Dr. Jörn Günther • Antiquariat
www.guenther-rarebooks.com

CONTENTS

Manuscripts

  1. Glossed Gospels of St Luke and St John,
    Paris or northern France, c. 1210
  2. Psalter with calendar for the diocese of Trier,
    Germany,Trier, c. 1220-40
  3. Psalter and book of hours for the use of Paris,
    illuminated in the du Prat atelier, France, Paris,
    c. 1250-60
  4. Biblia latina, pocket bible, France, Paris, c. 1250
  5. Antiphonary, sanctoral volume, Italy,
    Emilia-Romagna, c. 1270-75
  6. Psalter for the use of Auxerre, France,
    Burgundy or Paris, c. 1300
  7. Antiphonary for a Franciscan convent,
    illuminated by Neri da Rimini, Italy,
    Emilia-Romagna, dated 1314
  8. Vita Sancti Antonii Eremitae – Inventio et
    Translatio, illuminated by the Maestro del 1328,
    Italy, Bologna, c. 1320
  9. Schönrainer Liederhandschrift. Middle High
    German Minnesang manuscript, Germany,
    Hesse, c. 1330
  10. Missale Romanum, illuminated in the workshop
    of Cristoforo Orimina, Italy, Naples, c. 1355
  11. Boethius, De consolatione philosophiae and
    Jean de Meun, Testament, France, Paris, c. 1400
  12. Guido de Columna, Historia destructionis Troiae
    and Giovanni Boccaccio, Il Filostrato, Italy,
    Naples, dated 1414 and 1413
  13. Book of hours for the use of Paris, illuminated
    by the workshop of the Bedford Master, France,
    Paris, c. 1405-10
  14. Compilation of pastoral and mystical texts
    from the library of the Celestines of Marcoussis,
    illuminated by the Hoo Master, France, Paris,
    c. 1425-35
  15. Book of hours for the use of Toul, illuminated
    by the Master of Pommersfelden 351, France,
    Toul or Metz, c. 1435-40
  16. Dominican hymnal, illuminated by the
    Master of 1446, Italy, Bologna, c. 1450
  17. Nicolaus de Lyra, Postilla litteralis super
    Vetus Testamentum, two volumes, Italy,
    Ferrara?, 1441-46
  18. Compilation of history bible and world chronicle,
    the Antichrist and the XV signs and other texts,
    Austria, c. 1450
  19. Book of hours and psalter in Dutch, illuminated
    by the Master of the Haarlem Bible, Masters of
    Otto von Moerdrecht, Masters of Gijsbrecht
    van Brederode et al., northern Netherlands,
    Haarlem, dated 1453
  20. Book of hours for the use of Rome, with
    calendar of Bruges, illuminated by the Master of
    Buchanan E.5, Flanders, Bruges, c. 1450-60
  21. Chronique anonyme universelle, parchment
    scroll, illuminated by the Master of Étienne
    Sauderat, France, Paris?, c. 1450 with additions
    after 1461 and 1467
  22. Psalter with hymnal, illuminated
    by the workshop of Bartolomeo Varnucci,
    Italy, Florence, c. 1460-70
  23. Martin Le Franc, L’Estrif de Fortune et de Vertu,
    illuminated by the Master of the Échevinage
    de Rouen, France, Rouen, c. 1465-75
  24. Book of hours for the use of Utrecht in the Dutch
    translation of Geert Grote, illuminated by one of
    the Masters of Gijsbrecht van Brederode, northern
    Netherlands, probably Utrecht, c. 1465-70
  25. Missale Fratrum Minorum for the convent
    of S. Francesco di Montone, near Perugia,
    illuminated by Bartelomeo and Giapeco
    Caporali, Italy, Perugia, 1469
  26. Book of hours for the use of Rome with
    adaptations for Poitiers and a calendar for
    Angers, illuminated by Maître François,
    France, Paris, c. 1470
  27. Psalter with hymnal, illuminated by the
    workshop of Mariano del Buono di Jacopo,
    Italy, Florence, c. 1470-75
  28. Book of hours for the use of Rome, illuminated
    by Martino da Modena, Italy, Ferrara, c. 1480-85
  29. Book of hours for Dominican use, illuminated
    by the workshop of Matteo Felice, Italy,
    Naples, c. 1480
  30. Giovanni Boccaccio, Elegia di Madonna
    Fiammetta, illuminated by Attavante degli
    Attavanti, Italy, Florence, c. 1480
  31. Book of hours for the use of Rome, Italy,
    Sicily or Naples, c. 1480-90
  32. Olivier de la Marche, Le chevalier délibéré and
    other texts, Flanders, c. 1484
  33. Prayerbook in German, Germany, Nuremberg,
    c. 1495-1500
  34. Fencing treatise with pen-and-ink drawings,
    southern Germany,Augsburg, c. 1490-1500
  35. Book of hours for the use of Paris in Latin
    and French, illuminated by an artist from the
    circle of Jean Pichore, France, Paris, c. 1500
  36. Passion prayerbook in Latin with a prayer for
    the Church of All Saints in Wittenberg, Flanders,
    Bruges, after 1517
  37. Diploma for Statilio Paolino on his award of a
    doctorate in law from the University of
    Perugia, Italy, Perugia, dated 29 October 1582
  38. Album with Italian, mainly Venetian, costumes and
    characters from the Commedia dell’Arte, Italy,
    Venice?, first quarter of the 17th century

