- 24
Pope Leo I, Sermones, in Latin, manuscript on vellum [northern Alps (probably region of Lake Constance), first few decades of the ninth century]
Estimate
10,000 - 15,000 GBP
bidding is closed
Description
- Vellum
a single leaf, 245mm. by 175mm., single column, 17 lines in dark brown ink in an Alemannic minuscule (with a broad robust aspect, an uncial 'a' and preponderance of ligatures) showing the beginnings of early Carolingian influence, glosses in a fifteenth-century German hand on verso, small spots and stains, outer edge torn with small losses to a few lines of text, areas of vellum weak with small holes in upper part with no damage to text, small pieces of paper adhering to lower part, hessian binding
Provenance
provenance
Heinrich Rosenthal, Lucerne; sold to Bernard Rosenthal in 1959; Quaritch, Bookhands V, cat.1147 (1991), no.3 (as "Commentary on Joel"); Schøyen MS 618.Catalogue Note
text
The text on the verso is that of the Sermones of Pope Leo I (c.391-461), chs.1-2 of sermon 81, for Pentecost, citing I Timothy 4:4: "For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be rejected that is received with thanksgiving".
Alemannic minuscule was the pre-Carolingian script in use in St. Gall and Reichenau, which reached its mature form in the mid-eighth century in the hand of the scribe Winithar, about whom Lowe noted "his piety and zeal for learning were only exceeded by his bad penmanship" (Codices Latini Antiquiores VII, p.ix).