Manuscript on paper (unidentified watermarks in gutter; upper margin, trimmed) of a Ritual, possibly written for a nunnery.
Description:
Binding: Sixteenth century. Original sewing on three double, tawed supports laced into the wooden boards. The spine is heavily rounded, with the sewing supports well defined by blind-tooled lines. Covered in dark brown calf with a panel of the Annunciation, in a border of birds, animals and flowers blind-stamped on each board inside outer frames of lines. There is a brass catch on the upper board and a long, thin brass clasp on a leather strap attached to the lower with a brass plate. The leather is slightly torn at the head of the spine but otherwise the book is in fine condition, with no trace of sophistication. Front and back pastedowns from a 15th-century Latin liturgical manuscript., Calligraphic initials, 5- to 3-line, in green or red with red or grey flourishes, often extending the length of the written area. Initials, 3- to 1-line, underlining, strokes on 1-line initials, and headings in red., and Script: Written by three people in what Lieftinck calls Littera brevitura. Scribe 1, ff. 1r-87v and 98r-153v, writes in a large and rather careless hand; 2, ff. 90r-97v, in a small even hand; 3, ff. 154r-272v, in a large uneven hand.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church--Liturgy
Subject (Topic):
Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, Monastic and religious life--Early works to 1800, and Rituals (Liturgical books)