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CEREMONIAL, for use of the Augustinian nuns of S. Monaca in Florence, in Latin and Italian. ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM. [Florence], 22 April 1543. 200 x 130 mm. i+44+ii leaves: 1-5 8 6 4, COMPLETE. Early foliation in arabic numerals in upper right corners of rectos; modern pencilled foliation (used here) includes front flyleaf. 16 lines written in red and black ink in humanistic bookhand between two vertical lines and 32 horizontal lines ruled in lead, justification: 125 x 75 mm. 17 pages with one to five musical staves of four red lines with square black neumes. Numerous one and two-line initials in liquid gold on square grounds of blue, green or red, the two-line initials with liquid gold tracery filling the ground, two initials with partial borders consisting of classical sprays of foliage and buds surrounded by liquid gold disks, f. 2r with a similar three-sided border incorporating a roundel with a small miniature of St. Monica, small picture of St. Monica by a different hand on f. 44r, three-quarter page drawing of St. Augustine with miter, crozier and book on f. 40r, full-page frontispiece miniature on verso of front flyleaf depicting four nuns kneeling before St. Monica seated on a throne and holding a book and scroll of profession. (Scaling of ink on a few flesh sides with occasional early retracing of letters, minor smudges to two or three initials, a few tiny losses to frontispiece miniature, small abrasion to f. 17v, slight offset from turn-ins of binding to blank first and last leaves.) Binding : 16th-century Italian brown goatskin tooled to a double frame with blind fillets and two gilt rolls, the central compartment with quarter-circle ornamental gilt cornerpieces, each cover with a central YHS medallion surrounded by knot-work and flanked by the initials S and F, gilt edges (minor wear to extremities, discreet repairs to head and tail of spine, evidence of four clasps now removed). Provenance : written and illuminated by Bernardino Spina of Perugia and completed on 22 April 1543: colophon, f. 40r ( Finisce questo libro scritto et miniato per mano di me Maestro Bernardino Spina da Perugia. Anno domini M.ccccc.xliij. die xxij. aprilis ) -- Florence, nuns of S. Monaca of the order of Augustinian Hermits: title, f. 2r -- initials "SF" stamped on binding, perhaps a later addition -- "Ex Bibliotheca Soesst(?)": 18th-century engraved armorial bookplate -- Edward Davenport: bookplate -- W. Bromley-Davenport: sale, London, 10 May 1907, lot 242 -- [Sotheby's London, 14 April 1924, lot 168, to Mme. Belin] -- [Belin, cat. 367 (15 May 1927) no. 242] -- Mortimer L. Schiff, by descent to -- John M. Schiff: DeRicci, p. 1817 -- "HP": collector's red inkstamp on flyleaf -- [Hauswedell & Nolte, 26 May 1972, lot 1720] Contents : frontispiece (f. 1v, 1r blank); rite for the clothing and reception of a nun: Ordo inducendi moniales divae Monicae Florentiae ordinis heremitarum sancti Augustini (ff. 2r-10v); rite for the consecration of a virgin: Modus consecrandi moniales divae Monicae Florentiae ordinis Eremitarum sancti Augustini (ff. 10v-35v); rite for the installation of an abbess: Ordo ad confirmandum abbatissam (ff. 36r-40r); short rite of profession, perhaps for lay sisters, with liturgical texts in Latin and rubrics in Italian, in another hand (ff. 40v-44r, 44v-45v blank). The convent of Augustinian Hermitesses of S. Monaca in Florence was founded in 1442 and suppressed in 1808. During the early part of its history, the convent was under the protection of S. Spirito, the neighboring monastery of Augustinian hermits, who relinquished this responsibility to the archbishop of Florence in 1602. The convent flourished throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, numbering 112 sisters in 1562. In 1623 its high standard of observance was praised by Suor Maria Celeste, Poor Clare of San Matteo in Arcetri and Galileo's daughter (Dava Sobel, Galileo's Daughter , New York 1999, p. 130). The present manuscript, containing the ri