Recent Acqusitions

2010

[ARISTOTLE.] COMMENTARY ON THE ‘DE SENSU ET SENSATO’, in Latin; a small fragment from a bifolium, each leaf written in double columns in a cursive anglicana script, remains of 16/17 lines, brown ink, outer boundaries of columns ruled with ink; defective from use in a binding but what survives is entirely legible. [73 x 335 mm]. England , first half of 15th century. From a university textbook. The manuscript frequently cites the Philosopher (Aristotle) and ‘sensus et sensibilis’ (the little treatise of Aristotle is sometimes called De sensu et sensibili ). Besides sensation the fragment mentions motion, form, intellect, and odour. In process; check SearchWorks for availability. http://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/8657985

BIBLE, in Latin, 2 Kings 21,13–24,16; a complete leaf, double columns of 60 lines, ruled with plummet, gothic script, dark brown ink, headlines and chapter numbers in alternate red and blue letters; in very good condition. 275 x 203 mm (197 x 112 mm). England , second quarter of 13th century. In process; check SearchWorks for availability. http://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/8657992

BIBLE, in Latin, 2 Chronicles 4,12–6, 37; a complete leaf, double columns of 50 lines, ruled lightly with plummet, written in dark brown ink in a regular gothic hand, capitals touched in yellow, chapter numbers and running titles in alternately red and blue letters; TWO 3- LINE ILLUMINATED INITIALS, one (‘P’) enclosing a spiralling blue and orange ivyleaf design on a burnished gold ground, the other (‘T’) enclosing a tessellated design in blue, pink and burnished gold, both initials with full-length branching ivyleaf bar borders in shades of blue, pink and orange and burnished gold extending into upper and lower margins; the burnished gold fractionally rubbed, but in almost perfect condition. 404 x 270 mm (289 x 183 mm). Northern France or southern Flanders, early 14th century. From a grand lectern Bible with border decoration of high quality. The parent manuscript was bequeathed to a Dominican convent in 1450 by one Mirmellus Arnandi, lawyer and judge. The manuscript was doubtless used on a lectern: the opening of Leviticus was marked up ‘In refectorio’. Subsequently in the possession of Otto F. Ege of Cleveland, Ohio. Single leaves from the same manuscript appeared at various auction sales including Sotheby’s New York, 9 April 1980, lot 227, and Sotheby’s London, 25 April 1983, lot 83. The major bulk of the volume was lot 39 in Sotheby’s sale of 11 December 1984. In process; check SearchWorks for availability. http://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/8658005

BIBLE, in Latin, Interpretation of Hebrew Names, the end of the letter ‘S’ and beginning of ‘T’; a complete leaf, written in 3 columns in a good quality gothic script, brown ink, 46 lines, lightly ruled with brown ink, on the recto a large 5-line illuminated initial letter ‘T’ in pink, orange and blue against a burnished gold ground, with a full-length bar border ending in ivyleaf finials, on the verso two smaller initial letters ‘T’ with bar borders, numerous small initials alternately in blue and gold, ornamental line-fillers, two very finely drawn calligraphic sketches extending from letters in the top line on the recto and incorporating small faces, some staining and wear but an attractive and richly decorated leaf. 288 x 198 mm (182 x 121 mm). Paris , c. 1330. From an important Bible once in the medieval library of St. Albans Abbey; formerly in the collection of E. H. Dring and E. M. Dring. The manuscript was produced by a distinguished Parisian workshop of the Pucelle circle possibly for Richard de Bury, author of Philobiblon, and it was almost certainly given to St. Albans Abbey by Michael de Mentmore who died of the Black Death in 1349. For an account of the manuscript and its history see the article by C. de Hamel in C. de Hamel and R. A. Linenthal (eds.), Fine books and book collecting, books and manuscripts acquired from Alan G. Thomas ..., 1981, pp. 10–12. The Bible was preserved in its sixteenth-century St. Albans binding until shortly after 1964 when it passed through a sale at Sotheby’s only partially described. It was then imperfect and many leaves were lacking their illumination which probably had been clipped away in the nineteenth century. The present leaf was probably removed from the manuscript at the same time and was subsequently in the collection formed by E. H. Dring (1864– 1928), subsequently owned by E. M. Dring (1906–1990), and dispersed by Quaritch (see Catalogue 1036, Bookhands of the Middle Ages Part I, 1984, no. 76). It has the late sixteenth- or early seventeenth-century English inscription ‘written hand’ in the lower margin of the recto, further evidence of its early English provenance. In process; check SearchWorks for availability. http://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/8658014

BOOK OF HOURS [HUNGERFORD HOURS], in Latin and French, folio 8 containing Anglo-French prayers, ‘Ne vont pur rien li dreit’ and ‘Forment esteient’; a complete leaf, single columns of 17 lines written in brown ink in a good formal gothic script, ruled with ink, richly decorated with four 2-line initials with leafy designs and border extensions in red, pink, blue, green and burnished gold, smaller initials in blue or gold with very fine penwork, elaborate ornamental line-fillers; top margin trimmed and the outer edge stained from damp. 165 x 105 mm (123 x 70 mm). England ( East Anglia), c. 1330. From the Hungerford Hours, an important and early East Anglian Book of Hours. The publication of the Calendar from this manuscript by Janet Backhouse in the Alan Thomas Festschrift in 1981 first brought the Hungerford Hours to the attention of the scholarly world, and since then it has been more fully studied by M. A. Michael. The manuscript seems to have belonged to Robert, Lord Hungerford (d. 1459, buried in Salisbury Cathedral) and his wife Margaret Botreaux (d. 1478). It is one of very few English Books of Hours to have survived from the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. The decoration points to an East Anglian workshop and, in contrast to later continental Books of Hours, the text is important for containing personalized material, witness the present leaf containing vernacular Anglo-French prayers. See J. Backhouse, ‘An English Calendar circa 1330’, in Fine books and book collecting: books and manuscripts acquired from Alan G. Thomas and described by his customers on the occasion of his seventieth birthday , ed. C. de Hamel and R. A. Linenthal, 1981, pp. 8–10. The calendar and one miniature from the Hungerford Hours are in the British Library (Add. MS. 61877 and 62106). See also M. A. Michael, ‘Destruction, reconstruction and invention: the Hungerford Hours and English manuscript illumination of the early fourteenth century’, in P. Beal and J. Griffiths (eds.), English manuscript studies 1100–1700, vol. 2, Oxford, 1990, pp. 33–108. The present leaf is cited in Appendix 1, folio 8, and is illustrated as plate 13. In process; check SearchWorks for availability. http://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/8658021

CALENDAR, from a liturgical text, the month of January; a complete leaf, a single column of 32 lines, text on recto and verso, gothic liturgical script in dark brown and red ink, the text begins with calligraphic letters ‘KL’, some textual additions in several different hands as well as nineteenth-century notes on the text in red ink; stained and worn from use in a binding but entirely legible. 237 x 169 mm (200 x 120 mm). Germany , c. 1400. Among the feast days for January two obits have been inserted by a contemporary hand. The first states, following the obit symbol, that Nicholas the parish priest (‘plebanus’) left a legacy of ten solidi under a pledge/pawn. The second indicates that another Nicholas, the treasurer (‘sacellarius’) and his legal wife made a bequest to the parish priest under a pledge/pawn. In process; check SearchWorks for availability. http://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/8658027

GREGORY THE GREAT, Pope and Saint. Moralia in Iob, part of Book 4 (Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 75, cols. 710–12); a nearly complete leaf written in a good gothic script in double columns of 40 lines, brown ink, ruled lightly with plummet, headlines, paragraph marks and opening passages underlined in red; recovered from use in a binding, split horizontally and mended with minor loss of text, otherwise in good condition. [264 x 185 mm (194 x 142 mm)]. France , 14th century. One of the greatest works of biblical exegesis, Gregory the Great’s Moralia was a series of lectures on the Book of Job. The author expounded the text in a threefold manner: the historical, typological and moral meanings. His preference was for the last of the three, and he considered the commentary primarily a discussion of moral theology and its practical application. It became one of the principal theological textbooks of the Middle Ages and survives in many manuscripts. In process; check SearchWorks for availability. http://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/8658031