    Miniatures

  39. Funeral mass for a dignitary, miniature from a
    breviary, France,Avignon, c. 1340-45 128
  40. A pope distributing the decretals, miniature from
    a manuscript of canon law, France, Languedoc,
    c. 1320
  41. The Adoration of the Magi, historiated initial ‘D’
    on a leaf from a missal, Italy, Siena, c. 1400-10
  42. Two martyr saints, historiated initial ‘P’ on a leaf
    from a gradual for Lucca Cathedral, illuminated by
    Martino di Bartolomeo. Italy, Lucca, c. 1394-95
  43. Investiture of St Clare on a cutting from a
    Franciscan antiphonary, Italy, Bologna or Veneto,
    c. 1430-40
  44. Trinity, historiated initial ‘G’ on a cutting from
    a choirbook, France, Savoy, c. 1450 138
  45. King David playing the psaltery, historiated
    initial ‘E’ on a leaf from a psalter, illuminated by
    Jacopo da Balsemo, Italy, Bergamo, c. 1450-55
  46. The Creation of Eve, historiated initial ‘I’ on a
    cutting from a choirbook, illuminated by
    Bonifacio Bembo, Italy, Lombardy, c. 1445
  47. Jesaia before the Almighty, historiated initial ‘A’
    on a leaf from an antiphonary, illuminated by
    a follower of the Maestro delle Vitae Imperatorum,
    Italy, Lombardy, c. 1460
  48. Batsheba bathing, miniature from the Hours of
    Guyot II Le Peley, illuminated by Jean Colombe,
    France, Bourges, c. 1480
  49. The miracle of St Michael on Mount Gargano,
    miniature from a choirbook, illuminated by
    Attavante degli Attavanti, Italy, Florence,
    between 1473 and 1502
  50. Christ taking leave of his mother, miniature
    mounted on wood, illuminated by Jacopo del
    Giallo?, Italy, Rome, c. 1540

    Key to bibliographical references

A masterpiece of Gothic layout with interlinear and marginal glosses, handed down through a line of prominent collectors

1 Glossed Gospels of St Luke and St John

Illuminated manuscript on vellum.
France, Paris or northern France, c. 1210.

332 x 233 mm. 151 leaves, wants in all 13 leaves (and the outer half of fol. 72): I-V8,VI8-1,VII8, (lacks VIII8), IX8-2, X8-1, XI8-1, XII8, XIII6, XIV10, XV-XX8, XXI4; fol. 62 bound out of place after fol. 68. – Written space: 200 x 135 mm, 23 lines of text, 46 lines of gloss, ruled in lead point.Written in dark brown ink in a very fine Gothic text hand, marginal gloss in a smaller version of the same hand, interlinear gloss in a very small and less formal hand. Initials and alinea signs in red and blue with fine penwork, running titles in alternate letters of blue and red (partly cut away on a few leaves), 5 very fine illuminated initials. Numerous notes by the scribe in the inner margins, written in minuscule script, on initials to be inserted. – Very good condition. Meticulously prepared vellum; flaws carefully repaired (old). – 17th-century limb vellum binding (restored, endpapers partly renewed), in a modern cloth case with leather label. Illuminated manuscript on vellum. France, Paris or northern France, c. 1210.

