Psalter and breviary : Dominican use : in Latin

Item Information

Title:
Psalter and breviary : Dominican use : in Latin
Description:
A miniature composite codex comprised of an illuminated ca. 15th-century ferial psalter, followed by the winter portion of an earlier(?) Dominican breviary.
Creator:
Catholic Church
Former owner:
Sokol Books Ltd
Auctioneer:
Bonhams (Firm)
Date:
[1300?–1500?]
Format:
Manuscripts
Books
Genre:
Illuminations
Manuscripts, Latin (Medieval and modern)
Manuscripts, Medieval
Psalters
Breviaries
Gothic scripts
Location:
Boston Public Library
Rare Books Department
Collection (local):
Medieval and Early Renaissance Manuscripts (Collection of Distinction)
Extent:
218 leaves : parchment ; 68 x 45 (approximately 52 x 36 to 38) mm, bound to 7 cm
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/xs55px57w
Terms of Use:
No known copyright restrictions.
No known restrictions on use.
Language:
Latin
Table of Contents:
1. fol. 1: calendar, graded in brown and red ink, June 2 through July 8 (remainder of calendar wanting). Includes length of solar and lunar month and length of night (6 hours) and day. "Solsticiu[m] estivale" on June 14.
2. fol. 2-88: ferial psalter.
3. fol. 88-96: canticles and creed.
4. fol. 97-99: litany and collects.
5. fol. 100-218: winter breviary (Dominican use). First Sunday of Advent through Holy Saturday.
Notes:
Ms. composite codex.
Title devised by cataloger; place and date conjectured from script and decoration.
Origin: The psalter was copied in northern Europe, perhaps France or Flanders, during the 15th century. The breviary was also copied in northern Europe. Based on a series of uniformly written liturgical notes in both the psalter and the breviary (see provenance note), the two separate parts of this volume were apparently brought together by the 16th century for the use a Dominican friar.
Notes (ownership):
Provenance: Occasional contemporary additions and annotations to the second part. A single early hand leaving scattered liturgical notes in the upper margins of both parts, e.g., "feria v ad vesperas," "ad nonas," etc. "Salomon" inscribed in a ca. 18th-century[?] hand in the outer margin of fol. 86v, and "Ducre[?]" in the lower margin of 174. On fol. 1: "Charles Stillet[?]" Dealer's notes, etc., at front and back. Offered at Bonhams, London, in 2016 (March 16, lot 278).
Notes (acquisition):
Immediate source of acquisition: Purchased from Sokol Books, London, in January, 2022.
Purchase; Sokol Books (London); 20220103; 2022.1.
Notes (date):
[between 1300? and 1500?]
Notes (object):
Collation: Parchment, fol. ii (modern paper) + 218 + fol. ii (modern paper) ; 1 2⁸(-1) 3⁸ 4⁸(-4, 5) 5-7⁸ 8⁸(-5) 9-13⁸ 14⁸(-7, 8); 15¹⁶ 16²²(+1 fol.) 17⁸ 18²² 19¹⁰ 20²² 21⁸ 22¹⁶?(-4, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16) ; BPL pencil foliation in upper-right margin of first part, lower-right margin of second part, neither accounting for missing leaves, these numbers used here for reference.
The psalter lacks all of the calendar except for a single leaf (June-July); an indeterminate number of leaves at the beginning of the main text containing psalms 1-7 and the first verse of psalm 8 (i.e, all before fol. 2, quire 2); a bifolium containing psalm 37 and the first verse of psalm 38 (in quire 4); a single leaf containing psalm 80 (in quire 8); and two leaves after the litany (in quire 14, both apparently blank). The breviary, running from Advent through Easter, is complete through the final quire, which lacks as many as six leaves, the text ending imperfectly. Oversewing creates obstacles to collation, as in quires 16 and 22.
Layout: Part 1, fol. 1-99 (through quire 14): 52 x 36 mm, double columns, 24 lines, most leaves ruled in red, pricking in outer margins.
Layout: Part 2, fol. 100-218 (quires 15-22): 52 x 38 mm, double columns, 26 lines, ruled in plummet after fol. 119, pricking in outer margins.
Script (part 1): copied by at least two scribes writing in gothic cursive (cursiva formata): scribe 1, fol. 1-5 (distinguished by the lowercase "r" without a foot and a rounded bow in lowercase "e"); scribe 2 , fol. 5-99 (in darker ink and with a separate stroke forming the foot of lowercase "r" and an angular lowercase "e"). Rubricated in red, with guide letters.
Script (part 2): copied by two scribes writing in northern textualis (libraria/formata) in brown and black ink: scribe 1, fol. 100-118 (brown ink); scribe 2, fol. 119-218 (black ink). Rubricated in blue and red with red, blue, and purple pen flourishes.
Decoration: in part 1, four-line initials in gold over blue and pink grounds, with flourishes into the margins at each division of the psalter.
Binding: Bound in ca. 19th-century green goatskin, gilt, with painted floral tooling and a blue crucifix on both covers.
Notes (language):
In Latin.
Identifier:
06_01_018363
Call #:
RARE BKS MS q Med.285
Barcode:
39999092730686