Beschreibung:

POCKET-GRADUAL, in Latin, DECORATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
POCKET-GRADUAL, in Latin, DECORATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [western Germany, c.1300] 122 x 84mm. 323 + 17 leaves, contemporary foliation to cc.iii, LARGE PUZZLE INITIALS IN RED AND BLUE extensively flourished in both colours with floral infills and segmented borders, calligraphic initials in black and red, some with faces, contemporary inserted slips with alternate musical notation (lacking 3 leaves at beginning, text block loosely sewn in binding, some leaves folded in at margins to prevent cropping of additions). 19th-century black shagreen (scuffed). PROVENANCE: The style of the extensive flourishing places the book to around 1300 in western Germany, while the additions can be dated to around 1325. The feast of Corpus Christi was first promulgated in 1264 but was only gradually adopted in Germany during the first decades of the 14th century. The addition, in a margin, for the feast of St Ulric of Augsburg suggests that although the manuscript originated in western Germany it was not in Augsburg itself. The original inclusion of the masses for Sts Dominic and Peter Martyr and the addition of the mass for Thomas Aquinas, canonised in 1323, indicate that the volume was to be used during the mass, probably in a Dominican convent; a 17th-century inscription on f.1: 'adnumeror biliothecae Joannis Jacobi Pillmann'; 'Bibl. Brunner Sept. 1847' in the same hand as 'A Himly', Auguste Louis Himly (1823-1906): a leading expert in Carolinigian history; lot 113 in the sale of his library Bibliothèque de feu M. A. Himly , by Georges Andrieux, Paris, 11 June 1928. CONTENT: Temporal ff.1-203v; Sanctoral ff.204-257; Common and seasonal variants ff.257-323; added chants for Corpus Christi, Visitation, Thomas Aquinas, Kyrie & Gloria ff.324-340. A FUNCTIONAL AND ATTRACTIVELY DECORATED PORTABLE GRADUAL, where even the additions were carefully embellished with grotesque heads to some of the initials. Visit www.christies.com for further information and images.