Beschreibung:

PSALTER, in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [Catalonia, ?Tarragona, early 15th century] 75 x 58mm, 349 leaves, collation: 1 12 , 2 9 (of 10, lacking x), 3-5 10 , 6 9 (of 10, lacking x), 7-8 10 , 9 9 (of 10, lacking x), 10-11 10 , 12 9 (of 10, lacking ix), 13-14 10 , 15 9 (of 10, lacking ix), 16-18 10 , 19 9 (of 10, lacking viii), 20-22 10 , 23 9 (of 10, lacking v), 24-26 10 , 27 6 (of 10, lacking iv-vii), 28-35 10 , 36 8 , with horizontal catchwords at the end of each gathering, 14 lines, justification: 50 x 32mm, written in black ink in a semi-humanistic bookhand, calendar and table ruled in red, rubrics to the calendar in blue and dark pink, rubrics to the psalms in dark pink and those marking the liturgical divisions in green, versal initials alternately red and blue with flourishing of blue and lilac, two-line initials of burnished gold with grounds and infills of blue and dark pink with white pen-work decoration opening the psalms and the months of the calendar (first folio of calendar discoloured, gatherings 1 and 12 loose). Old sheep over early wooden boards, spine with three raised bands (worn, pastedowns lifted). CONTENTS: ff.1-12, Calendar; ff.13-341, Liturgical Psalter, lacking the openings of each of the eight divisions, at Pss 1, 26, 38, 52, 68, 80, 97 and 109; ff.342-349, table for 1401 to 1495 for calculating the day of Christmas, the moon, Lent, Easter and other moveable feasts. The calendar includes many saints venerated in north-east Spain, including Eulalia of Barcelona, Engrazia of Zaragossa and Quiteria of Tarragona, and the presence of the feast of St Tecla on the 23 September suggests that the manuscript was made for use in Tarragona. The style of both the script and the illuminated and flourish initials shows influence from French and Italian manuscripts; this was a feature of Catalan manuscript production in the early part of the fifteenth century.