Fragment of parchment bifolium. Writing on one side (ink very faded). Probably used in a binding. Remains of adhered material. 40 x 15 cm

Fragment of a parchment folio with 12 lines of text and musical notation. Text partially erased. Some initials in red ink. The fragment was used in a binding. 32 x 17.5 cm

The MS consists of extracts from a Samaritan Version of the Hebrew Bible. Two parchment folios with text on both sides. Written on the first folio (in modern handwriting): "Part of a Samaritan Bible presented to Lord C. Paget, by the Samaritan High Priest at Shechean." Folio 1r: contains Exodus Ch. 1. 22 to CH.2 16 and relates the childhood and early years of Moses. Folio 1v: contains Exodus Ch.2, 22 to CH.2, 16, and recounts the story of God's call of Moses. Folio2r: contains Ch. 8, 2 to Ch. 9, 10 in which Moses informs Pharaoh of the plagues which Yahweh will bring on the Egyptians. After 9, 5 there is an insertion of some 6 lines, based on Ch. 10, 3f. Folio 2v: Covers Ch. 9, 10 to 9, 19 and continues the text from sheet 3, resuming the narrative of the plagues against the Egyptians. The MS itself is of uneven quality, and appears to bear the marks of more than one hand. Probable 7th century date. (This is short version of the text provided with the item, signed by Charles F. Whitley.) 24 x 20 cm (aprox. and incomplete)

Fragment of a manuscript leaf on vellum, with text on Latin. 23 x 9 cm. Fragment from Peter Riga's Aurora, a verse paraphrase of the Bible including commentary composed near the end of the 12th century. Initials in red and blue, text in compact Gothic texture. One column of 51 lines on the recto and 49 on the verso. (Description by PRB&M stored with the item.)

Manuscript document on parchment. Text in Latin, in a script similar to court scripts (or charter scripts) from England in the 12th century. 22 lines of text. It appears to be a deed (mentions the word "herede"). At the beginning mentions: "Ego Johes dWelye (?)." There is a list of names at the end (witnesses?): "Ricardo de Elteot (?), Johe filio suo, Rogero le frend, Willmo filio suo, Robto dWelye, Robto herede, Ioenrico de hortime, Ricardo de bulteford, Ryc de Wyk, Nicholao de cruk, Thom le butiller." 22.5 x 20.8 cm (folded section on the lower margin). The document is written on the exact same script as NOI 3, and some names and parts of the text (like the beginning and the end) are identical.

A collection of 11 manuscript receipts (the description provided by PRB&M mentions 15, but currently at Ellis Library, 11 counted). San Miguel de Sagra Church of Madrid, Spain, 10 of February 1523- 9 August 1532. Text in Spanish, on irregular pieces of paper. Handwriting can be categorized in many ways: calligraphic, cacographic, easy to read, really difficult to read. All of these terms apply to this assemblage of receipts for money received from and on behalf of the Church of San Miguel de Sagra in Madrid. An interesting and challenging collection for the teaching of Spanish paleography. Catalogued by PRB&M (short description stored with the item).

Manuscript document on paper. Chemistry or alchemy text (mentions multiple ingredients and includes alchemical symbols, and discusses the formula to make gold). Six folios. 27.5 x 18 cm

A partial leaf from a liturgical manuscript on vellum, probably a church service book. The text on the recto is in a single column of 12 lines with ten 4-line staves, rule din red with neumes in black, and on the verso in a single column of 33 lines (no staves) ruled in red. The recto has text and chant of prayers for celebration of the Feast of [Saint] Mary Magdalene (22 July): the rubric reading "Sancte marie ma/gdalene ad primas vesperas super salmos diei. antyphon," (lines 1-2) and the text beginning: "Maria pio coniuncta ihesu osculando pedes..." (line 3). The verso contains a list of prayers (maunly collects?) for celebrating feasts of a number of saints and occasions, including the feasts of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. The text is written in a Gothic textura book hand of good quality in two grades of formality: the text on the recto and that of larger size on the verso is written in the slightly less formal textualis semi-quadrata. There is frequent use of abbreviations including both contractions and suspensions. The music for the chant is written in neumes. The recto has a single larde initial "M" in red (the height of one stave plus one line) marking the opening of the chant for "Maria pio communita oscilando..." and on the verso are six large 2-line initials in alternating red and blue. This leaf was used as binding waste in making up a volume half its size, to which end it was heavily cut down to a size just smaller that the text block and rotated horizontally. A crease running horizontally accross the middle of the leaf shows the mark of the spine of the volume. (description provided by seller)

