Lot 79

Stephanus de Borbone, Liber Pantheon, in Latin, decorated manuscript on vellum [southern France or Italy, early fourteenth century]

Estimate

6,000 - 8,000 GBP

bidding is closed

Description

Vellum

236 leaves, 220mm. by 160mm., complete, collation: i-xii^{12, xiii^{6, xiv-xix^{12, xx^{14, single column, fols.1-19 with 29 lines, thereafter 23 lines in brown ink in an early gothic bookhand, capitals touched in red, paragraph marks in red or blue, rubrics in red, one- and 2-line initials in red or blue with penwork to contrast, the tracery picking out fish and human heads on fols.151v, 197v and 232v, slight cockling throughout, some scuffing to a few leaves with losses of ink, modern red leather over wooden boards, red cloth slipcase}}}}

Provenance

provenance

1. Most probably produced for a Carmelite monastery or friary: partially erased inscription on fol.235r, "Iste liber est fratris ... ordinis Beate Marie de Monte Carme".

2. Comte Paul Durrieu (1855-1925).

3. Paul Jammes (1890-1983) of Paris.

4. Bergendal MS.94 (and once bound together with its sister codex, Bergendal MS.121); bought by Joseph Pope from Bruce Ferrini in August 1989: Bergendal catalogue no.94; Stoneman, 'Guide', pp.201-02.

Catalogue Note

text

Stephanus de Borbone was born c.1190 near Lyons, and became an early Dominican, devoting his time to preaching, writing and acting as an inquisitor. The Liber Pantheon is a distillation of the manual for preachers composed in his youth, the Tractatus de diversis materiis praedicabilibus. It was produced either by him or by Vincent de Beauvais (c.1190-c.1264), soon after 1240, and by Stephanus' death in 1261, it had become the most widely distributed and popular preachers' handbook.