![BIBLE, with Prologues ascribed to St Jerome, in Latin, decorated manuscript on vellum [perhaps southern France, c.1240]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2018/CKS/2018_CKS_16018_0044_002(bible_with_prologues_ascribed_to_st_jerome_in_latin_decorated_manuscri053907).jpg?w=1)
![BIBLE, with Prologues ascribed to St Jerome, in Latin, decorated manuscript on vellum [perhaps southern France, c.1240]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2018/CKS/2018_CKS_16018_0044_001(bible_with_prologues_ascribed_to_st_jerome_in_latin_decorated_manuscri053907).jpg?w=1)
![BIBLE, with Prologues ascribed to St Jerome, in Latin, decorated manuscript on vellum [perhaps southern France, c.1240]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2018/CKS/2018_CKS_16018_0044_000(bible_with_prologues_ascribed_to_st_jerome_in_latin_decorated_manuscri053907).jpg?w=1)
Details
BIBLE, with Prologues ascribed to St Jerome, in Latin, decorated manuscript on vellum [perhaps southern France, c.1240]
A bibliophile’s Bible, likely written in southern France in a fine gothic script and with wide margins; a fascinating case-study in how such Bible manuscripts were made and decorated.
231 x 148mm. i + 443 leaves, complete, preserving catchwords, prickings often visible, text block: 136 x 82mm, two columns of 50 or 55 lines per page, textual corrections throughout in contemporary and later medieval hands, some contemporary chapter initials and numbers in red or blue letters, a few with contemporary pen-flourishing in the opposite colour, other chapter, versal or book initials supplied in 15th-century German hand (first and last folios somewhat darkened, faint dampstain to lower blank margins throughout with occasional small losses to outer blank margins, last leaf rehinged, last 5 leaves with several small wormholes obscuring a few letters on final folio). Early 19th-century sheep over pasteboard, probably for Leander van Ess (some wear). Modern box.
Provenance: The style of the earliest decorated initials suggest an origin in southern France – Leander van Ess [Johann Heinrich van Ess] (1772-1847; theologian, German translator of the New Testament, and book collector), his printed collection number ‘61’ inside the upper cover [cf. Sammlung und Verzeichniss Handscriftlicher Bücher … (1823), no. 61] – Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872; antiquary and bibliophile), his no. 446 inscribed on f.1r; his sale, Sotheby’s, 6 June 1910, lot 105, bought for £18 by – James Tregaskis (1850-1926; bookseller) – G.H. Tolson, sold as his property at Sotheby’s, 11 July 1960, lot 114, bought for £180 by – Alan G. Thomas, his price code inscribed in pencil on f.iv; his catalogue 7 (1961), no. 5 [pasted clipping inside upper cover] and catalogue 13 (1963), no. 41 – Christie’s, 3 June 1998, lot 15, bought by – Heritage Bookshop, Los Angeles, catalogue no. 26 (1999) – Bruce Ferrini and Les Enluminures, Important Illuminated Manuscripts (2000), no. 3.
Content: Bible with Prologues ascribed to St Jerome, ff.1-443.
The selection and order of books and prologues conforms to that of the standard Vulgate Bible developed in the schools of Paris during the 13th century, while some variation may be recorded in the chapter divisions, which deviate slightly from the standard framework attributed to Stephen Langton. The commonly-included appendix of proper nouns in the Bible, known as the Interpretations of Hebrew Names, is not included in the present manuscript: it seems likely that it was never present.
Soon after the text was written, probably by a single scribe, the rubrics that identify the openings of prologues and books were executed in red ink. In addition, a few bifolia, scattered throughout the volume, passed to the next stage of decoration and received two-line chapter initials, usually in blue, and also chapter numbers in roman numerals consisting of alternating red and blue letters; a few of the blue chapter initials were also supplied with red pen-flourishing. At this point, the decoration of the manuscript was left incomplete: the majority of chapter initials and numbers, all the versal initials in the Psalms, and all the book initials were left blank. At a subsequent date, it seems that a few in-text rubrics that had been overlooked previously were inserted, along with the majority of the chapter numbers, usually in the margins. Finally, in the 15th century, the running titles were supplied in a German hand for all books except the Psalter, as well as further missing initials, most notably the large initials marking the openings of books.
A bibliophile’s Bible, likely written in southern France in a fine gothic script and with wide margins; a fascinating case-study in how such Bible manuscripts were made and decorated.
231 x 148mm. i + 443 leaves, complete, preserving catchwords, prickings often visible, text block: 136 x 82mm, two columns of 50 or 55 lines per page, textual corrections throughout in contemporary and later medieval hands, some contemporary chapter initials and numbers in red or blue letters, a few with contemporary pen-flourishing in the opposite colour, other chapter, versal or book initials supplied in 15th-century German hand (first and last folios somewhat darkened, faint dampstain to lower blank margins throughout with occasional small losses to outer blank margins, last leaf rehinged, last 5 leaves with several small wormholes obscuring a few letters on final folio). Early 19th-century sheep over pasteboard, probably for Leander van Ess (some wear). Modern box.
Provenance: The style of the earliest decorated initials suggest an origin in southern France – Leander van Ess [Johann Heinrich van Ess] (1772-1847; theologian, German translator of the New Testament, and book collector), his printed collection number ‘61’ inside the upper cover [cf. Sammlung und Verzeichniss Handscriftlicher Bücher … (1823), no. 61] – Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872; antiquary and bibliophile), his no. 446 inscribed on f.1r; his sale, Sotheby’s, 6 June 1910, lot 105, bought for £18 by – James Tregaskis (1850-1926; bookseller) – G.H. Tolson, sold as his property at Sotheby’s, 11 July 1960, lot 114, bought for £180 by – Alan G. Thomas, his price code inscribed in pencil on f.iv; his catalogue 7 (1961), no. 5 [pasted clipping inside upper cover] and catalogue 13 (1963), no. 41 – Christie’s, 3 June 1998, lot 15, bought by – Heritage Bookshop, Los Angeles, catalogue no. 26 (1999) – Bruce Ferrini and Les Enluminures, Important Illuminated Manuscripts (2000), no. 3.
Content: Bible with Prologues ascribed to St Jerome, ff.1-443.
The selection and order of books and prologues conforms to that of the standard Vulgate Bible developed in the schools of Paris during the 13th century, while some variation may be recorded in the chapter divisions, which deviate slightly from the standard framework attributed to Stephen Langton. The commonly-included appendix of proper nouns in the Bible, known as the Interpretations of Hebrew Names, is not included in the present manuscript: it seems likely that it was never present.
Soon after the text was written, probably by a single scribe, the rubrics that identify the openings of prologues and books were executed in red ink. In addition, a few bifolia, scattered throughout the volume, passed to the next stage of decoration and received two-line chapter initials, usually in blue, and also chapter numbers in roman numerals consisting of alternating red and blue letters; a few of the blue chapter initials were also supplied with red pen-flourishing. At this point, the decoration of the manuscript was left incomplete: the majority of chapter initials and numbers, all the versal initials in the Psalms, and all the book initials were left blank. At a subsequent date, it seems that a few in-text rubrics that had been overlooked previously were inserted, along with the majority of the chapter numbers, usually in the margins. Finally, in the 15th century, the running titles were supplied in a German hand for all books except the Psalter, as well as further missing initials, most notably the large initials marking the openings of books.
Special notice
No VAT on hammer price or buyer's premium.
Brought to you by
Robert Tyrwhitt