Manuscript on parchment (coarse) of a Book of Hours containing only the Office of the Dead and Penitential Psalms and Litany
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written in liturgical gothic script of two sizes, by one person. Prayer on f. 87v is added in a very similar script, but by a less firm hand., A pencilled note on f. 55r refers to a miniature cut out between ff. 54 and 55. 2-line initials in blue, with red penwork often extending along left border. 1-line initials in blue or red. Rubrication to mark headings within sections in crimson or orange ink., and Binding: Eighteenth century. Brown calf, blind-tooled. Rebacked; back cover detached.
Manuscript on parchment roll, unevenly trimmed at top and bottom, composed of three membranes segments glued together, the third an addition of the late 15th century. Includes Prayers to be said for a pardon of 32,055 years; and Prayer based on the measurement of the length of the body of Christ. The texts are written on one side of a roll (dorse is blank).
Description:
In Latin and English., Script: Written in gothic liturgical script in brown and red ink., Membrane I: Two miniatures of the Emblems of the Passion, the one above the written space in a gothic architectural setting, with a Saint on either side and instruments of the Passion included around the full-figure of Christ standing with the cross. The miniature below with three exceptionally large nails and a heart enclosed by a crown of thorns and supported by two angels; surrounded by instruments of the Passion. The patron in clerical costume of white gown and blue robe [Austin friar?] in prayer with a scroll. A curling acanthus and floral border, containing birds holding snakes in their beaks; red, blue, pink and orange, framed in blue, with a gentle ogee arch at the top., Membrane II: A large empty cross (17 mm.) drawn in black ink and colored brown, in the center of the written space. One 6-line initial, pink and blue acanthus on a gold ground infilled with an aroid. Three 2-line initials, one blue filled with a pink flower on gold, one pink with white filigree on gold, one gold, filled with blue with white filigree on a pink ground. Floral border, including columbines, roses, in red, blue, pink and green, with insects, against a tan ground with brown dots, framed in red and blue., Membrane III: A miniature of the Christ Child as Salvator Mundi: seated on a red cushion beside the cross, holding the orb and blessing. This iconography, rare and perhaps unknown in English manuscript illustration, is probably of foreign origin. One 3-line initial, pink and blue with white highlights, filled with a blue and pink flower on a gold ground. Border with large blue, pink, green and orange flowers joined by an undulating green stem, with brown hair-spray and gold dots. Framed in blue and pink., and Holes and tears in the margins of the upper two segments; considerably rubbed, with some loss of text.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Devotional literature, English (Middle), Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Indulgences, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment of 1) Psalter in English, in the 8-part liturgical division, beginning defectively. Text is the later version of the Wycliffite translation of the Psalms. 2-7) Book of Hours, use of Sarum. 8) St. Jerome's Psalter, with introductory prayer and text followed by a suffrage to the Virgin. With Notes on Historia, Alegoria, Anagogia, Tropologia
Description:
In Middle English and Latin., Script: Written in small, well formed gothic bookhand., Five 6- to 5-line initials at the liturgical divisions of the Psalter (Psalms 26, 52, 68, 80, 97; initials for Psalms 1, 38, and 109 missing, offset initials on ff. 35v, 109r, and 156r), pink and blue with white highlights against cusped gold grounds, filled with brown, blue, and pink foliage with curling foliate serifs; pink, blue and gold bar border in outer margin with foliate shoots, terminals and horizontal extensions full across in upper and lower margins. Eleven 5- to 4-line initials (ff. 139v, 158v, 161r, 162r, 163r, 163v, 164r, 165v, 168r, 169v, 176v), gold, edged in black against a cusped ground, quartered in blue and pink, with white highlights and floral hair-spray. 3-line initials, blue with red penwork throughout. Capitals alternating red and blue. Rubrics throughout. Red and blue line-fillers in litany., and Binding: 19th-20th centuries. Brown leather case, blind-tooled. Red edges. Smells like a Middleton binding.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Books of hours, Devotional literature, English (Middle), Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Psalters
Manuscript on parchment (trimmed) of Book of Hours with Full calendar, in French
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written in batarde script., Miniatures and an extensive cycle of border vignettes by Jean and Jacquelin Montlucon who were active in Bourges between 1477 and 1492. The calendar pages are framed by gilt columns and entablatures in the antique manner with the occupations of the month and signs of the zodiac in the outer margin and a Creation cycle in the lower margin. Eleven half-page miniatures framed in magenta and gold with cusping at the top; fanciful architectural bases, surrounded by simulated grey-black marble with joined wings and foliage branches in gold. Twenty-three miniatures, 8-lines in height, in magenta and gold frames, each with a full border of flowers and acanthus, birds and grotesques on compartmented gold and white grounds. Text pages with full borders: columns in inner margin; panels with masks, shields, garlands, and wings in upper margin; flowers and acanthus, as above, in outer margin; and, in the lower margin, one of the fullest known cycles devoted to the wild man (sometimes extended to include outer margin as well). Other manuscripts from the same shop, the Monypenny Hours and Grenoble Bibliotheque Municipale MS 1011, also contain extensive cycles of wild-man imagery; the artists Jean and Jacquelin de Montlucon lived in Bourges in a house "at the sign of the Wild Man.", 5- and 4-line initials with leafy branches, gold with fruits, flowers, profile heads on pink or mauve grounds. 2- and 1-line initials, line-endings, and KL monograms in the same style. Rubrics in red. Calendar entries alternate red and blue. F. i verso added in 16th century: the arms of Gian Francesco di Montegnacco in a frame closely modelled on the decoration of the calendar pages., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Tan goatskin, gold-tooled with concentric frames, the central panel daubed with green and red. Red label.