17 parchment documents of various sizes, with text on one side. They are sewn together. Most of them say on the back: "for tho wadilow/ Tho wadilowe/ This copie belongs to tho wadilow" or some variation of those words. They could be a series of receipts. The script looks like a 16th English century minuscule cursive, chancery hand or court hand. (all of them around 28 x 13 cm)

"A substantial attractively illustrated fragment of a Schembart Book, a pictorial representation of Nuremberg's most celebrated public spectacle. The Schembart Lauf was a carnival parade for Shrove Tuesday that originated in 1349 as a privilege granted by the emperor Charles IV to the butcher's guild of Nuremberg. Sometimes riotous (the dancers would run through the streets in extravagant costumes brandishing lances and bunches of leaves that concealed fireworks), the event was banned in 1539. Books recording the carnival's participants and their different costumes from year to year started to be made almost immediately after the Schembart Lauf was banned in an attempt to get the festival restored.nnProvenance: (1) Princely House of Liechtenstein: shelfmark inside upper cover and bookplate on f.1v; purchased from H.P. Kraus in 1955. (2) Paul Gourary (d.2007): his ex-libris, sold at Christie's New York, Splendid Ceremonies, The Paul and Marianne Gourary collection of illustrated Fête books, 12 June 2009, lot 312.",SCHEMBART BOOK, in German, illustrated manuscript on paper [Nuremberg, c.1540]nnbound with LEOPOLD I, Grant of Arms in favour of Johann Christoph Lempen, in German, Schloss Pressburg, 1688.nnA substantial attractively illustrated fragment of a Schembart Book, a pictorial representation of Nuremberg's most celebrated public spectacle. The Schembart Lauf was a carnival parade for Shrove Tuesday that originated in 1349 as a privilege granted by the emperor Charles IV to the butcher's guild of Nuremberg. Sometimes riotous (the dancers would run through the streets in extravagant costumes brandishing lances and bunches of leaves that concealed fireworks), the event was banned in 1539. Books recording the carnival's participants and their different costumes from year to year started to be made almost immediately after the Schembart Lauf was banned in an attempt to get the festival restored.nn305 x 205mm, 36 leaves (of 64), 36 full-page illustrations in colour showing masked and costumed figures, some with carnival floats behind them on the rectos with the descriptive text for the year in a German cursive hand on facing versos, a 20th-century checklist of years pasted inside front cover (corner lacking and hole in shield on f.36, small losses from lower edges of two other leaves, some light staining and spotting, 9 leaves with addition of hearts and/or monograms KSR and CS); 8 leaves with grant of nobility and right to bear arms of Johann Christoph Lempen, written in a cursive German hand and authenticated by public notary Iohannes Philippus Leisner and with his engraved impresa and paper seal on final verso, armorial miniature with Lempen's crested coat of arms between the figures of justice and fortitude, beneath a canopy with the imperial arms and against a seascape. 19th-century marbled paper over pasteboard (joint cracking), brown cloth box with leather lettering-piece.nnProvenance: (1) Princely House of Liechtenstein: shelfmark inside upper cover and bookplate on f.1v; purchased from H.P. Kraus in 1955. (2) Paul Gourary (d.2007): his ex-libris, sold at Christie's New York, Splendid Ceremonies, The Paul and Marianne Gourary collection of illustrated Fête books, 12 June 2009, lot 312.nnFull-page illustrations for the years: 1472, 1475, 1473, 1474, 1476, 1477, 1478, 1479, 1481, 1482, 1484, 1490, 1493, 1495, 1496, 1497, 1498, 1499, 1503, 1504, 1506, 1507, 1508, 1509, 1510, 1511, 1512, 1513, 1514 1515, 1516, 1517, 1520, 1521, 1522 and 1523.

