Beschreibung:

BIBLE, with Prologues and Interpretations of Hebrew Names, in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [France, probably Paris, mid-13th century
BIBLE, with Prologues and Interpretations of Hebrew Names, in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [France, probably Paris, mid-13th century] 155 x 105mm. iv + 669 + iv leaves, COMPLETE , catchwords and notes of correction throughout, original leaf signatures frequently survive, modern gathering numbers on first rectos mistakenly jump from 19 to 30 without loss of text, ruled space: 100 x 70 mm. EIGHTY-SIX HISTORIATED INITIALS AND NINETY-NINE OTHER ILLUMINATED INITIALS (a few medieval and later repairs). 19th-century brown leather with gilt spine title, white metal clasps, the upper one depicting Moses, Tables of the Law, and Torah scrolls, engraved with the initials ‘ SATY ’ in monogram; the lower one with Christ, Arma Christi , and a chalice, and ' ACW ’ in monogram. PROVENANCE : (1) AUGUSTUS FREDERICK, DUKE OF SUSSEX (1773-1843), son of King George III ( Bibliotheca Sussexiana catalogue, 1837, I, p.lxxiii no 9): his bookplate; auctioned after his death by Evans, London. (2) WYLMOT MARSHE: 1844 ownership inscription (see Bodleian, MS. Montagu e. 9). (3) WILLIAM STUART (1825-93): Tempsford Hall book-label and Aldenham Abbey bookplate. (4) SAMUEL ASHTON THOMPSON YATES , initials on binding clasp: 1894 bookplate. CONTENT : Bible with Prologues ff.1-416; Interpretations of Hebrew Names ff.417-469. The selection and sequence of books and prologues is almost exactly the same as the standard Paris Bible, except for a few variant and extra prologues, and the absence of Laodiceans; the Psalms have tituli ; a bifolium is bound back-to-front with parts of Joel, Amos, Abdias, and Jonah, but 13th-century marginal notes about the correct sequence of the leaves show that this mis-binding is original. ILLUMINATION : There is a historiated initial for each book of the Bible, for each of the eight major divisions of the psalms, and for some of the prologues; their iconography is typical for such Bibles; and an illuminated foliate initial for the other prologues and for each letter of the alphabet in the Interpretations of the Hebrew Names. The quintessential 13th-century illuminated manuscripts are Paris Bibles, of which this is a fine and complete example. The standard study of Paris illumination during the heyday of such books is still R. Branner, Manuscript Painting in Paris During the Reign of Saint Louis , 1977, now supplemented by R.H. and M.A. Rouse , Manuscripts and their Makers , 2000, which supplies the names of scores of men and women involved in the Paris book-trade. The historiated and highly miniaturised initials contain typically tiny figures, making artistic attribution challenging, but it appears that the illumination can be attributed to the Mathurin Atelier (on which see Branner, pp.78-82, 214-5).