Calendar and Table for Finding Sundays, in German [south-west Germany or north-east Switzerland, probably c.1550]

c.112x72mm, vellum, i+14+i, COMPLETE, last page blank, original red ink leaf signatures, ordinary entries in plain ink, major ones in red, initials in red, blue, purple, and gold, gold flourishes in each lower margin, the border of the title-page slightly cropped, some thumbing, bound in plain brown paper with gilt leather spine title, top edge of spine defective

 



 

Among the only localisable feasts in red are Ulrich (4 July) and Affra (7 August) both of Augsburg, Gallus (16 October) and Otmar (16 November) both of St Gallen; the book was therefore probably intended to be used in the region between these cities.

It opens with a title surrounded by a foliate border inhabited by naturalistic birds (f.1r) and a circular illuminated diagram with instructions for finding the Sundays of the year using the Dominical Letter (f.1v); the months are laid out on pairs of facing pages (ff.2v–14r), with an entry for every day, including indications of the signs of the zodiac. The title-page suggests that this little booklet was always intended as a separate item, and has not become detached from a longer text.