ii+88 leaves, complete (collation 2+i50, ii20 (16+1+2+1), iii18 (the third gathering is a very complicated quire with four intermediary threads, added leaves and stubs, but it is complete and apparently original in this state, as the first and the last leaf form one bifolio)), 2 flyleaves at front, written on paper of various origins in light brown and black ink by a number of different German cursive hands (one major hand in the first gathering which continues in the second, second hand from ff. 67 (66)-71(70), from f. 72(71) on, four different hands) in one column of varying lengths, modern pencil foliation in upper right, skipping one leaf after f. 17, no ruling, no decoration or other enhancement of script. The watermarks in the first and second gathering mainly from one source (a bear, turned 90°, with collar and tongue poking out, with claws, not recorded in Piccard or Wasserzeichen online database; also a castle or fortress and another bear, none of them identifiable) whereas the watermarks in the third quire are quite mixed: also the bear, but moreover two kinds of coats of arms with crowns, one of them (ff. 86(85)-88(87)) only remotely similar to DE5040-PO-24548 (1648 Speyer), yet so far unidentifiable , however, the two front flyleaves bear the same watermark as ff. 80-82 and 68 and 70, 64 full-figure pen and ink drawings in very fine condition, colored with washes, some details in gold and silver leaf, 22 smaller pen and ink drawings, probably added only slightly later, paper quite strong in varying stages of darkening, thin and thumbed towards the margins, especially in the third gathering, minor stains and spots throughout, some offsets of the washes of the drawings, green hues coloring the ground and some of the costumes often shine through, very few minor tears, no restoration. Contemporary limp vellum binding with flap, loose in binding, lacking fore-edge ties, splits at head and foot of flap fold, inscribed on spine "Schempart Buech."nn"Approximately eighty manuscripts survive as posterior records of the famous carnival parade (Schembartlauf) held on Shrove Tuesday in Nuremberg from 1449 to 1539. Most of the existing manuscripts include marvelous full-page illustrations of participants from the families who, year by year, sponsored the parade, and a few include depictions of the floats. The present remarkable volume in its original binding is not only one of the earliest extant copies but also one of the few to include drawings of the floats. It was customized for its early (and possibly first) owners, the members of the influential patrician family of Kress von Kressenstain in Nuremberg.nn….nn1. Made in Nurmeberg c. 1540-1550, based on the style of the drawings (we are grateful to Fritz Koreny for his expertise). Ex-libris of Iohannes Guilhelmus Kress à Kressenstain dated 1619, an engraved plate with his coat of arms and additional crests of related families (Schweikhart, Haller, Kress, Freidel) glued to front first flyleaf. The Kress family, which in 1530 was permitted to add the title "von Kressenstein" to their name, was one of the major patrician families in Nuremberg. It is quite possible that the present manuscript was made and/or acquired for the Kress family. Members of the family participated in the Schembartlauf (Schembart pageant or carnival) and are recorded here with their masks, names and coats of arms (see below).nn2. Letters "MCP" written in lower corner of f. 1. It is not certain whether this is an ownership entry, which remains to be identified.nn3. Ex libris Liechtensteinianis, engraved armorial bookplate of the princely library glued to front pastedown. Their shelfmark written in pencil on top of first flyleaf: "Ms B. Fach IV", "64 Bl. mit Figuren + 19 Bl. bloss Text," "165.4.8. c. 1561";nn4. In 1949, H. P. Kraus, New York purchased around 20,000 volumes from the Prince of Liechtenstein's library, including this manuscript and other Schembart Books, 1949- 1954;nn5. Paul and Marianne Gourary (1919-2007 and 1920-1914, respectively), New York, Collection of Illustrated Fête Books, their bookplate underneath the Kressenstein label; Christie's New York, Splendid Ceremonies the Paul and Marianne Gourary Collection of Illustrated Fête Books, June 6, 2009, lot 309.",Measurements: 32.5 cm x 22 cm

