Beschreibung:

The Bari Atelier Bible, with the Prologues attributed to St Jerome and the Interpretation of Hebrew Names, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Paris, third quarter of the 13th century]. An arresting, complete, Parisian Bible richly illuminated by the Bari Atelier, with exceptional late medieval and early modern English provenance from John, Lord Lumley to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley; Robert, 2nd Lord Elgin and Earl of Ailesbury; and Sir Thomas Mostyn. 212 x 142mm. 490 leaves, complete, collation: 1-3016, 3110, catchwords from f.272v onwards survive within elaborate animalistic cartouches (dragons, a chicken, a fish), 51 lines in two columns, ruled space: 148 x 87mm, headings in red, capitals touched in red, versal initials in Psalms and Interpretations alternately red and blue, chapter numbers and running titles alternately in red and blue, chapter initials in red or blue with full-length penwork in both colours, textual corrections within red and blue cartouches, 84 large illuminated initials and 81 historiated initials (some wear, a few initials smudged, some cockling to opening leaf, a few wormholes, some thumbing and marginal cropping, but generally in excellent condition). Late 19th-century dark brown blind-stamped morocco, title gilt, gilt edges, by Rivière & Son (light wear to spine). Provenance: (1) Although the illumination is undoubtedly French, the quality of the vellum and the script has all the hallmarks of an Italian production of the late 13th century. (2) John Lumley: an inscription on f.290 reads ‘John Lu[m]ley ys the onor of […] boke by our […] fathe yt […] ryds thys’. The inscription is datable to the first half of the 16th century, so this is most likely John, 4th/5th Baron Lumley (1493-1545), who fought in the Battle of Flodden and whose son George Lumley was executed for his role in the Pilgrimage of Grace. Upon the death of John, the 1st and 2nd creations of the peerage were forfeited as a result of George’s attainder, but the Lumley estates passed to George’s son, also John, one of the greatest collectors of art and books of his age, custodian of Nonsuch Palace, who in 1547 successfully petitioned for the restoration of the barony to become John Lumley, 1st Baron Lumley. (3) Most likely from the Library of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (1520-1598), Lord High Treasurer of England, twice Secretary of State, and favourite of Queen Elizabeth. After his death, Lord Burghley’s manuscript collection passed to his eldest son, Thomas, first Earl of Exeter (1566-1640), and from him to Lord Exeter’s second daughter, Lady Diana Cecil (d.1658), who in turn left the library to her second husband, Thomas, 1st Earl Elgin (1599-1663). His son by his first marriage was Robert, 2nd Lord Elgin, Chancellor of England, created Earl of Ailesbury in 1685. The library was dispersed after the latter’s death, and the present manuscript was lot 78 among the Latin manuscripts in the Ailesbury sale, London, 21 November 1687, sold for 10s. (4) Sir Thomas Mostyn (1651-1692), of Gloddaeth, in Llandudno: blue Gloddaeth Library bookplate on inside upper cover, probably added at the time of Edward Parry’s cataloguing of the Library in 1842. It was no 8 in the catalogue of the Library in 1692 (‘Sacra Biblia cum prolegomenis Hieronimi. Membr.’; see D. Huws, ‘Sir Thomas Mostyn and the Mostyn Manuscripts’, Books and Collectors, 1200-1700, 1997, p.465). It was subsequently no 72 in the catalogue of the Library of the 4th Baronet, also Sir Thomas Mostyn, in 1744: this number is in brackets on f.1. It was then no 219 in the catalogue of manuscripts at Mostyn Hall in the Fourth Report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, Appendix, 1874, p.347. Sold at Sotheby’s, 13 July 1920, lot 6, to Quaritch. (5) Quaritch, A Catalogue of Illuminated and Other Manuscripts together with some Works on Paleography, 1931, no 2, sold to a private collector in March 1943. (6) Neil F. Phillips, Esq., Q.C. (1924-1997), sold at Sotheby’s