Beschreibung:

AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO, Confessiones , and eleven homilies from HUGH OF ST-VICTOR, In Salomonis Ecclesiasten , in Latin, decorated manuscript on vellum [probably Italy, mid-12th century] Perhaps the earliest manuscript copy in private hands of one the supreme texts of Christianity, the Confessiones of St Augustine, bound with one of the earliest exemplars of Hugh of St-Victor's In Salomonis Ecclesiasten , written during the theologian's own lifetime . 310 x 218mm. 104 leaves, complete, modern foliation 1-104 in pencil followed here, 39-40 lines in two columns, ruled space: 267 x 170mm, rubrics in red, nineteen large ornate initials in red with penwork tracery and flourishes, small number of medieval corrections (medieval repair to ff.16 and 78, marginal staining and discolouration to first leaf, occasional small stains, trimmed, with ff.37 and 83 folded in and showing original extent of outer margin). Modern red leather over wooden boards. Provenance : Produced in a monastic scriptorium (probably Cistercian) in Italy in the mid-twelfth century: partially erased inscription in lower margin of f.1 'Venerabilis conventus syon [...]' — Guglielmo Libri (1803-69): his sale, Sotheby's, 28 March 1859, lot 105, to Henry Stevens of Vermont (1845-86); slipped by Stevens into his sale of the library of Edward A. Crowninshield of Boston, Puttick and Simpson, 12 July 1860, lot 252, to Willis for £2,7s — Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872): his MS.16066, acquired from Willis in 1861; his sale, Sotheby's, 15 June 1908, lot 43 — Joseph Pope (1921-2010), investment banker, collector and owner of the famed Bergendal collection. Bergendal MS.31 (once bound with sister codex, Bergendal MS.86); bought by Pope from John Fleming of New York in November 1982: Bergendal catalogue no 31; W.P. Stoneman, 'A Summary Guide to the Medieval and Later Manuscripts in the Bergendal Collection, Toronto', A Distinct Voice, Medieval Studies in Honour of Leonard E. Boyle , 1997, p.179; his sale, Sotheby's, 5 July 2011, lot 40. Content : Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Confessiones , ff.1-75; Hugh of St-Victor (1096-1141), In Salomonis Ecclesiasten , ff.75-104. St Augustine's conversion to Christianity is memorably recounted in his Confessiones . Probably written after his appointment in 395 as Bishop of Hippo in north Africa, his spiritual autobiography was, and is, enormously influential. But it is not only a moving account of a spiritual conversion; it is also a text that is valued for its vivid anecdotes of life in late antiquity in North Africa, and as an autobiography distinguished by its unparalleled insights into human psychology. It provided a model for Christian writers throughout the Middle Ages and represents one of the cornerstones of Western philosophical thought. The Confessiones are followed here by the first eleven homilies of the In Salomonis Ecclesiasten of Hugh of St-Victor, the most important theologian of the twelfth century. Widely accepted as his last major work, it furnishes a synthesis of his theological outlook late in life. This is a very early copy, probably made within the lifetime of the author. Comparison to the text printed by Migne ( Patrologia Latina 175, col. 113-256) reveals no significant differences, though several of his homiletic divisions (homilies 3-9, 11) are not distinct here, but are copied as continuous texts. The present manuscript is not listed in Stegmüller ( Repertorium Biblicum Medii Aevi , vol. 3, no 3812). Only three other copies have been on the market in the last century.