Manuscript vellum bifolium (two leaves) from a book of hours. The text includes parts of the Gospel readings and some prayers. Folio 2r begins with Psalm 116:1: "Laudate Dominum omnes gentes; laudate eum omnes populi." France, late 15th or early 16th century. Batarde hand. Text in one column of 17 lines. One and two-line illuminated initials, in gold, red, violet and white. 12.7 x 9 cm. Catalogued by PRB&M (short description included with the item).

Vellum folio from a breviary. Multiple capital letters in red and blue ink, decorated with fine penwork. There is a flaw in the lower margin. 14.5 x 9.9 mm. (Mounted on a matte.) Inventory: Text in Latin written in two columns on very fine vellum in an extraordinarily small gothic script - so small that there are 5 lines of text to the centimetre. Six two-line initials alternating in red and blue extensively embellished internally and externally with fine, assured pen flourishes in the contrasting colour extending into the margins. The versal initials alternate in red and blue and were added after the scribe had finished the text written in black.

"The twelve virtues of nobility", followed by an armorial. 16th century In-folio (320 x 215 mm), [24]-[2 bl.] ff. on parchment, in pen and black ink, coats of arms drawn in the same way and enhanced with watercolor in th. (folds, stains, cut on the last white f.). In ff. under a parchment bifolium. extract from a liturgical manuscript in Latin from ep. (or older?). Text in finely calligraphic French verse, celebrating the virtues of the gentleman: nobility, faith, beauty, honor, righteousness, prowess, love, courtesy, diligence, neatness, generosity and sobriety. The armorial is made up of 30 coats of arms with their stamps, captioned in Dutch. The first 10, in large format, relate to large sovereign houses (Holy Empire, Bohemia, Brandenburg, Valois, Saxony, etc.), the other 20, in smaller format, relate in particular to the former Netherlands (Duchy of Brabant, counties of Flanders, Holland, Zeeland, Hainaut, Namur...) and the royal houses of Valois, Aragon, Bohemia and Portugal. The manuscript was not finished because the initials of the verse pieces were never made.,"Les douze vertus de la noblesse", suivi d'un armorial. XVIe s In-folio (320 x 215 mm), [24]-[2 bl.] ff. sur parch., à la plume et encre noire, blasons dessinés de même et rehaussés d'aquarelle à l'ép. (plis, souillures, découpure au dernier f. blanc). En ff. sous un bifeuillet de parch. extrait d'un manuscrit liturgique en latin de l'ép. (ou plus ancien ?). Texte en vers français finement calligraphié, célébrant les vertus du gentilhomme : noblesse, foi, beauté, honneur, droiture, prouesse, amour, courtoisie, diligence, netteté, largesse et sobriété. L'armorial est formé de 30 blasons avec leur timbre, légendés en néerlandais. Les 10 premiers, de grand format, concernent de grandes maisons souveraines (Saint Empire, Bohême, Brandebourg, Valois, Saxe...), les 20 autres, de format plus petit, concernent notamment les anciens Pays-Bas (duché de Brabant, comtés de Flandre, Hollande, Zélande, Hainaut, Namur...) et les maisons royales de Valois, Aragon, Bohême et Portugal. Le manuscrit ne fut pas terminé car les lettrines des pièces en vers n'ont jamais été réalisées. Prov. Joannes Budels (mention ms. "Testamentu Joannis Budels pbrj et scholastiy").

A nearly complete collection of playing cards from a famous and fascinating series engraved in southern Germany ca. 1496, and believed to commemorate the marriage in that year of the future King Philip I of Spain (son of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I) to Joanna the Mad (daughter of King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile).