HUGH OF ST-CHER. Postillae in universa biblia, parts of the commentary on Book of Proverbs 22–23 and 27 (edn. N. Pezzana, Venice, 1703, vol. 3 ff. 50–52, 58–60); the greater part of 3 bifolia, double columns of 55 lines, ruled with plummet, written in black ink in an accomplished gothic bookhand, initials and chapter numbers in red and blue, passages commented on underlined in red; preserved as both pastedowns and one flyleaf in a copy of Livy, Decades, Basel, Froben, 1535 (folio, pp. 244, 243, [1, blank], 211, [1, blank], 91, [136]; bound in contemporary blindstamped calf with remains of clasps; worn, spine missing, covers detached; in a cloth box); trimmed with loss of part of one column of each bifolium, lightly soiled, a few pen trials and an old inscription in Dutch, but in good condition and entirely legible. A leaf measures approximately [250 x 205 mm (232 x 153 mm)]. France (probably Paris), second quarter of 13th century. Six leaves from a very early manuscript of Hugh of St-Cher’s commentary on the Book of Proverbs. One of the great university textbooks of the Middle Ages, Hugh of St-Cher’s monumental Postillae in universa biblia was composed c. 1230–36, probably with the aid of a team of assistants. Manuscripts of his commentaries on single books of the Bible are much more common than volumes of the entire vast work; it is likely (probably all the more so given its early date) that the parent manuscript of these leaves comprised the commentary on the Book of Proverbs only. There is no modern critical edition of the Postillae. The Dominican Hugh of St-Cher (c. 1190–1263) was one of the most distinguished biblical commentators of the Middle Ages. He invented the postilla, a biblical commentary running parallel to the biblical text as continuous prose. The present leaves are thus early witnesses of a new type of textual organization. The passages here cover a range of topics including banquets, fortune-tellers and interpreters of dreams, quarrelsome wives, friendship and suicide. Augustine, Jerome and Bede are cited. The copy of Livy of which the present leaves form the pastedowns and one flyleaf is annotated in at least two sixteenth-century hands, the later of which is an extremely elegant English hand. The volume was once in the library of the earls of Shaftesbury (shelfmark on paper flyleaf). In process; check SearchWorks for availability. http://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/8658039

IBN AL-JAZZAR. Viaticum, in Latin, Book VII, chapters 2–3 and 15–20 (Constantini Africani ... opera, Basel, 1536, pp. 142– 145, 158–162); a complete bifolium (leaves not consecutive), single columns of 47 lines written in a small gothic script, brown ink, ruled with plummet, initials and paragraph marks in blue and red, rubrics; one side worn from use in covering a binding, the other side generally in good condition; cloth folder. 246 x 165 mm (174 x 95 mm) Italy , early 14th century. One of the earliest Arab medical texts to be introduced to the West. The author was a practising physician in Kairouan, Tunis, and died in 1009 over 80 years of age. The Viaticum (literally the ‘traveller’s provision’) was his most important work and was translated not only into Latin, but also Greek and Hebrew. In its Latin version it became one of the most influential medical handbooks in medieval Europe. ‘It contains remarkable descriptions of smallpox and measles’ (G. Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science , vol. I, Baltimore, 1927, p. 682). Constantinus Africanus was the first great translator from Arabic into Latin. He was born at Carthage at the beginning of the eleventh century. He travelled for many years through the East until he finally settled in Monte Cassino and died there in 1087. He was fundamental in the introduction of Arab medicine at the medical school of Salerno, where he stayed for several years. ‘As distinguished from the many cathedral schools whose purpose was to teach the liberal arts and to educate clerks, Salerno was a scientific or professional school, the first of its kind in Christian Europe. It is impossible to determine exactly its beginning; in all probability it had no definite beginning, but grew and imperceptibly became a famous medical center ... Intellectual and political conditions combined to make of Salerno an excellent clearinghouse of medical ideas. Barbarian, Latin, Greek, Jewish, and Muslim influences were naturally and gradually syncretized and produced the first medical school of Europe. At the beginning, Muslim influences were accidental and limited, but later they were considerably increased by the activity of Constantine the African’ (Sarton, I p. 725). ‘His arrival in Salerno marked the beginning of what historians have labelled “the golden age” of its famous medical school. It is [in Italy] that he is said to have become acquainted with the reigning prince’s brother, who was a doctor. His experiences made him realise the poverty of medical literature in Latin, and he returned to study medicine for three years in Tunisia; then, having collected together several treatises on Arab medicine, he departed, with his precious treasure, for southern Italy ... It is not yet possible to establish the exact date of these events. But it is certain that he translated into Latin the best works on Arab medicine which had appeared up to the 5th/11th century ... Constantine’s work infused new life into the medical school of Salerno, and indeed into the teaching of medicine in Europe for centuries to come’ (Encyclopedia of Islam). From the Rosenthal collection. In process; check SearchWorks for availability. http://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/8658048

JACOBUS DE VORAGINE, Archbishop of Genoa. Legenda aurea, portions of chs. 26–27 (ed. Th. Graesse, repr. Osnabrück 1969, pp. 123–5); an almost complete leaf, double columns of 42 lines written in a gothic script in dark brown ink, ruled lightly with ink, capital strokes in red, large initial ‘J’ (Johannes elemosinarius) in red and green; recovered from a binding and with consequent wear and staining, recto partially obscured by paper adhesions, small loss at fore-edge (affecting text); bound in modern boards. [370 x 218 mm (302 x 200 mm)]. Germany or Low Countries, second half of 13th century. From a large and early manuscript of Jacobus de Voragine’s celebrated Legenda aurea or Golden legend, one of the most popular books of the Middle Ages. Compiled around 1260 and originally entitled Legenda sanctorum, the work is a collection of the legendary lives of the greater saints of the medieval church. The present leaf contains parts of the lives of Saints Basil and John the Almsgiver. In process; check SearchWorks for availability. http://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/8658058

JACOBUS DE VORAGINE, Archbishop of Genoa. Legenda aurea, portions of chs. 99–100, 107–108, 112–113, 117 and 119 (ed. Th. Graesse, repr. Osnabrück 1969, pp. 428–31, 450–2, 465–8, 474–7, 489–92 and 511–14); 3 complete bifolia, double columns of 35 lines written in a gothic script in dark brown ink and with much use of abbreviation, capital strokes in red, one 2-line and two 3-line initials in red, one 2-line and two 3-line initials in (faded) green, headlines in alternating red and (faded) green letters; recovered from use as archival wrappers (‘Rapular’ inscribed in lower margins of two leaves) and consequently very faded in parts and a little soiled or stained, but otherwise in good condition. 330 x 225 mm (240 x 140 mm). Probably Germany, first half of 14th century. Six leaves from another early manuscript of the Legenda aurea. From the Rosenthal collection. http://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/8658063

LANGTON, Stephen. The Interpretation of Hebrew Names, entries Mesraym – Odura arranged in alphabetical order; a complete bifolium of consecutive leaves (continuous text) written in triple columns of 53 lines, ruled with plummet, gothic script, dark brown ink, red or blue initial letters for each entry, capitals touched with red, rubrics and line-fillers; a natural vellum flaw on the second leaf, some minor soiling but in excellent condition. 281 x 191 mm (186 x 120 mm). Northeastern France , c. 1230. A bifolium from the alphabetical dictionary of Hebrew names which became by the third decade of the thirteenth century a regular apparatus added to most copies of the Bible. Although once assumed to be the work of Remigius of Auxerre (tenth century), the list was probably compiled between 1210 and 1220 by Stephen Langton, distinguished theologian, teacher at the University of Paris, and later Archbishop of Canterbury . This bifolium was once part of the Chudleigh Bible, an illuminated manuscript included by Branner among a group probably produced in northern France but related to Parisian work (Manuscript painting in Paris during the reign of Saint Louis , University of California Press, 1977, p. 30, n. 17). In process; check SearchWorks for availability.

