Beschreibung:

FERIAL PSALTER with HYMNAL and other Offices, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Germany, final third 15th century] A charming example of a 15th-century Psalter in its original binding from the Benedictine Monastery of Werden Abbey. 118 x 85mm. ii + 324 leaves, complete, 20 lines, ruled space: 84 x 55mm, four large illuminated initials within three-sided borders and 25 smaller illuminated initials with partial borders, initials in red and blue throughout (some marginal staining, illuminated borders occasionally cropped). Contemporary blind-tooled leather over wooden boards, metal corner and centre-pieces, catches and clasps (lacking one clasp, boards wormholed, lower board almost detached, edge of upper board chipped, spine scuffed and split). Provenance : The Benedictine Monastery of Werden Abbey: 16th-century ex-libris ‘Liber S. Liudgeri Werthinensis Monasterii’ on f.i. The Abbey was founded by St Ludger in 799, and Ludger appears in the calendar. Content : Computational tables for calculating the position of the moon, the date of Easter and other moveable feasts, including the 500-year ‘Ciclus Magnus Paschalis Dionisii’ from 1463-1967; ff.1-6v; calendar ff.7-12v; blank f.13, Ferial Psalter ff.14-147; Hymnal and other Offices arranged according to the liturgical year ff.148-324v. The illuminated initials are on ff.14, 26v, 37v, 51, 61, 73, 84v, 96, 108, 148, 156, 180, 190v, 196v, 223v, 230, 237v, 240, 252, 265, 267, 276v, 278v, 283v, 294v, 303v, 308v, 313 and 316. The style of lively illuminated initials, with their bright swirling acanthus and foliate infills, is reminiscent of the work of the so-called Master of the Prayerbook of Sibylle of Cleves, active in Düsseldorf and Cologne, and responsible for the illumination of the Breviary of Herman von Hesse, archbishop elector of Cologne (the breviary in three parts at Liverpool, World Museum, no 12010; Cologne, Historisches Archiv, Best. 7020, Handschriften (W*), 464 and a third part in a private collection).