Early ex-libris on f. 52v in light ink: "iste liber est de fontibus geradi [sic]. and Manuscript on parchment of Arnald, abbot of Bonneval, 1) Tractatus de septem verbis domini in cruce. 2) Libellus de laudibus de B. Mariae virginis.
Description:
Binding: 13th-14th centuries (?), France. Original sewing on four tawed skin, slit straps laced from out to inside the boards and wedged at an angle. Pastedowns sewn with book. The upper board is beech, the lower oak. The grooves on the inside of the boards have been burned as well as gouged out. A blue and natural color endband is sewn in a chevron pattern. The primary core is laced into grooves parallel to the edges of the boards but not fastened and the endband is sewn through the cover. Fragment of an unidentified text (France, 1125-ca. 1150) used for front pastedown; portion of a document dated 1225 (?) involving Theobaldus, abp. of Rouen (1221-29) and the Cistercian nunnery of Fontaine-Guerard (Fontes Guerardi) for rear pastedown. Covered in very thick tawed skin, neatly patched and pieced out. The turn-ins are nailed near the corners. There are two strap-and-pin fastenings, the pins on the lower board and the kermes pink, tawed skin strap ending in a catch with a twisted, tawed skin cord and tassel attached, later additions (?). Remains of later title, in ink, on spine., Red initial, 4-line, with red and green arabesque designs on f. 1r; red monochrome initials with simple decorative designs, ff. 2v, 9r, 14r; less elaborate red initials, ff. 18v, 23r, 29v, 47r. Heading in red for art. 1 only. Initials stroked with red., and Script: Written in a neat late caroline minuscule that is written above the text ruling, not on it.
Manuscript fragment on parchment (damaged). The one side has fine drawings of a king and queen (with falcon) in elaborate robes. Beside them is a foot soldier in armor; below a warrior on horseback, in armor, pursued by an archer, without armor. Above is a centaur (Chiron?) shooting an arrow at a flying bird, a second bird on the ground. On the other side (much affected by paste) three warriors storm a tower.
Description:
Removed from Marston MS 89 where it was used as a front pastedown. and See catalogue entry for Marston MS 89.
Manuscript on parchment (hairside yellow and speckled) of Cicero, Epistolae ad familiares. With Extract from Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae III.8.8: Epistula Fabricii et Aemilii consulum ad Pyrrhum regem. The text was copied ca. 1400 and the border decoration added between ca. 1415 and 1431.
Description:
14 elegant illuminated initials and partial borders at the beginning of each of the 16 books (the opening pages of Books XII and XV have been excised). Initials, 5- to 3-line, blue with white filigree or red with gold filigree on cusped grounds of gold. Most of the illuminated initials filled with bust-length portraits, presumably of Cicero's correspondents, on red, blue or diapered ground. Some initials filled with vine scrolls with trilobe leaves in red with white highlights against gold ground. Partial borders, scrolling vine with trilobe leaves or acanthus in blue, pink, red and gold with white highlights and green, red and blue with gold highlights. Small figures of angels, dressed in green with gold wings in borders or margins, some playing musical instruments, one holding an open book, one holding the cloth of Veronica. Other marginal figures include the "Agnus Dei" and a pelican piercing its breast. The figures are all characterized by white faces, small angled black eyes, and a preference for green and gold, the green with contour lines in gold. Plain initials alternate red and blue. Rubrics throughout., Binding: Nineteenth century, France (?). Red velvet case with a dark green gold-tooled label: "M. T. Ciceronis Epistolae Ad Familiares MS. in Membranis". Gilt edges., Imperfect: incomplete, some leaves wanting with loss of text., and Script: Written in a neat fere-humanistic hand by a single scribe, below top line.
Manuscript, on paper, in a number of hands, containing a variety of religious and devotional texts, many related to the Franciscan order. Contents include lives of Francis of Assisi, Clare of Assisi, and Anthony of Padua; a poem on the day of judgement in ottava rima; lives of Christ and the Virgin Mary in Italian; writings of St. Bridget of Sweden in Italian; an account of the dedication of St. Lawrence's cathedral in Genoa; St. Anselm's Miracles of the Virgin; and two itineraries of visits to the Holy Land.
Description:
Bergendal Collection of Mediaeval Manuscripts (Bergandal 21). Purchased from Bernard Quaritch, Ltd., (Sotheby's sale, 2011 July 5, lot 69) on the T. Kimball Brooker Italian Renaissance Fund, Binding: modern full red leather., and Modern binder's blanks (ii + ii) not digitized.
Manuscript on paper of Eberhardus Bethuniensis, Graecismus.
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century, Italy. Half bound in vellum with paper spattered with black on the sides. Gold-tooled spine with black label: "Trattato de' Grecismi in Versi Latini," and "1471" stamped along lower edge., Ink has corroded some leaves; many leaves repaired in margins., Plain initials, paragraph marks, initial strokes, punctuation, in red. Guide letters for rubricator., Purchased in 1956 from Bernard M. Rosenthal by Thomas E. Marston., Script: Written in gothic bookhand by a single scribe, below top line., and Watermarks: similar to Briquet Lettre G 8199, Briquet Lettre B 7980, Briquet Fleur 6393, Briquet Joug 7872, 7876.
Fragment of a legendary of Saints Nicostratus, Claudius, Symphorian, Castorius and Simpliius, stonemasons martyred by Diocletian. The passage mentions the quarrying of porphyry columns for the temple of Diocletian.
Description:
Bergendal Collection of Mediaeval Manuscripts (Bergandal 115). Purchased from Bernard Quaritch, Ltd., (Sotheby's sale, 2011 July 5, lot 28) on the Herman W. Liebert Book Fund, 2011., Leaf has several small marks and holes indicating that it was used as part of a later bookbinding., and Script: written in a proto-Carloingian miniscule. The scribe has been identified (by Bernard Bischoff) as Cundpato, monk of the Benedictine monastery of Freising.