PROVENANCE: 1. Giovanni Battista Leva, priest in the cathedral of Milan (inscription on the flyleaf). 2. Sheppard Frere, of Roydon Hall, Norfolk and his offspring John, John Hookham, George Edward and John Tudor Frere. His sale at Sotheby’s on 14 February 1896. (cf. bookplates on the flyleaf). 3.William Morris, Kelmscott (booklabel on the flyleaf). 4. Alfred Higgins, London (booklabel on the flyleaf). His sale at Sotheby’s 2 May 1904, lot 62. 5. Sir Sydney C. Cockerell until 18 January 1957.There is a long account on the manuscript’s history of ownership since the 18th century by him on the first flyleaf. 6. George A. Goyder, Henley-on-Thames; Sotheby’s 8 July 1970, lot 103. 7. B. S. Cron, Kew. 8. Private collection Europe.

TEXT: fol. 1-89v: Glossed Gospel of St Luke; fol. 89 is blank apart from traces of later annotations – fol. 90-157: Glossed Gospel of St John. Our manuscript comprises the Gospels of St Luke and St John with commentaries in the form of marginal glosses. The layout of the manuscript indicates that it belongs to a multivolume glossed bible. Another volume from the same workshop that contains the four Books of Kings from the Old Testament is published in the Boston exhibition catalogue of Dr. Jörn Günther Antiquariat (no. 12). Only very few copies survive of this type of book, which enjoyed great popularity in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, as numerous entries of donation in medieval library catalogues attest (de Hamel 1984, p. 13). In nearly all extant multi-volume editions the Gospels are combined two by two: the Gospels of Matthew and Mark form one those of Luke and John another volume (Branner 1977, p. 198f.). The bible text presented here follows the version of the Vulgate as it was used at the French cathedral schools at the end of the 12th century. The manuscript was used for study purposes. The biblical commentary (Stegmüller/Reinhardt, Repertorium biblicum, no. 11828, 11830) is that of Anselm of Laon (1050-1117). It was written around 1085 and was disseminated in a large number of copies right away. Anselm’s gloss was regarded as exemplary and therefor was given the epithet Glossa ordinaria. It was developed further by Gilbert of Auxerre, a pupil of Anselm, called Universalis († 1134); likewise his biblical commentaries are included in the present manuscript (Smalley 1935/1936). The mise-en-page of glossed bible manuscripts undoubtedly correlates with the wide dissemination of the Glossa ordinaria. The layout was developed out of the smallest unit of measurement needed. One line of bible text corresponds to two lines of commentary. According to its length the commentary is either inserted as interlinear gloss between the lines of biblical text or written as marginal gloss to the left and right. The extremely meticulous page layout and the number of corrections in the text, which is infinitely small in relation to the difficult mise-en-page, suggest that the codex was transcribed with the help of a model copy. Almost the entire manuscript was annotated by a later hand in pencil.

ILLUMINATION: fol. 1: Initial ‘L’: beginning of the prologue to St Luke – fol. 1v: Initial ‘Q’: beginning of the Gospel of St Luke – fol. 2: Initial ‘F’(uit in diebus) – fol. 90: Initial ‘H’: prologue to John – fol. 91: Initial ‘I’: beginning of the Gospel of St John. The five large initials are neatly designed and reveal the hand of a skilled illuminator who makes use of the repertoire of motifs popular at that time in a masterly and varied way.We cannot determine the manuscript’s exact place of origin. Nevertheless it is certain that the codex was either produced in northern France in one of the cathedral schools (Auxerre, Laon) or in Paris itself, where in these same years the first scriptoria run by laymen were established (Avril 1976). By circa 1170 a standardized illumination and decoration for glossed manuscripts was established, which accentuated the beginnings of chapters by large initials. In the early manuscripts dating from the early 13th century ornamental initials prevail; historiated initials are scarcer, but were also used. Good examples of such glossed biblical manuscripts are the numerous codices written and illuminated in the Augustinian monastery of the Victorines in Paris. A glossed manuscript of the Epistles of St Paul in Troyes (Bibl. mun., cod. 175) from the first decade of the 13th century opens with an initial ‘P’, whose arrangement corresponds with the present manuscript. The codex from Troyes has one figurative initial in addition, which relates it to the Alexander atelier in Paris in the years around 1213 (Stork 1992, p. 104, pl. 47).

LITERATURE: Sales cat. Sotheby’s 14 Feb 1896; sales cat. Sotheby’s 2 May 1904, lot 62; sales cat. Sotheby’s 8 July 1970, lot 103. Smalley 1935/1936; Schmid 1969 (binding); Branner 1975 and 1977; Avril 1976; Riché/Lobrichon 1982; De Hamel 1984; Stork 1992; Light 1994; exh. cat. Boston 2000; Morgan 2002.