ST. ÆTHELWOLD. LECTIONARY, in Latin; two partial leaves, 24/28 lines of cursive anglicana with much use of abbreviation; text cropped and stained from use as pastedowns (now unglued) in a copy of Omphalius, De elocutionis imitatione ac apparatu liber unus , Cologne, Birckmann and Richwin, 1563 (8vo., pp. xvi, 325, [9]), bound in a contemporary Cambridge binding of blindstamped brown calf, arabesques in centre of covers; worn, boards detached from covers. [157 x 93 mm]. England , c. 1400. The text of the first leaf includes a discussion of St. Æthelwold and mention of the monasteries of Winchester and Barking. We have been unable to identify the text, but the phrases ‘spirituales matres’ (‘spiritual mothers’) and ‘ma[l]lens matri subesse quam [aliis praeesse, potiusque] matrem timere quam aliis imperare’ (‘would rather be subject to the authority of a mother and prefers to fear a mother than to command others’) are also found in a passage about Æthelwold in an eleventh-century life of St. Edith of Wilton, the Vita sanctae Eadgithae seu Edithae by the Benedictine monk Goscelin (b. c. 1035, d. in or after 1107); see Migne, Patrologia Latina vol. 155, col. 112. The passage on Æthelwold here is followed by a section on St. Lambert. The text of the second leaf is from Rabanus Maurus, Commentariorum in Matthaeum libri octo (Patrologia Latina vol. 107, cols. 738–9). Both leaves contain the abbreviated heading ‘l[e]c[tio]’, suggesting lessons for liturgical reading, but the script is not that of a conventional lectionary for ecclesiastical or monastic use. In process; check SearchWorks for availability. http://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/8658077

[LEO X.] Papal brief signed by Leo X’s secretary Pietro Bembo, in Latin, addressed to the papal nuncio at Venice, dated at Rome 18 May 1516; name of Pope Leo X at the head, followed by five long lines written in a very fine cursive script, dark brown ink, creased where originally folded, addressed on the verso; in perfect condition. 115 x 445 mm Rome , 18 May 1516. A very handsome example of chancery cursive, the hand established and brought to perfection during the pontificates of Leo X and his successor for the writing of papal briefs. Perhaps the most famous employee of the papal chancery was Lodovico Arrighi who in 1522 published engraved specimens of the script which have since become the canon, even giving rise to the misconception that the script was Arrighi’s invention. (For a discussion of papal briefs written by Arrighi see Alfred Fairbank, ‘Arrighi and papal briefs', The Book Collector, Autumn 1970, pp. 328–332). Pope Leo X requests that the papal nuncio intercede in arranging an exchange of prisoners to free Cristoforo de Frangipani who had been captured by the Venetians. Count Cristoforo de Frangipani (Frankapan or Frankopan, 1492–1527) was the son of Bernardino (1453–1529), Count of Segna (Senj) in Croatia. One of the outstanding military figures of his time, he fought at the Battle of Mohács in 1526 when the Kingdom of Hungary was defeated by the Turks led by Suleiman the Magnificent. He is the author of an oration against the Turks addressed to Pope Adrian VI, Oratio ad Adrianum Sextum, Pont. Max. C. de Frangepanibus, Paris 1523(?). See Kenneth M. Setton, The Papacy and the Levant (1204–1571), vol. 3, Philadelphia, 1984, pp. 244–245. The document is signed by the papal secretary Pietro Bembo (1470–1547), cardinal and scholar, librarian of St. Mark’s in Venice, author of the Gli Asolani, and friend of Aldus Manutius. In process; check SearchWorks for availability. http://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/8658082

[LITURGY.] MISSAL, containing feasts in July and August, including the Division of the Apostles, Alexis, Praxedis, Dominic, Oswald, Felix, Affra, and Donatus; a partial bifolium, the text not continuous, double columns of 32 lines, ruled in ink, written in dark brown ink in two sizes of a gothic bookhand, capitals touched in red, rubrics in red, 1- and 2-line initials alternately in red and blue, guides to the decorator and rubricator, early marginal note in lower margin of verso of first leaf, late medieval foliation ‘xxiii’ and ‘xxvi’; approximately half of outer column of text cropped from second leaf, evidence of fire damage at head and slightly stained and soiled, but generally in good condition; stitched into early twentieth-century card wrappers. The first leaf measures 325 x 250 mm (274 x 180 mm). Southern Germany or Switzerland, c. 1400. From the sanctoral of a south German or Swiss missal: St. Oswald, the seventhcentury king of Northumbria, was venerated mainly in England and southern Germany , but there is also a church dedicated to him at Zug in Switzerland. Apparently from the Schlossarchiv at Eisenberg, south-west of Leipzig: ‘Joachim Linzen … Anno Dni. XVc XXV’ (i.e. 1525, the period of the Peasants’ War, when many churches and monasteries were destroyed) is inscribed in a sixteenth-century hand in the outer margin of the first leaf and ‘Eisenb. Schlossarchiv’ in an eighteenthcentury hand in the lower margin. The early twentieth-century card wrapper into which the bifolium is stitched has ‘Kloster zu Eisenberg / Anno 1207 bis 1524. / Aus seiner Bücherei’ printed on the upper cover. In process; check SearchWorks for availability. http://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/8658087

SACRAMENTARY, including part of the masses for the Vigil of St. Andrew (29 November), the Feast of St. Andrew (30 November) and the Feast of St. Lucy (13 December); the greater part of a leaf, single columns with 21 lines of text, romanesque script, dark brown ink, large (4-line) initial ‘M’ (Maiestatem) in a red leafy design with a purple outer border and partly filled with green and purple, smaller red initials and rubrics, various prayers added in the margins in several later hands; trimmed at head and foot but without loss of original text, in excellent condition. [228 x 216 mm (210 x 160 mm)]. Germany or Austria, second half of 12th century. A handsomely decorated leaf from a noted romanesque Sacramentary. The artist responsible for the 4-line initial originally painted an ‘O’ but, on realising (or being made aware of) his error, carefully added a stem to its right-hand side in order to transform the letter into a slightly awkward ‘M’. The Sacramentary, like the Missal which was expanded from it, was the principal book for the celebration of the mass in the early Middle Ages. It contained prayers for High Mass only, and by the twelfth or thirteenth century was replaced by the more inclusive Missal. In process; check SearchWorks for availability. http://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/8658091

[LITURGY WITH MUSICAL NOTATION.] BREVIARY, with neumes, with the antiphon for Vespers at Holy Trinity, the upper half of a leaf, written in a good romanesque script, dark brown ink, 10/11 lines, St. Gall neumes written without staves, marginal musical cues, LARGE INITIAL ‘G’ (Gloria) with entwined leafy tendrils in red outline, rubrics; trimmed from use as a pastedown or flyleaf in a binding from Melk (see below), otherwise in excellent condition. [150 x 209 mm] Probably Austria, c. 1200. With an elegant large decorated initial. This leaf has survived as a pastedown or flyleaf in a volume from the Benedictine Abbey of Melk in lower Austria (founded 1089). A seventeenth- or eighteenth-century inscription ‘Monasterii Mellicensis’ is written and partly erased in an upper margin. Compare other Melk ownership inscriptions and shelfmarks in C. Glassner, Inventar der Handschriften des Benediktinerstiftes Melk , Vienna, 2000, part 1, tables 12–13. For other manuscript fragments which have survived in bindings at Melk see C. Glassner and A. Haidinger, Die Anfänge der Melker Bibliothek: neue Erkenntnisse zu Handschriften aus der Zeit vor 1200 , Melk, 1996. In process; check SearchWorks for availability.

