Manuscript on parchment of 1) Le livre de Lancelot du Lac, part III. 2) La queste del Saint Graal. 3) La mort au Roy Artus
Description:
In French., Script: Written in elegant gothic textura by one scribe, with a few interlinear corrections in later hands (14th and 15th centuries)., The decoration of this lavishly illuminated manuscript consists of seventy-seven large column miniatures, fifty-one smaller miniatures, and thirty-six historiated initials. Miniatures and historiated initials by at least two artists, the scale and quality of whose work distinguish the manuscript from contemporary and most fourteenth-century Arthurian manuscripts., Large miniatures, 12- to 11-lines, one column, framed and usually divided into two registers by thin bands, gold, red and/or blue with white highlights, edged in black, sometimes with arched canopies, often with architectural elements protruding (a few frames composed of thicker bands); figures in black pen against burnished gold (occasionally with painted gold diaperwork), blue or black grounds; chief colors: light blue, dark blue, grey, light brown, white, maroon, with some orange, green and gold. Borders on folios with large miniatures of a variety and inventiveness that defy strict classification: gold, red, and blue bands, edged in black, also running between, below and/or above text columns, terminating in dragons, dragon or human heads, groteques or, most commonly, floral spirals, some with frets, blue and red with white highlights and orange and green dots, against gold, blue and/or maroon cusped grounds, often with pinwheel-like projections. The borders are populated with magnificent grotesques and marginalia in the same style as the miniatures, many of them of a narrative or satirical character; some of these incorporate coats of arms., Small miniatures, 5- to 6-line, 1/2 text column, often with a 2-line initial inserted in upper right corner, otherwise as above, with border decoration on a smaller scale and unattached to miniature. Historiated initials, 5-line (letters without ascenders or descenders) to 13-line, red and/or blue, with geometric motifs in paler shades of red and blue, white, with touches of orange, against gold grounds, edged in black, with long dragon and floral serifs, as above, against cusped gold grounds; figures in same style as miniatures, against gold grounds., Illuminated initials, 3- to 1-line, gold, with globular serifs, edged thickly in black, against irregular red and blue grounds, also edged in black, with white floral filigree or heraldic birds, in white; flowers touched in with orange. On folios without miniatures (except ff. 2v-8v), a thin gold band runs along the left side of each text column, interrupted by initials, with a thin red pen-line on either side; adjacent, to the left, a column of I's each 3-line and blue and red alternately, with small spiral and curlicue flourishes, terminating in large flourishes in red or blue on alternate openings, each with pinwheel-like arms projecting from a central spiral with small petals and flourishes in blue and red; design of the terminal flourishes varies from one gathering to another; some with naturalistic leaves and flowers or fleurs-de-lis; terminals on ff. 1v-2r by the same hand as penwork initials on those folios. Line-fillers of varying design: two pairs of blue and red tapering bands, heraldically arranged and joined at center by red flower; undulating red line with red and/or blue balls under and over each crest and trough; red zigzag with blue infilling and spiral flourishes at terminals; alternating red and blue flowers; red and blue dots, etc., Some folios stained; f. 253 slashed in margin; f. 361 cut right across and glued together., and Binding: 2003. Full alum-tawed goatskin. See conservation treatment report for full description. Former binding stored in separate box: 18th century. Light brown calf blind- and gold-tooled. Sewing holes in inner margins.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Arthurian romances, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment (trimmed) of 1) Unidentified preface. 2) Sallust, Bellum Catilinae. 3) Unidentified scholia on Sallust, Bellum Catilinae. Although the commentary of Beinecke MS 358 belongs to the medieval school tradition rather than to the Renaissance tradition, neither the text of this article or of art. 5 below resembles closely any medieval texts currently known. 4) Sallust, Bellum Iugurthinum. 5) Unidentified scholia on Sallust, Bellum Iugurthinum
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written in batarde, with scholia in a smaller version of the same hand., One miniature, 12-line, f. 74v, a T-O mappa mundi, in a red and gold frame, slightly waterstained at the edges. One 4-line initial, f. 3r (pink), and one 3-line initial, f. 57r (blue), both with white highlights, filled with red and blue ivy on gold against a gold ground. Twenty 2-line initials, gold, filled with pink and blue against pink and/or blue grounds, square or irregular, with white filigree. Capitals stroked in yellow, red or blue between ff. 1r and 26v; in yellow for the remainder of the text. Borders were perhaps added later (between 1425 and 1450) on folios with initials only; between ff. 1r and 57r, flowering vines, gold, green and blue with gold dots in lines above, below or in written space; blue and gold acanthus mixed with flowering vines, red, pink, blue, and green with gold ivy in line above written space and in inner margin within rulings for scholia; on a few folios, outer vertical bounding line reinforced in red with small acanthus terminals. Between ff. 57v and 162v pink, blue and/or green acanthus, with flowering vines, pink, blue and green, with gold ivy and dots, disposed as above; on f. 85v vertical bounding line repainted as a green stem with lopped off stalks. Lemmata underlined in red., and Binding: 18th-19th centuries. Limp vellum case with title in ink. Rodent damage.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Catiline, approximately 108 B.C.-62 B.C. and Sallust, 86 B.C.-34 B.C.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Jugurthine War, 111-105 B.C., Latin literature, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Scholia
Manuscript on parchment of the Vulgate Bible, with interpretations of Hebrew names
Description:
In Latin., Script: Copied in small Northern Gothica Textualis (Pearl Script), Decoration: Historiated initials, with a normal height of 6 lines, at beginning of each book (further on this, see the catalog description); 4-line foliate initials, half inserted, at the beginning of each prologue; running headlines and chapter numbers alternately in red and blue majuscules or roman numerals., and Binding: 18th or 19th century romantic binding by François Bozerian (Bozerian Jeune): red morocco over cardboard; both covers gold- and blind-tooled with cruciform and floral motifs; gold-tooled spine with four raised bands and a gold-tooled title, "BIBLIA SACRA."
