Lot 95

Ritual and Processional, in Latin, decorated manuscript on vellum [Italy, fifteenth century]

Estimate

3,000 - 5,000 GBP

bidding is closed

Description

Vellum

113 leaves, 164mm. by 113mm., complete, collation: i^{10, ii-v^{12, vi^{13 (last blank and cancelled), vii-ix^{12, x^{6, single column, 16 lines of text in black ink in two rounded gothic hands, many leaves with 4 lines of text with music on 4-line staves, numerous one- to 4-line initials in red or blue with penwork to contrast, line drawings of views of four medieval towns on fol.71v (perhaps sixteenth-century), slight wear and cockling throughout, original blind-stamped calf over wooden boards (front board split and repaired), spine rebacked and clasp replaced in eighteenth or nineteenth century}}}}}

Provenance

provenance

1. Written and decorated in Italy in fifteenth century.

2. William Grace: his inscription dated 1837 on loose endleaf.

3. The Rev. Henry Thomas Griffith, Smallburgh Rectory, Norwich: his bookplate; by descent to the Rev. Charles Edward Osbourne Griffith (1828-97), Eggleston Vicarage, near Darlington: his ownership inscription on front pastedown.

4. William Carr (1863-1925); by descent to Brigadier General William Greenwood Carr (1901-82), D.S.O. and Bar; his sale in our rooms, 7 December 1982, lot 75, to Alan Thomas.

5. Bergendal MS.41; bought by Joseph Pope from Thomas in June 1983: Bergendal catalogue no.41; Stoneman, 'Guide', p.183.

Catalogue Note

text

This practical liturgical volume comprises: the Communion of the sick (fol.1r); the sacrament of extreme unction (fol.3v); the commendation of a departing soul (fol.10v); the rite for the burial of the dead (fol.21r); the forms of absolution (fol.70r); the processions for the feast of the Purification (fol.72r), for Palm Sunday (fol.84v) and for All Souls' Day (fol.104v).