[LITURGY WITH MUSICAL NOTATION.] MISSAL, with neumes, containing November and December from a calendar, Kyries and Glorias with staveless neumes, and mass prefaces for major feasts (Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, etc.); a complete bifolium, the text continuous, double columns written in brown ink in a gothic bookhand, 29 lines, ruled in ink, capitals stroked in red, rubrics and major feasts in the calendar in red, 1-line initials in red, 2-line initials in red with green penwork flourishing, five 3-line ‘VD’ monograms alternately in red and blue with penwork flourishing, or vice versa, similar but larger ‘KL’ monograms in the calendar; slightly worn and stained, some worming in outer margin of first leaf, slight loss at upper margin, but generally in good condition; stitched into early twentieth-century card wrappers. 334 x 234 mm (250 x 165 mm). Germany (probably Trier), c. 1200. The calendar here strongly suggests an origin at Trier: feasts include several German saints, including St. Eucharius, the first bishop of Trier; his feast is usually celebrated on 8 or 9 December, except in Trier, where it is celebrated on 10 December, as here. Apparently from the Schlossarchiv at Eisenberg, south-west of Leipzig: ‘Eisenb. Schlossarchiv’ is inscribed in an eighteenth-century hand at the foot of the first leaf. The early twentieth-century card wrapper into which the bifolium is stitched has ‘Kloster zu Eisenberg / Anno 1207 bis 1524. / Aus seiner Bücherei’ printed on the upper cover. In process; check SearchWorks for availability.

[LITURGY WITH MUSICAL NOTATION.] MISSAL, with neumes; a complete bifolium, each leaf ruled with a hard point for 13 lines of text and music, good late Carolingian script, brown ink, central Italian neumes, the F line drawn in red, the C line in yellow (faded), red initials and rubrics; four small cut slits and some wear and staining from use in a binding. Each leaf measures 325 x 235 mm (268 x 180 mm). Italy , second half of 12th century. The F and C clefs are marked by lines drawn in red and yellow. ‘In the course of time, it came to be considered that the amount of information conveyed by each of these systems of neumes was insufficient ... First attempts at making the shape of the melody clearer involved placing the neumes at different heights on the page ... Further precision came with the addition of ruled lines to show the height of notes of particular pitches’ (N. Bell, Music in medieval manuscripts, London, British Library, 2001, pp. 24– 25). In process; check SearchWorks for availability.

[LITURGY WITH MUSICAL NOTATION.] MISSAL, with neumes, with readings for the feasts of All Saints, Saints Martin, Andrew, Nicholas, and the Dedication of a Church; a nearly complete leaf, double columns of 37 lines written in a good romanesque hand, dark brown ink, ruled lightly with plummet, St. Gall neumes written without staves, on the recto a LARGE INITIAL ‘O’ (Omnes Sancti) with entwined leafy tendrils in red outline and areas filled with green, red and blue, four other large red initials, rubrics and numerous small red initials; trimmed apparently from use as a pastedown or flyleaf in a binding from Melk (see below), but generally in excellent condition. 356 x 215 mm (320 x 190 mm). Probably Austria, late 12th century. From an elegantly written and decorated romanesque Missal with neumes. This leaf has survived as a pastedown or flyleaf in a volume from the Benedictine Abbey of Melk in lower Austria (founded 1089). A seventeenth- or eighteenth-century shelfmark ‘Monasterii Mellicensis G. 38’ is written and partly erased in the upper margin of the recto. In process; check SearchWorks for availability.

[LITURGY WITH MUSICAL NOTATION.] BREVIARY, with neumes, with texts for the Office of St. Afra (5 August); a complete leaf written in single columns of 19 lines, early gothic script, dark brown ink, St. Gall neumes written without staves, TWO LARGE INITIALS ‘G’ (Gloriosa) and ‘B’ (Beatus) with entwined leafy tendrils in red and pale blue; marginal crease from use as a flyleaf in a binding from Melk (see below), in excellent condition. 220 x 157 mm (190 x 130 mm). Probably Austria, early 13th century. This leaf has survived as a flyleaf in a volume from the Benedictine Abbey of Melk in lower Austria (founded 1089). In addition to the seventeenth- or eighteenth-century shelfmark ‘Monasterii Mellicensis J. 47’ written and partly erased in the upper margin of the recto, an inscription ‘Iste liber p[er]tinet ad Medlicum’ has been clumsily written in the upper margin of the verso. In process; check SearchWorks for availability.

[LITURGY WITH MUSICAL NOTATION.] MISSAL, with neumes, with parts of the second and third masses for Christmas day; a complete leaf written in single columns of 21 lines, gothic script, black ink, ruled lightly with ink, St. Gall neumes written without staves, on the verso a VERY LARGE INITIAL ‘P’ (Puer) in red penwork with some black, the decorative border extending the length of the margin, smaller initial ‘L’ (Lux) on the recto in red with blue penwork, rubrics and partial lines ruled with red ink; the larger initial slightly trimmed and some minor staining from use as a pastedown, a few scattered wormholes, but generally in excellent condition. 320 x 208 mm (220 x 170 mm). Probably Austria, 13th century. Elaborate penwork decoration. In process; check SearchWorks for availability.

[LITURGY WITH MUSICAL NOTATION.] BREVIARY, with neumes, including part of the Office of Matins for the 2nd Sunday in Lent; the lower half of a leaf, double columns written in a large formal gothic liturgical hand, brown ink, 10 lines, ruled with ink, German Hufnagel neumes on lines, the F line traced in red, the C line in yellow, capitals touched with red, stained from use as a pastedown but entirely legible. [154 x 246 mm]. Germany or Low Countries, 14th century. From the Bliss and Dring Collections. In process; check SearchWorks for availability.

[LITURGY WITH MUSICAL NOTATION.] BREVIARY, with neumes, with readings from Psalm 55; part of a large folio leaf, the remains of 14 lines of text written in a large gothic liturgical script in dark brown ink, part of a line of music with lozenge-shaped neumes on red lines, ruled with plummet, initials in red; trimmed, stained and one side darkened from use in a binding. [238 x 230 mm]. Probably Germany, c. 1400. From a monumental service book, probably a noted Breviary, written in a large and handsome gothic script. The text from Psalms 55 was used for the Sorrows of the Virgin (15 September) and for the Faithful Departed (2 November), but was also part of the weekly reading of the Psalter. In process; check SearchWorks for availability.

[LITURGY WITH MUSICAL NOTATION.] GRADUAL, with neumes, including the Gradual and Alleluia, Offertory and Communion for the 2nd Sunday after Trinity, followed by rubrics for the 3rd; part of a leaf, 8 lines of text written in brown ink in a rounded gothic script, ruled lightly with ink, red initials and rubrics, Beneventan neumes, the F line traced in red, the C line in yellow; worn and repaired from use in a binding. [219 x 185 mm]. Southern Italy, late 13th century. From the Bliss and Dring Collections. In process; check SearchWorks for availability.

