Lot 55

Psalter with canticles, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [France, third quarter of the thirteenth century]

Estimate

3,000 - 5,000 GBP

bidding is closed

Description

Vellum

129 leaves, 145mm. by 115mm., wanting first leaf and single leaves after fols.22, 31, 43, 8 leaves after fol.15 and 3 leaves after fol.105, else apparently complete, single column, 18-19 lines in black ink in three early gothic hands, rubrics in red, one-line initials in blue or gold, 2-line initials in gold on blue and pink grounds heightened with white penwork (many rubbed with losses to gold), initials cut away from fols.55, 68, 115, 118 and 119, much soiled through use with flaking away of ink in upper half of book, first page much discoloured, blackening to outer edges and losses of corners (perhaps once in a fire), else fair condition, modern vellum over wooden boards

Provenance

provenance

1. François de Marcambie, perhaps a descendant of François de la Haye, seigneur de Marcambie, who married in 1482 (Dictionnaire de la noblesse, 1775, X, p.570): sixteenth-century inscriptions on fol.126r, with a promise of wine in exchange for the volume if ever lost, "Pour Francois de marcambie a qui apartient ce present livre qui le trouvera sy lui rende il gagera le vin". Similar on fol.129v with other autographs by him on 37v, 76r, and 125v, one naming his brother Oliver.

2. B. Goussil: seventeenth-century inscription on fol.92v.

3. Count Eric von Rosen (1879-1948) of Rockelstad Castle, Sweden; sale in our rooms, 9 July 1969, lot 56, and again 10 December 1980, lot 92, to Alan Thomas.

4. Bergendal MS.6; bought by Joseph Pope from Thomas in January 1981: Bergendal catalogue no.6; Stoneman, 'Guide', pp.167-68.

Catalogue Note

text

This volume was in monastic use in the Middle Ages, and its earliest recorded owner, François de Marcambie, may well have been a monk. It opens with Psalm 4 (fol.1v) and the canticles; with a Litany (fol.105v), partly wanting; followed by prayers and offices for various saints (fol.106r).