Manuscript Qurʼān portion containing surahs 1-17 (from Sūrah al-Fātiḥah (سورة الفاتحة) to Sūrat al-ʼIsrāʻ (سورة الإسراء)), complete. It contains the first 3 manzil, or weekly sections, of the Qurʼān, plus surah 17, or roughly the first 15 juzʻ. A carpet title page precedes two illuminated pages containing surah 1, Al-Fātiḥah, "The Opener," and the first lines of surah 2, Al-Baqarah. The top cartouche of Sūrah al-Fātiḥah reads "Sūrat Fātiḥat al-Kitab al-ʻAziz," (Sura "Opener of the holy book"). The bottom cartouche gives the number of verses in the surah and the place of revelation, Mecca. The top cartouche of surah 2 reads "Surat al-Baqarat miʻatan wa thamanun" (Suran "The Cow" 280) and the bottom cartouche continues "wa sitta ayat, nazalat madaniyah" (and 6 verses, descended in Medina). Other surah titles are given in cartouches set off from the verse text. All surah titles include the name of the surah, the number of verses, and the place of revelation.

Fragments of manuscripts on parchment with text in Latin. From the six, one can arrange 3 pairs that come from the same 3 manuscripts. They were all used in bindings. One pair consists of fragments of the lower margin of two folios of fine parchment, with 3 lines of text, laid out in 2 columns. Some letters are touched in red and blue ink and there is a capital "Q" decorated in penwork. One can also see a marginal note. A second pair consists of 2 fragments of a folio that was cut vertically. The whole columns of text are legible in very small script. Initials in red and blue ink. The last pair consists of two horizontal sections of a folio, with large text laid out in two columns. Some capital letters are rubricated. All fragments are about the same height, 29 to 29.5 cm, and 8, 9 or 13 cm wide.

"Three folio leaves. Textualis hand. Recovered from one or more bindings; dark-stained from glue and binding, with illumination and other embellishments virtually obliterated.",Measurements: 31.5 cm x 22 cm (first 2 leaves); 32 cm x 22.25 cm (last leaf),Full pdf available, https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/mu/islandora/object/mu%3A439448/datastream/PDF/view

In modern gray wrappers. Written in a sepia ink with some minor bleed-through from one side of a leaf to the other; dark stain in upper area of a dozen leaves. Some age-toning of paper. A few areas with tears, none serious. On the whole, very good.nn"Ana Vanegas was the daughter of Baltasar Vanegas and Catalina Hernandez, who at the time of this compilation were both deceased, and the widow of Jusepe de Peñafiel. In 1606 she was a novice in the monastery of Santa Clara in Mexico City and ill; she soon died of that illness. Her estate included real estate (houses) that she had inherited from her parents and others acquired during her marriage. Her heirs were her four children, sons Alonso, Jusepe, and Simon de Peñafiel, and daughter Catalina de San Jusepe, a nun in the same monastery as Ana.nnThe approximately 125 documents in this file are notarial copies done in 1607 and incorporate texts of documents from as early as the 1570s relating to the real estate that was being auctioned by executors of Ana's estate. The landholdings are listed on folio 8r-v and include a large house on Tacuba Street (in which Dr. Villanueva, a canon, lives), a house with a plot in the Theatines street, some "casas de indios" in the Tomatlan neighborhood, and a tall house (whose neighbors are given but not the street).nnThe information on the houses gives details of acquisition, loans or other pledges imposed on them, and ultimately the prices realized at auction."nnThe documents are written in a standard early 17th-century public notary's hand and as such are a great tool for teaching paleography as well as other principles of research, as they are full of abbreviations, lack of punctuation, non-separation of words, etc.,Measurements: 31.5 x 22.4 cm

"Grant by Alfonso V of Aragon and Sicily, "the Magnanimous", to Rambau de Corbera (Rambaldus de Corbaria), of a vast territory in Sardinia, in Gallura, comprising a number of depopulated villages from the environs of the present Santa Teresa Gallura (in the northern point of Sardinia) to the environs of the present Castelsardo.