Lot 39

Office Book in Anglo-Caroline minuscule, in Latin, decorated manuscript on vellum [England, c.1050 (perhaps second quarter of the eleventh century)]

Estimate

4,000 - 6,000 GBP

bidding is closed

Description

Vellum

a fragment of a leaf, 145mm. by 103mm., remains of 17 lines in black ink in a handsome Anglo-Caroline minuscule, with distinctively English open 'g', part of two headings in red, capitals touched in red and green, four large simple initials in soft green, red and burgundy, tear at bottom corner (professionally conserved), small stains and folds, trimmed at top and torn down outer edge with losses to text on both sides, else good condition, hessian binding, enclosing a copy of UK export licence (permanent export) granted in 1990

Provenance

provenance

Sold in our rooms, 19 June 1990, lot 10; Schøyen MS 674.

Catalogue Note

text

A fine and handsome relic of an Anglo-Saxon service book, with the lection from John 6:54-65, most probably for the Saturday of the fifth week in Lent (cf. N. Orchard, The Leofric Missal, II, 2002, pp.157-8). The script is close to that of the Leofric Collectar and other liturgical books made for Exeter Cathedral soon after 1046 (Watson, Dated and Datable MSS., 1979, p.718, pls.40 and 44). Any specimens of pre-Conquest liturgy are rare in private hands.

literature

W.P. Stoneman, '"Writ in Anglo-Saxon Character and of No Further Use": Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts in American Collections', in The Preservation and Transmission of Anglo-Saxon Culture, 1997, p.133; H. Gneuss, Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A List of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, 2001, no.875.5