MEDICAL TREATISE, in Latin; a complete bifolium, double columns of 40 lines written in a somewhat inexpert gothic script, with extensive commentary in smaller cursive gothic script, dark brown ink, ruled lightly with ink; the vellum stained and perished from damp with some slight loss, but the text is essentially complete and legible. Each leaf measures 215 x 166 mm (175 x 130 mm). Italy?, 14th century. Dactylic hexameter verses about pulse with discussion or commentary in prose. For works De pulsu see Lynn Thorndike and Pearl Kibre, A catalogue of incipits of mediaeval scientific writings in Latin , Cambridge, Mass., 1963, col. 1894. From the Rosenthal collection. In process; check SearchWorks for availability. http://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/8659524

MEDICAL TREATISE, in Latin; a partial bifolium, double columns of 47 lines written in a rounded gothic script, brown ink, 2-line initials in red and (faded) blue with contrasting penwork, headlines in red and blue L[iber] II; defective with some loss of text and stained from use in a binding. [305 x 198 mm (270 x 160 mm)]. Italy, early 14th century. This fragment discusses, from a medical viewpoint, sexuality and voice: e.g. ‘si est virtus pectoris fortis extrahens aerem subito fit vox magna’ (‘if there is strong power in the chest, drawing out air suddenly, then there is a big voice/sound’). The parent manuscript was of good quality, well written and of large format. The headline Liber II suggests a substantial text. From the Rosenthal collection. 57. ODO DE MEUNG. Macer Floridus, De virtutibus herbarum, the end of chapter 21 and beginning of chapter 22; a partial bifolium, including one nearly complete leaf, single columns of 33 lines, black ink, cursive script, written in two hands, trimmed and some wear from use as a pastedown but generally in good condition; cloth folder. 215 x 300 mm Northern France, mid-14th century. This popular herbal – a verse catalogue of herbs and medicines – was composed c. 1100, possibly by the cleric and physician Odo de Meung-sur-Loire, and circulated under the name of Macer Floridus. It is important as one of the earliest Western documents demonstrating the revival of interest in botany in the Middle Ages. Its popularity continued into the early sixteenth century: it was translated during the Middle Ages into English, French, and Polish, and was first published in Latin in 1477. Parts of the text were incorporated into the famous Regimen sanitatis of Salerno. Written probably by a medical practitioner rather than a professional scribe, perhaps in the region of Rouen (according to Malcolm Parkes). The fragment begins in the latter part of the discussion of roses (ch. 21), then takes up lilies (ch. 22), and includes a discussion of poppies. Marginal headings in the hand of the scribe call attention to the medical application of the herbs: for headache, for toothache, for tough eyelashes, for itch, for snakebite, against bad blood in the stomach, and for soothing the stomach. The text was printed by Ludovicus Choulant, Leipzig, 1832, but there is no modern edition. A sixteenth-century note, from when the fragment was used as a pastedown, records the name of the owner, Dominus theodorus de molendino vindicat sibi hunc librum. From the Rosenthal collection. In process; check SearchWorks for availability. http://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/8659528

PSALTER, in Latin, Psalms 146,8–149,1; a complete leaf, written in single columns of 22 lines, black ink, ruled lightly with plummet, large initials in gold at the beginning of Psalms 147, 148, and 149, large gold capitals in black outline set out in the margins at the beginning of each verse, some with further decoration in yellow, rubrics; very slight wear, otherwise in excellent condition. 158 x 96 mm (120 x 75 mm). Southern Spain, diocese of Seville, early 13th century. From a Psalter probably written and decorated in Seville: the feast of SS. Justa and Rufina (17 July), the principal patron saints of Seville, was entered in the calendar in gold. These saints also appeared in the Litany, along with the three brothers of Seville, Isidore, Leander and Fulgentius, and SS. Ildefonsus (who composed some of the hymns) and Leocadia of Toledo. The very imperfect parent manuscript was sold at Sotheby’s, 12 December 1967, lot 37, and the leaves were dispersed by Folio Fine Art (see C. de Hamel, ‘Selling manuscript fragments in the 1960s’, Interpreting and collecting fragments of medieval books , ed. Linda L. Brownrigg and Margaret M. Smith, Los Altos Hills and London, 2000, p. 49). In process; check SearchWorks for availability. http://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/8659531

VINCENT OF BEAUVAIS. Speculum historiale, Book IV, chapters 45– 47, 53–54 and 69–71; three leaves (a bifolium and a single leaf), double columns of 34 lines, gothic script, brown ink, ruled lightly with ink, rubrics and textual authorities in red, blue and red initials with contrasting penwork; two of the three pages damaged with loss of text from use as archival wrappers (the dates 1596, 1597, and 1599 written in the margins), staining and wear but generally legible, an early metal pin inserted in a blank margin. A complete leaf measures 265 x 190 mm (195 x 135 mm). France, mid-14th century. The Speculum historiale or ‘Historical Mirror’ is a history of the world down to the 1240s in thirty-one books comprising 3,793 chapters. It forms the third part of the Speculum maius , ‘The Great Mirror’, a monumental encyclopedia which was an attempt to encompass all forms of knowledge, and was overseen by Vincent of Beauvais (c. 1190–1264), a friar attached to the Dominican houses in Paris, Beauvais, and later Royaumont on the Oise. The present leaves are witness to the considerable increase in popularity of the Speculum historiale which took place in fourteenthcentury France. The subjects here include Appius Claudius citing Orosius, certain classical Greek writers citing Eusebius, Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem citing Petrus Comestor, Speusippus the Platonist and the first Carthaginian War, and Hippocrates and Gorgias the Rhetorician. From the Rosenthal collection. In process; check SearchWorks for availability. http://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/8659532

Leaf from a 12th-century monumental passional, with text about Saint Longinus, the centurion who pierced Christ's side with a lance. In process http://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/8653621

Biblia Latina. Paris, ca 1250?. 590 leaves, complete, on vellum; 148 x 96 mm. MSS CODEX 1053.

Bible. Latin. Text from II Kings, chapters 4:31-6:28. Italy, circa 1150-1200? Manuscript leaf from a medieval Bible; 552 x 362 mm. (housed in print box). A large decorated vellum manuscript leaf. M1737  

2009

Montebarucio, Jacobus de. Inventario d'Instrumenti dificile / Jacobus filius condam Ser Lodovici de Montebarucio. [North Italy, between 1465 and 1468]. Physical Description: 105 (of 109) numbered paper leaves ; page size ca. 30 x 21.5 cm. (text size ca. 24 x 16 cm.), bound. Ms. codex. Title (in Italian) at the beginning from a later hand (18th century?), and additional text, also in Italian, on the last page in the same hand. The paper has two watermarks; one depicting a scale with four compass points connected with half circles and a hanging "b" with a line through it within a circle. Paper is uncut; a few leaves are loose. Script: Italian chancellery-italic in brown ink with extensive use of abbreviations. An added bifolium with 3 pages of text in the same hand is tipped in. Binding: 18th century limp vellum wrappers taken from another work. Open for research; material must be requested at least 24 hours in advance of intended use. Extensive collection of notary's office instruments from the years 1465 to 1468, dealing with contracts and sales agreements from Ravenna and Udine. Once the abbreviations are expanded, the statement of responsibility would read, "Ego Jacobus filius condam Ser Lodouici de Montebarucio publicus imperiali auctoritate notarius predictis omnibus interfui et rogatus scripsi." It roughly tanslates to, "I, Jacob, son of the late Ser Luigi de Montebarucio, public notary by imperial authority, being present and having been invited, wrote all of the preceding." If Montebarucio is the same as the modern Italian village of Mombaroccio, the references to Ravenna and Udine would fit. MSS CODEX 1051 F

Petrus, Comestor, 12th cent. Historia scholastica : manuscript fragment. [France, mid-14th century]. 1 bifolium (a total of 8 columns of 38 lines each) :vellum; 29 cm. Note: Gothic script, brown ink.Note: Ruled lightly with plummet, rubrics filled in but spaces for two-line initials left blank. Summary: The HISTORIA SCHOLASTICA is a continuous biblical history from the Creation to the Ascension based on the Old Testament, the Gospels, and the Acts, supplemented by references to the Church Fathers and other authors. This text contains commentaries on I Kings 23-4, and II Kings 10-12, and deals extensively with King David, including his adultery and murder of Uriah. M1683. Related manuscrits M1682, SCMS 791211 00002

Leaves from a lectionary: manuscript on vellum. [Italy, circa 1190]. Physical Description: 2 leaves ; 31 x 21 cm Note: Double columns of 28 lines written in careful calligraphic hand in brown ink, on vellum, rubrics in red with some green, prickings visible on outside edge of page. Note: Open for research; material must be requested at least 24 hours in advance of intended use. Summary: A lectionary contains a collection of scripture readings appointed for worship on a particular day. This text includes a portion of Deuteronomy:1 and Ezekiel:18. Note: Purchased, 2009. Accession 2009-125. Note: Latin. Subject (LC): Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval--Italy. Subject (LC): Manuscripts, Latin--Italy. Genre: Lectionaries. Subject (Other): Medieval and renaissance studies--Italy--12th century.  M1678