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 fragment on parchment of the Penitential Psalms (incomplete), probably written as part of a Book of Hours
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written by a single scribe in liturgical gothic script., Carefully executed initials, 3-line, on blue or pink rectangles outlined in black, mark the beginning of each psalm; partial cusped borders, also in blue and pink, attached to each. Initials infilled with intertwining vines, often on gold ground, sometimes with small animals; modest use of gold dots inside rectangular grounds and borders. 1-line initials of blue with red penwork with blue dots and of gold with blue penwork and red dots. Line-fillers in combinations of red, blue and gold (various linear and flower designs)., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Bound in a piece of blind-tooled brown calf, once part of a 17th-18th century binding. Front pastedown and flyleaf from a Bible concordance, version 3 (France, ca. 1300). Back pastedown from 15th-century antiphonal, with musical notation, containing a portion of the office for Nicolas (6 Dec.).
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Antiphonaries, Books of hours, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment (extremely fine; trimmed).
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written in round gothic script by one scribe., Miniatures, borders, and initials of very high quality, executed by an artist of the Ghent-Bruges school. In the calendar, 24 miniatures, painted so that the written space appears to be superimposed on a full-page picture; the sign of the zodiac for each month is set in a small gold or grey oval above the second page for each month. Each calendar page enclosed in a gold and brown frame., Six miniatures with full borders, in frames. The manuscript almost certainly contained 16 more full-page miniatures that are now missing (see MS 287A). Twelve illuminated initials, 5-line, letters formed of curling acanthus on pink and/or blue, brown and green, or blue and green grounds; borders of flowers or architectural elements. Border decoration on every page without a full border: one bird, flower, grotesque, piece of jewelry, insect, or, occasionally, a household utensil, in each of the three outer margins, traced and painted on the following verso. 2- and 1-line initials in the same style as 5-line initials, with blue or pink grounds. Ribbon line fillers in the same style. Rubrication in pale crimson: in calendar, for months, dates, and important feasts., Water has caused ink to run in the upper left of f. 151r; no loss of text., and Binding: Nineteenth century (?). Gilt, gauffered edges. Previously bound in brick colored velvet, over wooden boards; remains of velvet on turn-ins. An elaborate clasp with round blue sapphire and the initials "V. M." joined by a love knot on the inner side. Rebacked.
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. One of a number of Books of Hours almost certainly made in Flanders for the English market. During the 16th century, some references to Thomas of Canterbury were erased or altered, and the word "pape" in the Calendar was changed to "ape".
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written in liturgical gothic bookhand., Decoration: Twenty-three fine miniatures (originally twenty-five) tipped in, in red, blue and gold frames, with gold quatrefoils in the corners; each with a 3/4 bar border, red and blue, with a full border of English-style acanthus, red, blue, pink and gold against cusped gold grounds, especially at corners and centers, surrounded by green, red, blue and pink flowers and berries, and ivy in black pen with gold and blue leaves, some with birds, in red bounding lines. Twenty-three historiated initials, 6-line, pink and blue with white highlights on gold grounds with black cusping. 6-line initials, pink and blue, with white highlights, filled with acanthus on gold, against pink and blue grounds, framed in gold and edged with black cusping. 3-line initials, gold, edged in black, on pink and blue grounds with white filigree. 1-line initials and line endings in the same manner. Calendar with 3-line KL monograms, as above, with hair-spray extensions and bar border, outer margin, and with hair-spray terminals. Kalends, Ides in blue and gold; important feasts in red., Shows signs of use (water stains, rubbing), but no serious damage to text or illumination., and Binding: 16th-17th centuries. Wound sewing on five large, tawed-skin supports, the backs of the gatherings cut in about 3 mm. on either side of the supports and at the kettle stitches. Dull gilt edges and traces of blue endband tie-downs. Covered in gold, striped velvet with two ribbon ties.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Books of hours, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
In Latin., Script: Written in two sizes of liturgical gothic by two scribes. Scribe 1) ff. 1r-22v and 28r-130r; Scribe 2) ff. 22v-26v. Many later marginal notes throughout, including titles at the top of each page., One very crude full-page miniature on f. 71v (Office of the Dead): mourners at a bier. Set in a narrow arched frame of gold edged in black, in a border of pink, blue, and green acanthus leaves (concentrated at corners), flowers in same colors, infilled with black ink hair-spray with gold dots; the whole rather carelessly done. 6- and 5-line initials (ff. 57r and 72r): blue with white highlights, on gold ground, infilled with blue, green, and pink trilobe leaves, with segmented bar border (strapwork corners) in blue, white, pink, black, and gold; full border as for miniature. Other illuminated initials (5- to 2-line, as above) with segmented bar borders without strapwork, and full borders as for full-page miniature. 5-line initials (ff. 35r and 38r) gold, on pink and blue ground with white highlights; in inner margin, a simple bar border sprouting black hair-spray with gold leaves at top and bottom. 2-line initials: gold on pink and blue grounds with white highlights. 1-line initials within text sometimes marked with a red stroke. Line fillers: occasionally a red cable after a rubric or, in the litany, oblique red and blue strokes with dots attached (perhaps added later, as colors do not match those of 1-line initials). Rubrics in orange-tinted red., Mold at bottom of ff. 122-130; text not damaged., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Brown calf, blind- and gold-tooled.
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 fragment on parchment of a Book of Hours containing: the Hours of the Virgin; full-page miniature of mediocre quality depicting the Adoration of the Magi; full-page miniature of mediocre quality depicting the Office of the Dead; the Office of the Dead; and Suffrages
Description:
In Latin., Script: written in a hybrid gothic script mixing elements of littera bastarda and littera cursiva formata., and Decoration: rubrics written in red in the same script as the text; punctuated with the punctus; hyphenation is in the same ink as the text.