Bible, signed by the scribe Virgilius, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Northern Italy (probably Bologna), second half of the thirteenth century]

Estimate

12,000 - 18,000 GBP

bidding is closed

Description

Vellum

529 leaves (1 blank, plus 2 vellum endleaves), 144mm. by 105mm., complete, collation: i-vi¹⁶, vii⁴, viii-xiv¹⁶, xv¹⁰, xvi¹⁴, xvii-xxv¹⁶, xxvi⁸, xxvii-xxxi¹⁶, xxxii¹², xxxiii⁹ (last a singleton), xxxiv¹⁶, xxxv-xxxvi¹², double column, 49 lines in the tiny and precise gothic bookhand of the scribe Virgilius (see below), capitals touched in red, rubrics in red, running titles and versal numbers in red and blue, one- and 2-line initials in same (the larger with contrasting penwork), large variegated initials (8- to 18-lines high) in same, three large initials in interlocking foliate bars of green, red and soft pink (fols.387r and 401r), all on angular blue grounds with fine and delicate white tracery, one large historiated initial ‘F’ opening text on fol.1r in same, enclosing Jerome writing and terminating in swirling foliage (somewhat scuffed and with paint flaking in places), seven interlocking quadrilobed miniatures with scenes from the creation within a blue central border panel with gold bezants, supported at its base by a hunched human figure who is attacked by a large bird with feathery wings, space left for numerous rubrics, first leaf a little rubbed and with later scrawling marginalia in bas-de-page, last leaves with small spots and slight cockling, else excellent condition, modern white leather over pasteboards, fitted cloth-covered case (also containing front board and endleaves from earlier nineteenth-century armorial binding of Viscount Strangford)

Provenance

provenance

(1) Most probably written and illuminated in Bologna in the second half of the thirteenth century, by the scribe Virgilius, who signs at the end of main text on fol.488r: “Quis scripsit scribat: Virgilius spiritus domino vivat: Amen”. Thirteenth-century Bibles signed by their scribe are of breathtaking rarity. His script appears French, and he may well be the Virgilius who wrote and signed a late thirteenth-century Parisian Bible (sold by the Parisian bookseller Georges Andrieux on 15 December 1930, no.25). Large numbers of French scholars and students travelled to Bologna to study and then returned to Paris. Virgilius was perhaps one of those, who continued to fund his studies through his scribal skills.

(2) Percy Clinton Sydney Smythe (1780-1855), 6th Viscount Strangford: in his armorial binding when last offered for sale. The bulk of his library was sold in our rooms, 12 August 1831, but without this manuscript.

(3) Sold in our rooms, 21 April 1902, lot 159, for £51 to Sotheran; and again, 18 April 1904, lot 96; reappearing in Maggs, Cat.542, 1930, no.69a; sold again in our rooms, 14 March 1949, lot 45, with full-page plate; and by descent.

Literature

literature

A. Lang, The Library, 1881, p.87.

Bénédictins du Bouveret, Colophons de manuscrits occidentaux, V, 1979, no.18465.

Catalogue Note

text

This is an elegant pocket-Bible. The contents follow the usual order, with forty-seven of the sixty-four prologues as recorded by Ker (MMBL I, pp.96-97; with the exception of Stegmüller nos.311, 327, 344, 457, 468, 491, 507, 511, 515, 513, 534, 539, 547, 553, 589, 765 and 839), and with the addition of variants for Proverbs (fol.236r) and Apocalypse (fol.482r); followed by the usual lists of Hebrew names.