Fragment from a large book of psalms: manuscript on vellum. [Spain, 15th century].  Physical Description: 2 map folders (11 leaves; 3 loose and 2 (in 8s) ; 80 x 57 cm.) Note: 12 lines written in black ink in large gothic bookhand, double-ruled in blue or purple (from the mollusk). Rubrics in red, some with multiple colors. Note: Open for research; material must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use. Summary: This is a decorated fragment from a large book of psalms comprising a portion of Psalms 8 and 9. Note: Purchased, 2009. Accession 2009-120. Subject (LC): Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval--Spain. Subject (LC): Manuscripts, Latin--Spain--15th century. Genre: Psalms (Music) M1677

Justinian I, Emperor of the East, 483?-565. Pandectae. 12th century. 4 leaves. M1705. The leaves preserve chapters of ancient Roman law uncannily relevant to modern society: “Vexatious Litigants,” “Gifts between Husband and Wife,” and “Divorces and Repudiations.” It has a marvelous anthropomorphic or zoomorphic initial. The Digest was lost and recovered in a famous sixth-century uncial manuscript around 1075, so the marginal and interlinear glosses in this fragment are early witnesses to the rediscovery of the text and anticipate the later codification of the gloss. Catkey: 8254559

British History Online, published by the Institute for Historical Research. Includes inter alia Parliament Rolls of Medieval England Transcriptions from the manuscript rolls of all parliaments which survive for the period 1275 to 1504. The transcriptions - in Latin, Anglo-Norman or Middle English - are presented in parallel with a modern English translation. There is also a description of each parliament of the period, including for those of which no roll survives.

2008

Jacobus, de Voragine, ca. 1229-1298. Legenda Aurea: manuscript codex. Incipit prologus sup legendas sanctorum quas compilant ...iacobus ... Lyon (France) : De Gaselle (scribe), 1468 Sep 1. 1 v. (804 p - 399 leaves). The author titled the work "Legenda Sanctorum" but it soon became known as "Legenda Aurea" because the people of the time considered it worth its weight in gold. In some of the earlier editions it is titled "Lombardica Historia" which gave rise to the false opinion that this was a different work from the "Golden Legend." First leaf has illuminated 9-line initial in blue on gold ground with decorated border. Rubricated initials are throughout; also chapter headings in red.Script is a cursive bookhand. Text in two columns with 37 lines. Binding: period style modern blind-tooled paneled calf with blind-tooled spine; contemporary brass clasps. Bound mostly in 12's with catchmarks on verso of last leaf of each gathering. Contemporary collation marks in lower right corner. Bifolium a1 and conjugate leaf a12 on vellum, single leaf i4 on vellum; all else on paper.Watermark is a grape cluster device similar to Briquet 12996. Dated colophon on verso of i2. The work was first printed in Basel in 1470. By 1500 at least 74 Latin editions had been published as well as three translations into English, five in French, eight Italian, fourteen Low German, and three Bohemian. Summary: A collection of the legendary lives of the greater saints of the medieval church. Text complete. Purchased, 2008. Accession 2008-281. Jacob of Varagine or Voragine (Italian: Giacomo da Varazze, Jacopo da Varazze (c. 1230 – July 13 or July 16, 1298) was an Italian chronicler and archbishop of Genoa. His Golden Legend was one of the most popular religious works of the Middle Ages. In Latin. Catkey 7684046

Archivio di stato. Pandette dei notai antich. Genoese notarial records dating from before 1300 A.D. 108 microfilm reels [MFILM N.S. 16809]. Catkey: 7149311.

Catholic Church. Pope (1417-1431: Martin V).
Papal bull issued by Pope Martin V to the Benedictine Abbey of St. Bertin at St. Omer, granting permission for the monks to elect their own confessors. Rome, January 3rd, 1421. 1 vellum sheet with seal, matted : 49 x 31 cm. Purchased, 2008. M1638. Catkey: 7619994.

Brancaccio Family. [Account book of the Italian Brancaccio family: January 1624 to April 1637, being a ledger of rents and taxes collected] [Rome?, 1637?]. Acquired on the Kenyon Law Starling Fund. An account book of one of the wealthiest and most powerful families in Italy; The Brancaccio family founded the Brancacciana Library at Naples and had seven family members appointed cardinals of the church.  This ledger runs from January 1624 to April, 1637, and includes details of monies and goods collected, possibly on behalf of the church.  Several notable names appear in the ledger, including Medici, Piti, and Borgia.

England and Wales. Sovereign (1603-1625: James I) [Vellum document with the great seal of King James I London? May 8, 1615. Acquired on the Kenyon Law Starling Fund. James I (1566-1625) re-grants lands in England and Wales of William Rogers, deceased, to Rogers' gentleman son and heir, also named William Rogers.  The seal, still present, is large, intricate, and very well preserved.  It was designed by the Royal Minter Charles Anthony in 1603, was used a few times by James' son Charles I (1600-1649), and was the seal held by Francis Bacon as Keeper of the Great Seal from 1617-1622.  This land grant, dated 1615, is on vellum, fifty-two lines in a large chancery hand.

Catholic Church. Pope (1623-1644: Urban VIII)
Bulla de indulgencia plenaria concedida para las animas de los fieles difuntos, per la santidad de Paulo Quinto . . . [ Madrid, 1633]. Acquired on the Kenyon Law Starling Starling Fund. A plenary indulgence (in Catholic doctrine, an indulgence which remits the entire temporal punishment resulting from a sin so that no further expiation is required in Purgatory) issued by Pope Urban (Maffeo Barberini, 1568-1644) in 1633. The recipient’s name is inked in; the indulgence is signed and authorized by Antonio de Sotomayor (d. 1648), Royal Confessor and Archbishop of Damascus. Single sheet, with papal woodcuts and the woodcut seal of Sotomayor. Pope Urban VIII was the last pope to practice nepotism on a grand scale, and many of his relatives benefited from his generosity. He canonized Elizabeth of Portugal and Andrew Corsini and issued the papal bull of canonization for both Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier, both of whom had been canonized by Urban’s predecessor, Gregory XV. Urban VIII patronized art and learning on a large scale, bringing the polymath Athanasius Kircher to Rome, along with such painters as Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain. Despite a friendship with Galileo and encouragement for his teachings, Urban summoned Galileo to Rome in 1632 to answer questions concerning the doctrines expounded in Galileo’s Dialogo, which had been published that same year in Florence, and which would result in a sentence of imprisonment for the rest of Galileo’s life.

[Notebook on rhetoric and poetics] [Italy? ca. 1610]. Acquired on the Antoinette and Warren R. Howell Fund

A notebook covering the art of rhetoric and poetics, including the composition of speeches and letters (especially consolatory letters sent after various calamitous events). The longest section is the treatise on oratory, divided into nineteen chapters. Fifty leaves, with eight blank leaves at the end, bound in contemporary limp gilt panelled vellum and with a gilt armorial device on cover. The device may be that of the Virili family and this manuscript may have belonged to Cardinal Luca Antonio Virili (1569-1634, cardinal from 1629).

