Beschreibung:

BIBLE, in Latin, with the Prologues ascribed to St Jerome, MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [France, probably Paris, 13th century] 230 x 152 mm. 443 leaves: 1-8 1 0, 9 9(of 10, x a cancelled blank), 10-19 1 0, 20 5(of 6, vi a cancelled blank), 21 1 2, 22-28 1 0, 29 1 2, 30-37 1 0, 38 1 2, 39-43 1 0, 44 1 2, 45 1, COMPLETE, horizontal catchwords in pen-drawn cartouches centred in the lower margin at the end of each quire, 50 lines (Old Testament) or 55 lines (New Testament), double column, ruled in lead, prickings visible in most outer margins, justification: 135 x 88 mm, written in a very small gothic bookhand in brown ink, rubrics in red, guide-letters and numbers for the rubricator visible in margins (slightly cropped), liturgical readings noted in the extreme lower margins, some contemporary chapter initials and numbers in red or blue letters, a few with contemporary pen-flourishing in the opposite colour, other chapter, versal or book initials supplied in 15th-century red Lombards (first and last folios somewhat darkened, faint dampstain to lower blank margins throughout with occasional small losses to vellum, last leaf rehinged, 6/2 lacking part of outer blank margin with no loss to text, last 5 leaves with several small wormholes obscuring a few letters on final folio). Early 19th-century sheep over pasteboard, probably for Leander van Ess (some wear). PROVENANCE: 1. Leander van Ess (1772-1847), German collector and translator of the Bible: printed number '61' mounted on pastedown ( Sammlung und Verzeichniss handschriftlicher Bcher ... welche besitzt Leander van Ess , Darmstadt 1823, no 61) 2. Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872), English bibliophile: 'Phillipps MS 446', manuscript note on first leaf ( The Phillipps Manuscripts , ed. A.N.L. Munby, London 1968, p.5; Sotheby's, 6 June 1910, lot 105) 3. Unidentified bookseller's catalogue, no 5 (cutting mounted on pastedown) 4. Alan G. Thomas, cat. 13, London 1963, no 41 CONTENTS: An excellent wide-margined example of a 13th-century Paris Vulgate Bible written in the extremely fine gothic script sometimes referred to as 'pearl script'. Though without illumination, this codex offers a particularly interesting example of how such Bible manuscripts were made and used. Soon after the text was written, probably by a single scribe, the rubrics that identify the openings of prologues and books were executed in red ink. In addition a few bifolia, scattered throughout the volume, passed to the next stage of decoration and received two-line chapter initials, usually in blue, and also chapter numbers in roman numerals consisting of alternating red and blue letters; a few of the blue chapter initials were also supplied with red pen-flourishing. At this point, the decoration of the manuscript was left incomplete. The majority of chapter initials and numbers, all the versal initials in the Psalms, and all the book initials were left blank. At a subsequent date, running titles were provided for all books except the Psalter. The same comparatively amateurish hand that wrote the running titles inserted a few in-text rubrics that had been overlooked previously (14/5v, 15/5v) and probably also added the majority of the chapter numbers, usually in the margins. Finally, in the 15th century, the missing initials, including the large initials marking the openings of books, were supplied in red Lombards of the style commonly found in late manuscripts and German incunabula. The text was carefully, and in places extensively, corrected by several contemporary and later medieval hands. The corrections include neat erasures, emendations in the text or margins, and some new passages written in the margins or over erasures. The manuscript also contains several sets of medieval marginalia relating to its use. These include: (1) cross-references to related passages of scripture; (2) other notes regarding content; (3) liturgical readings noted mostly in the lower margins, and sometimes marked with beginning and endin