Beschreibung:

Ovid, Metamorphoses, in Latin verse, illuminated manuscript on vellum and paper [Bohemia (or perhaps Austria), second half of the fifteenth century] 44 leaves (last 6 leaves blank), 315mm. by 215mm., complete, collation: i11 (first a singleton), ii10, iii12, iv11 (last blank and cancelled), first leaf vellum else paper, single column, ruled in pink for 30 lines in black ink in an angular late gothic hand, running titles, marginal headings and paragraph marks in red, one-line initials in red or blue, three large initials (5- to 7-line; fols.1rv and 12v) in soft blue, green or pink scrolling foliage on tessellated burnished gold grounds punctuated with painted flowers and flower-shaped pouncing, terminating in borders in scrolling prickly vine-leaves with bezants and baubels with flower-shaped pounce-marks, illuminated frontispiece with a vast initial 'I', 85mm. high, in same, with smaller initial 'D' enclosing liquid gold scrolls superimposed over foot of initial 'I', accompanied by ten lines of ornamental capitals in liquid gold, numerous interlinear and marginal glosses in a tiny and neat contemporary hand, space left for initial on fol.26v, some scratches to centre of initial on fol.1v, slight flaking from some ornamental capitals, latter part of volume dampstained at top and slightly trimmed with slight loss to border decoration at top of first leaf, else good and fresh condition, modern red velvet over pasteboards