From the library of Lewis Spitz:

• Calvin, J. In Omnes Pauli Epistolas. Halis Saxonum, 1831. 3 v. [20]. OCLC: 8441107
• Knight, Samuel. The life of Dr. John Colet. London, 1724. [21]. OCLC: 4383230. Stanford has later ed.
• Walch, Johann Georg. Historische und theologische einleitung in die religions-streitigkeiten . . . 2 v. 1736. [22]. Stanford has reprint.
• Idem. 3 v. 1730. [22]. Stanford has film in German baroque literature.
• Geier, M. Praelectiones academicae in Danielem prophetam . . . Martino Geiero. Lipsiae, 1684. [23]. OCLC: 6507047
• Rambachs, Johann Jacob. Institutiones hermeneuticae sacrae. Krieger, 1738. [24]. OCLC: 8309569
• Mosheim, J.L. Elementa theologiae dogmaticae. Nuremburg, 1764. [26]. OCLC: 14176428
• Synchronistische tafeln der kirchengeschichte vom ursprunge des Christenthums bis auf die gegenwärtige zeit ... nach den bewährtesten hülfsmitteln ausgeführt, und mit einer kurzen uebersicht der begebenheiten versehen. Halle, Berlin, Buchhandlungen des Hallischen waisen-hauses, 1809. OCLC: 40211526
• V. illustris Bilibaldi Pirckheimeri, Consiliarii, quondam DD. Maximilianii ... Opera politica, historica, philologica, et epistolica ... /. 1610. OCLC: 57525138. SCRB 870323 00002

2007

El "Codice rico" de las Cantigas de Alfonso X el Sabio: ms. T.I.1 de la Biblioteca de El Escorial. Madrid : Edilán. Catkey 7104534, M2112 .A4 C3 1979 FF Special Collections. The accompanying volume of transcriptions is Catkey 7112795, M2112 .A4 C32 1979 FF Special Collections.

Medieval Travel Writing. Catkey: 7134425

Processus contra Templarios (Scrinium, 2008). This facsimile reproduces the original documents from the Secret Vatican Archives containing the proceedings from the investigation and trials of the Knights Templars. Stanford researchers will be able to consult the facsimile in Green Library, Special Collections. Catkey 6987936

2006 The Frank J. Novak collection of early English documents, 1326-1701. Collection of Twelve English Manuscript Documents Dating from 1326 to 1701. Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Frank Novak This varied assortment features such things as an indenture (1577), army commissions (1688 & 1689), an indulgence (1441), a deed of gift (1326) and grant deeds (ca. 1415 and 1573), among others. All are written on vellum. The 1689 military commission is a printed document with blanks that have been filled in by hand with particulars. The two commissions (1688 & 1689), under the authority of Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk (1655-1701), are especially interesting: they each commission the same man, one Anthony Mingay, of Norwich, as a lieutenant in the “Regiment of the trained bands of the City of Norwich.” The Mingays were an important merchant dynasty in Norwich that dates back to at least the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The first commission is dated the “seventeenth day of November In this fourth yeare of the reigne of our Sovraigne Lord James the Second by the grace of God … 1688.” The second commission is dated “the 23rd day of July in the first yeare of the Reigne of our Soveraigne Lord and Lady King William and Queen Mary … 1689.” Mingay’s first commission was issued during the reign of James II. In the Glorious Revolution of 1688 James was forced off the throne in favor of William and Mary, of the House of Orange (Mary was the daughter of the Catholic James II, but was herself a Protestant; she married her first cousin William III in 1677); the commission was re-issued in this new reign. Norfolk’s commission as Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk lapsed with the departure of James II, and all of the commissions he had issued under James II lapsed as well, necessitating the second commission in 1689.

Andrea Alciati. Les Emblemes de seigneur Andre Alcia: de nouveau translatez en françois vers pour vers …. A Lyon: Chez Guill. Rouillé, 1549. Acquired through the Albert M. Bender Fund. Emblem books featured collections of symbolic pictures, usually accompanied by mottoes and expositions in verse and often by prose commentary as well. A development of the medieval allegory and bestiary, the emblem book enjoyed a tremendous popularity in 16-century Italy and by the 17 century was popular throughout Europe. The father of emblem literature was the 16th-century Italian lawyer and humanist Andrea Alciati, whose Emblemata was first published in 1531. Alciati’s work became a popular book in the Renaissance; revised by many editors and translated by various scholars, it appeared in more than 150 editions over the course of 100 years or so. This edition is rare, with the text in the French translation of Bartolemy Aneau. The publisher Ruoillé commissioned the woodcuts by Pierre Eskrich, in imitation of those done by Bernard Salomon for Jean de Tournes; while using the Salomon illustrations as a source, Eskrich expanded the scenes and added more detail. Apuleius. L’Amour de Cupido et de Psiché …. [Paris?]: Leonar. Galter. fec. & excu., [1590?]. Acquired through the Antoinette and Warren R. Howell Fund Apuleius is best-known as author of Metamorphoses, or The Golden Ass, the only Latin novel to survive in entirety. It describes the adventures of a young man transformed through magic into an ass. The novel enjoyed great popularity and was printed in dozens of editions throughout the Renaissance. Many stories are embedded within the novel, stories that reappear in such works as Boccaccio’s Decameron, Cervantes’ Don Quixote, and Alain Le Sage’s Gil Blas. The most famous of these stories is that of Cupid and Psyche, the story featured here. This French translation is fully engraved throughout, with a half-page illustration and engraved text below. The illustrations are by Leonard Gaultier (1561-1641).

Bible. Latin. 1574. Biblia, ad Vetustissima Exemplaria Nunc Recens Castigata … Venetiis: Apud Haeredes Nicolai Beuilaquae, & Socios, 1574. Acquired through the Antoinette and Warren R. Howell Fund. This is a lavishly illustrated Bible; the fine woodcuts were inspired by a variety of sources, notably the three sets of woodcuts by Hans Holbein, Bernard Salomon, and Pierre Eskrich that first appeared in Lyons between 1538 and 1562 and were commonly used in Bibles and picture books. The text of this Bible follows the 1547 Louvain edition, edited by Johannes Henten.

Cantica Natalia: Viginti Hymni in Honorem Nativitatis Domini Nostri Jesu Christi. Ditchling, Sussex: E Typographia S. Dominici, 1926. Acquired through the Antoinette and Warren R. Howell Fund. Surely one of the grandest and most elaborate and beautiful books of Christmas carols ever produced, this volume is printed throughout in red and black, with plain-chant notation. The beautiful typeface and layout are complemented by wood-engravings by David Jones, Philip Hagreen and Desmond Chute. Saint Dominic's Press was founded about 1916 by Harry Douglas Clark Pepler (1878-1951), an English printer, writer and poet. Pepler converted to Roman Catholicism in 1916 and joined the Dominicans as a lay member in 1918, at which time he changed his name to Hilary. He was also a founder with Eric Gill and Desmond Chute in 1920 of a Catholic community of craftsmen at Ditchling, Sussex. St. Dominic’s Press became the private press of this community, and was well-known for its music printing: here familiar carols are transposed into a medieval, four-line stave format. The twenty one carols include "Adeste Fideles" and "Hodie Christus Natus Est" in the traditional setting which Benjamin Britten would use in his celebrated "Ceremony of Carols.”

Hablot Knight Browne. Illustrations to Shakespeare. London: [S.n., 18--]. Acquired through the Antoinette and Warren R. Howell Fund This is one of only fifty copies with the plates colored. It has another set of the same plates, uncolored, bound in. This copy came from the library of Alistair Cooke, KBE (1908–2004), the legendary British-American journalist and broadcaster. Browne’s illustrations for Shakespeare first appeared in 1858 in a two-volume edition, appearing later in 1872 and 1882-1884 editions; all of these editions are considered rare.

Jean de La Quintinie. The Compleat Gard'ner, or, Directions for Cultivating and Right Ordering of Fruit-gardens and Kitchen-gardens: with Divers Reflections on Several Parts of Husbandry: in Six Books … Made English by John Evelyn, Esquire.London: Printed for Matthew Gillyflower, at the Spread Eagle in Westminster-Hall, and James Partridge, at the Post-house at Charing-Cross, 1693. A Gift of the Associates of the Stanford University Libraries This is the first edition of this translation of Jean de La Quintinie's Instruction pour les jardins fruitiers et potagers, a translation done by John Evelyn, with the assistance of Thomas Creech and George London. The work consists mainly of directions for fruit and kitchen gardens, with shorter essays on orange trees and melons. Evelyn created one of London's greatest gardens at Sayes Court, his home at Deptford; this led to his writing the Elysium Britannicum, an encyclopaedic history of gardens and gardening practices that occupied him for most of his life. Elysium also proved to be the catalyst for Evelyn's pioneering work on tree cultivation (Sylva, 1664) and on soils (A Philosophical Discourse of Earth, 1676). Evelyn is best remembered as a diarist and garden designer, but he was in fact interested in a wide range of scientific fields. Evelyn created many gardens, and his writings laid the groundwork for the English landscape garden of the eighteenth century.

