Beschreibung:

BREVIARY, use of Rome, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [central or southern Italy, perhaps Rome, 3rd quarter 15th century] A Breviary made for the use of the Augustinian Canons of Santa Maria a Mare on the island of San Nicola; the Lateran Canons oversaw the renewal of the island as a religious centre in the 15 th century after the pirate attacks of the 14 th century. 138 x 92mm. ii + 510 + ii leaves, text complete. Two columns, 29 lines, ruled space: 90 x 65mm, catchwords, rubrics in red, red and blue initials throughout with contrasting penwork flourishing, 11 decorated initials on gold grounds with scrolling acanthus sprays, four of these with three-sided acanthus bar borders, two of these borders with a blank space for a coat of arms (one erased, one added later). Early 19th-century Italian vellum over pasteboards, covers and spine panelled in gilt, edges gilt and gauffered (edges a little worn and bumped, spine creased at centre). Provenance : (1) Originally made for use by the Augustinian Canons of Santa Maria a Mare on the island of San Nicola, part of the Tremiti archipelago lying off the coast of the Gargano; the dedication of ‘ecclie. s. me tremitane’ appears in red in the calendar (7 February), as do the feasts of St Augustine, and his mother, St Monica (4 May). In 1412, a small community of regular canons came to San Nicola from San Frediano in Lucca on the direct orders of Gregory XII, after the ancient religious centre – where an abbey had existed since the 9th century, founded by a community of Benedictine monks from Montecassino – was decimated by pirate activity in the 14th century. (2) The unfinished coat of arms added later to the border of f.224 could be that of the Chigi family of Rome. (3) The early 19th-century Italian binding bears the lettering on the spine ‘BREVIARIO ANTICO TROVATO IN POMPEIA’ – at this point, the breviary can be located with certainty on the mainland, having travelled south to Pompeii. (4) Thomas F. Richardson (1796-1872; Boston merchant); his armorial bookplate on inner upper cover. (5) Reverend Herbert George Morse (rector of Littleham, North Devon, 1878-1901, and antiquary); his 19th-century armorial bookplate on f.i. Content : ruled blank, f.1; Calendar, ff.2-7; Temporal, use of Rome, from the first Saturday in Advent until the twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost ff.8-192; readings for August to November, ff.192v-211; general rubrics, ff.211v-214; Parisian table of antiphons, ff.214-217; further rubrics, ff.217-223; Ferial Psalter, ff.224-300; added prayer, f.300v; blank, f.301; Sanctoral, from Saturninus to Katherine, ff.302-470; ruled blank, f.471; Common of Saints, ff.472-495; Office of the Virgin, ff.495v-500; Office of the Dead, ff.500v-508; The Order of Grace (blessing for meals), ff.508v-510. The style of the decorated initials on gold grounds and scrolling acanthus borders may point to Rome or Naples as a place of production.