BIBLE, in Latin.
Genesis to Apocalypse, with the prologues attributed to St. Jerome and the Interpretation of Hebrew names. France (Paris), mid-thirteenth century.
538 leaves (151 x 112 mm), plus two medieval flyleaves at beginning and three at end, apparently complete, collation difficult due to binding but gatherings apparently mostly of about 20–24 leaves, written in double columns of 47–50 lines in a small gothic bookhand (Interpretation of Hebrew names in three columns), dark brown ink, ruled in plummet, with 109 historiated initials and 35 illuminated initials of varying size in full colours and burnished gold and with branching extensions, two-line chapter initials alternately in red and blue with contrasting penwork flourishing, chapter numbers (inset into the text) and running-titles in alternating red and blue letters, capitals touched in red, rubrics, some contemporary and later marginal annotations in plummet and ink, list of books of the Bible on verso of front flyleaf in a fifteenth-century hand, sixteenth-century foliation (erroneous); trimmed at head with occasional loss of uppermost extremities of illuminated initials, some occasional cockling and light marginal soiling, small holes in two leaves (ff. 491, 498) with loss of a few words, small slits (sometimes repaired) apparently where marginal tabs removed, but generally in excellent, fresh condition preserving pricking in some outer margins; late sixteenth-century German red silk over pasteboards, painted in gold, large oval armorial stamp on upper cover (now very worn and difficult to read), remains of ties, edges gilt; extremities worn and frayed; preserved in a cloth case.
Added to your basket:
Genesis to Apocalypse, with the prologues attributed to St. Jerome and the Interpretation of Hebrew names.
A handsome example of a thirteenth-century portable Bible manuscript, with an historiated initial marking the beginning of each book; from the libraries of Leander van Ess and Sir Thomas Phillipps.
Text
The text follows the usual order for standardised ‘Paris’ Bibles and contains the ‘new’ prologues such as the prologue to the Apocalypse beginning ‘Omnes qui pie . . .’ (attributed to Gilbert de la Porrée). The manuscript has been carefully corrected throughout: the corrector, writing in plummet in the lower margins, has copied out passages for insertion; these have then been written out in ink in a contemporary hand and marked for insertion into the relevant position in the text. Apparently in a different hand, also in plummet but in French, are occasional directions to the illuminator: beneath the full-height initial depicting David and Goliath on f. 91v, for example, is the note, at the foot of the page, ‘[…] le gaiant de fonde’; further directions occur on ff. 225r and 240v.
Illumination
Two different artists (or ateliers) are evident in the historiated initials. Responsible for the large initials and many of the smaller ones is a distinctive and skilful artist who is not readily identifiable with any of the workshops defined by Robert Branner (Manuscript painting in Paris, 1977). His style is somewhat retardataire, with fine, carefully modelled heads in light brown ink (often with prominently highlighted chins), rather Romanesque facial profiles, a generally sober palette and details such as black shoes adorned with a row of small white dots, a feature found more commonly in the work of an earlier generation of artists (for example Master Alexander, active c. 1215–1230). Some of the smaller initials are apparently the work of a different artist: the rather squat figures have thin arms and the heads are delineated in black ink. The Genesis initial (f. 5r), of nine compartments instead of the more usual seven, has extensive scrolling foliage at head and foot, amidst which a tiny deer reclines and a greyhound pursues a plump leporid creature.
Contents
Prologue (ff. 1r–4v); Genesis (ff. 5r–22v); Exodus (ff. 22v–38v); Leviticus (ff. 38v–49v); Numbers (ff. 50v–65v); Deuteronomy (ff. 56r–70r; Joshua (ff. 70r–80r); Judges (ff. 80r–90r); Ruth (ff. 90r–91v); 1 Kings (ff. 91v–106r); 2 Kings (ff. 106r–116r); 3 Kings (ff. 116r–129r); 4 Kings (ff. 129r–141r); 1 Chronicles (ff. 141r–152v); 2 Chronicles (ff. 152v–166v); 1 Ezra (ff. 167v–171v); Nehemiah (ff. 171v–177v); 2 Ezra (ff. 177v–183r); 3 Ezra (ff. 183r–184v); 4 Ezra (ff. 184v–193v); 5 Ezra (ff. 193v–195r); Tobit (ff. 195r–199r); Judith (ff. 199r–204r); Esther (ff. 204v–209v); Job (ff. 209v–221r); Psalms (ff. 221r–246r); Proverbs (ff. 247r–255r); Ecclesiastes (ff. 255r–258r); Song of Solomon (ff. 258r–259r); Wisdom (ff. 259r–265r); Ecclesiasticus (ff. 265r–281r); Isaiah (ff. 281r–300v); Jeremiah (ff. 300v–322v); Lamentations (ff. 322v–324v); Baruch (ff. 324v–327v); Ezekiel (ff. 327v–348r); Daniel (ff. 348r–357r); Hosea (ff. 357r–360r); Joel (ff. 360r–361v); Amos (ff. 361v–364r); Obadiah (ff. 364r–v); Jonah (ff. 364v–365v); Micah (ff. 365v–367v); Nahum (ff. 367v–368v); Habakkuk (ff. 368v–369v); Zephaniah (ff. 369v–371r); Haggai (ff. 371r–v); Zechariah (ff. 371v–375r); Malachi (ff. 375r–376v); 1 Maccabees (ff. 376v–389v); 2 Maccabees (ff. 389v–398v); Matthew (ff. 398v–412r); Mark (ff. 412r–421r); Luke (ff. 421r–435r); John (ff. 435r–445v); Romans (ff. 446r–451r); 1 Corinthians (ff. 451r–456r); 2 Corinthians (ff. 456r–459v); Galatians (ff. 459v–461r); Ephesians (ff. 461r–463r); Philippians (ff. 463r–464r); Colossians (ff. 464r–465r); 1 Thessalonians (ff. 465r–466r); 2 Thessalonians (ff. 466v–467r); 1 Timothy (ff. 467r–468v); 2 Timothy (ff. 468v–469v); Titus (ff. 469v–470r); Philemon (f. 470r); Hebrews (ff. 470r–474r); Acts (ff. 474r–487v); James (ff. 487v–489r); 1 Peter (ff. 489r–490r); 2 Peter (ff. 490r–491r); 1 John (ff. 491r–492v); 2 John and 3 John (f. 492v); Jude (ff. 492v–493r); Apocalypse (ff. 493r–499v); Interpretation of Hebrew names (ff. 500r–538v).
Provenance:
1. Certain features of the manuscript may support an English connection: the unusual inclusion of the apocryphal Ezra books, for instance, and the arrangement of the Interpretation of Hebrew names in three columns. The style of some of the historiated initials arguably points more to England than to France.
2. Medieval ownership inscription, erased and partly cut away, on second front flyleaf ‘Biblia iste est de … ad usu[m] fr[atr]is berna[rdi?] … hiemia[?]’, perhaps a Franciscan friar: a later medieval inscription reads ‘ordinis sac. minorum de observancia gar[…]’.
2. Evidently in a German noble collection by the late sixteenth century, to judge by the binding.
3. The German biblical scholar and bibliophile Leander van Ess (1772–1847) of Darmstadt, his MS 118.
4. Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792–1872), his MS 503, purchased from van Ess in 1823.
5. John Walter Hely-Hutchinson (1882–1955); his sale, Sotheby, 12 March 1956, lot 80, to Maggs.
6. Small circular ownership stamp ‘CR’ (Constantin Radoulesco?).
7. Acquired from Hellmut Schumann of Zurich in 1969; thence by descent.