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Remigius, of Auxerre, approximately 841-908.
Subject (Topic):
Versions, Vulgate, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript fragment on parchment of Lamentations, 3.13-51 (52-56 obscured). Written at Luxeuil or one of its affiliated houses. Fifteen folios from the original codex survive, most of which may be traced to the Benedictine abbey of Admont in Austria. Most of the verses in the Beinecke fragment have received neumes, possibly added later (11th century?).
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written in elegant Luxeuil minuscule, with headings in uncials., Large initial at beginning of each verse filled with yellow, red, and/or green; headings in green or red., and Removed from a bookbinding; text suffers from holes, stains, creases, and repairs.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Music
In Latin., Script: Written by a single scribe in small, neat, gothic bookhand; note in his hand on f. 209r, too trimmed to be legible., Approximately half the historiated initials have been excised. The initials, 51- to 9-line, painted gold, red and blue with white highlights and punctuated with gold dots, terminate in spiralling floral serifs, often with biting animal heads, with long projecting stems against cusped grounds. The figures are red, blue, orange and grey, against red or blue grounds, some of them diapered and decorated with groups of three white dots and gold dots. Illuminated initials, 51- to 5-line, occasionally for books (f. 74v [Joshua] and f. 175r [Nehemiah]), for the most part for the prologues, similar to the historiated initials, except infilled with interwining and angular vines with biting head terminals, red and/or blue against red or blue grounds with gold dots and set in frames of painted gold. 2-line calligraphic initials for chapters, red or blue with blue or red penwork, each attached to a column of superimposed I's, red and blue, running the full length of the text column, with penwork flourishes, especially at the terminals. Capitals for verses stroked in red. Running headings and chapter numbers in alternating red and blue letters or numbers., and Binding: Date? Resewn on four single, round, vegetable fiber cords which are frayed out and adhered inside the oak boards. There are no endbands, but traces of alum tawed endband cores and sewing supports remain in the holes in the boards. The spine is square. Some lettering in ink on the fore-edge. Covered in red-brown calf, with an exceptionally large stamp of the Virgin and child in an aureole within concentric frames, one with an inscription, on the upper board and diamonds filled with crosses, roses and IHS in circles on the lower. The latter ornaments are also stamped on the turn-ins underneath the pastedowns. Rebacked and edges repaired. Upper board detached. Not the original and possibly not an early binding. Rebacked in the Yale Conservation Studio in 1982. The upper and lower covers are lined with single leaves, pasted down, of a missale plenum (11th century?). Portions of Dominica VI post Pentecosten, Feria IV of that week (upper cover), an unidentified mass of the Sanctorale, Dominica III post Pentecosten (lower cover). Where they occur, the texts of the proper chants are notated in German neumes in campo aperto. Some of the chants are cited by incipit; these are usually not noted. The Alleluia for DMC III is Domine in virtute; that for DMC VI is Eripe me. (We thank K. D. Hartzell for his assistance with these fragments.)
