle of James (fol.45r); I-II Peter (fol.65r); I-III John (fol.99v); and the Epistle of Jude (fol.124v). These are accompanied by the glossa ordinaria in the form codified by Anselm of Laon in the late eleventh century. The page-layout here, with the main text and gloss ruled independently (apart from the Apocalypse where there is some interaction), accords well with a mid-twelfth century date (C. de Hamel, Glossed Books of the Bible, 1984, pp.17-18).