Natale Conti. Natalis Comitis Mythologiae, sive Explicationis Fabularum, Libri Decem … Francofvrti: Apud Andreae Wecheli heredes Claudium Marnium & Ioannem Aubrium, 1584. Acquired through the Antoinette and Warren R. Howell Fund This is an early edition of a very important guide to mythology, a guide that was enormously popular and influential from the late Renaissance into the Baroque period. It influenced literary authors such as Chapman and Bacon as well as artists and writers on art theory, who used it as a reliable and important source. Novi Testamenti Aeditio Postrema per Des. Erasmum Roterodamum …. Tiguri: In Officina Froschouiana, anno 1554. Acquired through the Antoinette and Warren R. Howell Fund and the Robert L. Goldman Fund. This is a rare illustrated pocket edition of the New Testament. The text is edited by Desiderius Erasmus (1466?-1536), the Dutch humanist and theologian and a major figure of the Reformation. The copious illustrations are by Heinrich Vogtherr the Elder (1490-1556), commissioned by the publisher Froschauer. These celebrated illustrations show great originality, though the woodcuts for the Apocalypse are based on Holbein’s designs and are executed by a hand other than Vogtherr’s. Ovid. P. Ovid Nasonis XV Metamorphoseon …. [Cologne]: Prostant apnd [sic] Crisp. Passaeum Chalcographum Coloniense[m] et Joannem Jansonium Typographum Arnhemiensem, Anno 1607. Acquired through the Antoinette and Warren R. Howell Fund This is the second printing of Crispijn van de Passe’s extraordinary engravings illustrating the Metamorphoses of Ovid (43 B.C.–17 or 18 A.D.), with two couplets under each illustration. The engravings are published here for the first time with the letterpress text of Wilhelm Salsmann (fl. 1607-1629), in Latin and German in double columns, the text summarizing the subject of the illustrations. The book was published in Arnhem by Johannes Janssonius; the copperplate illustrations had been done in De Passe’s workshop in Cologne. De Passe (1564-1637) was a celebrated engraver, print publisher, and painter. His career began in Antwerp and one of his earliest achievements was a series of forty-six biblical illustrations engraved for the great Renaissance printer Christopher Plantin. These engravings from Ovid were done from his own and others’ designs, notably those of Bernard Salomon, Virgil Solis, Antonio Tempesta, and Hendrik Goltzius.

Ovid. Les Metamorphoses d'Ovide en latin et françois … Edition nouvelle, enrichie de tres-belles figures. A Amsterdam: Chez P. & J. Blaeu, Janssons à Waesberge, Boom, & Goethals, 1702. Acquired through the Fitger Williams Fund The Metamorphoses of Ovid (43 B.C-17 or 18 A.D.) stands as our best classical source for some 250 myths; it has been enormously popular throughout history and has never been out of print. Its stories have been the source of innumerable literary writings and art. This is a beautifully illustrated large folio edition of Ovid, featuring the Latin and French texts in double columns. The engraved illustrations are mostly by Martin and Paul Broche, and the extensive notes on the fables are by Pierre du Ryer (d. 1658), a member of the Academie Française. This translation was originally published in Brussels in 1677. Samuel Johnson. A Dictionary of the English Language …. The fourth edition, revised by the author. London: Printed by W. Strahan, for W. Strahan, J. & F. Rivington, T. Davies, J. Hinton, L. Davis ... [and 20 others], 1773. Acquired through the University Libraries Research Fund The achievement of Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) in creating the first great English dictionary can hardly be overstated. This edition contains a large number of textual corrections and additions by Johnson, and while he may have intended further changes in the fifth edition, such changes exist only in manuscript. The many added quotations reflect Johnson's reading in the years between the first publication of the dictionary (1755) and 1773. Allen Reddick states: "Many of the new sources from which he borrowed were theological writers, and the cumulative effect of the new quotations and their accompanying definitions or notes on usage is to draw attention to a broader theological sense of the word in question ...." Johnson himself said "Many faults I have corrected, some superfluities I have taken away, and some deficiencies I have supplied. I have methodised some parts that were disordered, and illuminated some that were obscure."

David Loggan. Oxonia Illustrata ... Oxoniae: E theatro Sheldoniano, ano. Dni. 1675. A Gift of the Associates of the Stanford University Libraries Loggan (1634?-1692) was born in Danzig and studied there and in Amsterdam before coming to London in the 1650s. He was appointed “public sculptor” to Oxford University in 1669, when he began to draw and engrave this series of engravings which illustrate the Bodleian Library, the University schools, the newly-built Sheldonian Theatre, the University church, and the University's various colleges and halls. The volume is completed by panoramic views of the city from a distance, an excellent plan of the city in bird’s eye perspective, a plate illustrating the varieties of academic dress, and a plan of the University Botanic Garden. The engravings are highly esteemed for their combination of accuracy and visual attractiveness. This is an invaluable architectural, topographical, and social resource, and a landmark in the history of the illustrated book in England. Onofrio Panvinio. De Ludis Circensibus …. Patavii: Typis Petri Marie Frambotti Bibliop., 1681. Acquired through the Althea H. Warren Fund Panvinio (1529-1568), an erudite Augustinian, was a great historian and archaeologist of his time. This work is a treasure trove of information about the buildings of ancient Rome. The illustrations—thirty-six magnificent engraved plates—highlight such scenes as a panorama of the Circus Maximus on the Palatine Hill, a map of Rome and its theaters, and Caracalla’s great circus. The title-page itself is a triumph of illustration, featuring among other images chariot racing, fighting lions, and a mock naval battle. Panvinio included information not only on the buildings and monuments but also on ceremonies and transcriptions of inscriptions. He had a fine appreciation of antiquity in general and was one of the first historians to apply rational, historical criticism to the historical accounts he had discovered.

Gabriele Simeoni. Dialogo pio et speculatiuo con diuerse sentenze latine & volgari ... In Lione: Apresso Guglielmo Rouiglio, 1560. Acquired through the Antoinette and Warren R. Howell Fund This is the first edition of this important work in which Simeoni (1509-1575) endeavored to establish a link between devices (simple symbols, allegorical vignettes, or rebuses) and ancient medals: “Those figures which the ancient Romans used to stamp on the reverse side of their medals were nothing but devices, and sometimes maxims." Simeoni was from Florence, but fled to Lyon in 1556 having escaped from the Italian Inquisition. The illustrations are from the set attributed to Pierre Eskrich (ca. 1530-ca. 1590), designed for an edition of Guillaume du Choul's Discours de la religion des anciens romains but they include two new woodcuts (the tomb of Simeoni and the view of the château of Polignac).

Johann Joachim Winckelmann. Storia delle arti del disegno presso gli antichi di Giovanni Winkelman, tradotta dal tedesco e in questa edizione corretta e aumentata dall'abate Carlo Fea ... In Roma: Dalla stamperia Pagliarini, 1783-1784. Acquired through the Fitger Williams Fund Wincklemann’s Geschichte der Kunst des Altertums, a monumental text in the understanding of Greek art, was first published in 1764; it became the bible of neo-Classicism and was a major text in the 18th-century search for and reinterpretation of Classical Antiquity. Many of the contributions of Winckelmann (1717-1768) were remarkable, but his greatest contribution lay in his interpretations of the works of antiquity in which Greek art represented the ideal of perfect beauty. This edition of the translation of Carlo Fea (1753-1834) is significant in having Fea’s preface and commentary (absent in the first Italian edition of 1779) and more than fifty illustrations.

John Mustain, Rare Book Librarian; John Rawlings, Medieval Studies