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Versions, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Missals
Manuscript on parchment (trimmed). The codex is probably a normal French Bible but is so badly bound, with lacunae throughout, that we cannot be certain
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written by a single scribe in a neat, but slightly round, gothic bookhand, on the top line. Notes for initials and chapter numbers in margins, in an informal cursive script. Numerous corrections between rulings in lower margin; the corrections were then written in a neat gothic bookhand next to the text., The surviving historiated initials, 8-, 7-, 6-, and 5-line, are of varied design, and are all badly damaged. In type and style they are somewhat comparable to initials in mid-13th century Parisian manuscripts. For the most part, the initials are red or blue, with white highlights; the body of the letter on a dark blue, pink, or grey ground, with white dots; curling floral and dragon serifs, some with cusps (orange, red, and green); descenders (up to 2/3 of text column) same color as body of letter, with adjoining strips of pink, blue, or grey, often with cusped floral terminals, rampant dragons; all sections thickly edged in black. Other historiated initials, blue or pink, with cusped serifs, against a brown ground with delicate floral filigree in white; thick black edging. Three historiated initials (ff. 25r, 90v, and 117v) in architectural settings, in dark blue, blue, red, pink, and gold, with elaborate floral pendants below. The historiated initials for two books, f. 1r (Proverbs) and f. 63v (Philippians) were cut out; script and decoration have been restored with unusual care (15th century); large floral buds (green, orange, yellow, and/or pink) on short green stems against purple or black grounds., Illuminated initials, 4- to 2-line for prologues, pink or blue with white highlights, occasionally with gold; otherwise, diminutive versions of historiated initials types (f. 63 [Prologue to Philippians] with a small bird); one initial of this type f. 35v (John), originally historiated, has also been restored. 4- to 2-line initials for chapters, set into text columns, red and blue with blue and red penwork flourishes running along column into margins, some with animal-head terminals; some initials in bottom line with unusual penwork pendants. Capitals in text stroked in red. Chapter numbers, red and blue, often with flourishes; running headings, red and blue; rubrics in red throughout; corrections surrounded by undulating red lines, occasionally with trailing penwork flourishes., and Binding: 18th-19th centuries. Vellum case. Paper boards are composed of fragments of several French legal documents of the 16th and 17th centuries.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Versions, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript fragment on parchment of a book of hours with an office for the dead
Description:
In Latin., Script: Copied by one hand writing in Gothica Cursiva Formata (Bastarda)., and Decoration: Purplish red rubrics. Yellow highlighting of the majuscules. 1-line versals and 2- or 3-line initials, all in liquid gold on purplish red or blue square background decorated with foliage or flowers in liquid gold. Initials in red, blue, and gold. On f. 1v, there is a rectangular picture, framed in black and gold and treated as an initial 11 lines high, of God the Father with tiara, sitting, one hand on the globe, the other hand blessing rows of Seraphim and Cherubim before him. Elsewhere yellow-colored fleur-de-lys, animals, archers and a giant insects.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Books of hours, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment (monastic, furry) of Josephus, De bello Judaico, translated into Latin by Hegesippus
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written by a single scribe in elegant French minuscule. Marginalia, including "Nota" marks, by several later hands., Good pen-drawn initial for Book 1 (f. 2v), 12-line, in brown, with vigorous foliage swirls, modelled with fine striations, against a bright, multicolored (green, blue, red, maroon) panelled ground; for the Prologue and Books 2-5 (ff. 2r, 37r, 52r, 67v, and 82v), 7- or 5-line initials, in red, blue, green, and light brown with delicate, stylized foliage (f. 2r: also with two stylized heads). On f. 77v, a marginal drawing in red ink of a man pointing to text with a note (13th century) in brown ink "Nota de iniquo Symone.". Rubrics throughout., and Binding: Eighteenth century. Edges gilt. Green goatskin gold-tooled, with a brick-red label.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Josephus, Flavius.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Jews, History, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment of Boethius, De consolatione philosophiae. With Excerpts from the commentary of Nicolas Trevet (in margins) on Boethius, Book I.1.1 - II.5.34.
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written by two scribes in an ornate and elegant gothic bookhand. 1) ff. 1v-154v; 2) ff. 155r-210v. The marginal commentary is in a neat informal batarde (ink paler than that used for text)., Plain initial, 3-line, in blue at beginning of text; other initials, 2-line, in red throughout text to mark the beginning of poetry and prose sections. Title page (f. 1v): alternating lines of blue and gold., Grease stain in margins at end of codex; bottom of f. 81 trimmed., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Brown sheepskin, blind-tooled. Repaired.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Boethius, -524. and Trivet, Nicholas, 1258?-1328.
Subject (Topic):
Consolation, Dialogues, Latin, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Scholia
Manuscript on parchment of Petrarch, De remediis utriusque fortunae
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written by a single scribe in beautiful batarde script characterized by calligraphic flourishes (some stroked with yellow) in upper and lower margins., 4-line initial on f. 1r, blue with white highlights, on a gold ground, with a coat of arms (effaced) against burgundy ground with gold floral sprays; short floral border, pink and blue flowers on green stem, infilled with gold dots with black hair-spray. 6-line initials on ff. 84r and 87r green with yellow highlights, on gold ground, with a love-knot connecting E (brown with gold highlights) and N (blue) against silver ground, borders as above. 2-line initials at beginning of chapters, gold with black penwork and flourishes; 1-line initials (R for Racio, and G, S, D, M, for the other interlocutors) blue or gold, with red or black penwork., On ff. 1r and 8r three quarters of the page was ruled, but left blank, presumably for miniatures., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Red velvet case, much worn.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Petrarca, Francesco, 1304-1374.
Subject (Topic):
Conduct of life, Dialogues, Latin (Medieval and modern), Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval