Beschreibung:

Anonymous Dutch scribe Nocturnal, for the use of the Augustinian canons of Bethleem, in Latin, decorated manuscript on vellum [southern Netherlands, Leuven, third quarter 15th century] A 15th-century Nocturnal – a rare liturgical survival – made for the use of the Augustinian canons of Bethleem near Leuven, a reforming brotherhood with a strong academic culture founded in devotion to book learning and manufacture. 126 x 88mm. iii + 171 + iv, apparently complete, bound too tightly to collate, sporadic modern pencil foliation followed here, preserving some prickings, 24 lines, ruled space: 90 x 56mm, written in three hands, calligraphic capitals touched with red and yellow scattered throughout, one- to four-line initials alternating red and blue throughout, large initials in red and blue with red and purple penwork flourishing (slight worming to endleaves and pastedowns. Near-contemporary panel-stamped leather over wooden boards, stamped with a bear, a lion and a stag (upper) and pelican, monkey and a griffin (lower) within compartments of acanthus and flowers, original endbands and thongs, remains of metal clasps on leather tabs (damage to edges of spine filled in and stabilised, lacking one clasp). Provenance: (1) Presumably copied at the Priory of Bethleem at Herent near Leuven; a contemporary ownership inscription added by brother Johannes de Septem Montibus on f.i reads ‘Liber iste p[er]tinet domui b[ea]te ma[rie] in bethleem p[ro]pe lovaniu[m] deputata[..] fr[atri]s Ioh[ann]is de Septe[m] Montibus supp[…]’ and ‘Bethleem’ is added in a 17th-century hand on f.1. A 1486 Dutch incunable from the library at Bethleem annotated by brother Johannes is now at the Bodleian (Auct. 1Q 5.48.); Bethleem manuscripts are now held in libraries in Brussels, Cambridge, Manchester and elsewhere (on the manuscripts copied at or from the priory’s library, see P. Hamblenne, ‘Some manuscripts from Bethlehem (Hérent)’, Manuscripts in Transition: Recycling Manuscripts, Texts and Images, eds. B. Dekeyzer and J. Van der Stock, 2005, pp. 325-334). Bethleem was founded as an Augustinian Priory in 1407 and was incorporated into the Windesheim Congregation in 1412; the brothers promoted an active academic culture, founded in devotion to book learning and manufacture, with strong links to Leuven’s university. (2) Artcurial, 13 May 2014, lot 44. Content: Temporal, from the first Sunday of Advent ff.1-115; Sanctoral, opening with the feast of St Andrew ff.116-149; Common of the Saints ff.150-169; Office of the Conception of the Virgin Mary ff.170-171. A liturgical book related to the breviary, the nocturnal contains the night office, or Matins, only; it is the, much rarer, counterpart of the diurnal, which gives the office for the hours of the day.