"Folio extra (61 cm x 36 cm, 20.25" x 14.25"). This single parchment leaf is from a large choirbook—an antiphonal. (The term choirbook refers to a particular format of a codex of liturgical music, intended to be placed on a lectern in the midst of the liturgical choir and to be large enough for those standing in the choir to sing from; an Antiphonal, specifically, contains the antiphons and responsories for the celebration of the daily office.) This particular choirbook is written with eight lines of text and music per page. The text is in black ink in a gothic liturgical hand, with two red initials on each page, for a total of four, the verse and response signs being also in red, and the first letter of the second half of the responsory being overlined in red. The music is on a four-line red staff with black neums, as is usual.nnThe text and music on this leaf are part of the responsory Cantemus domino ... in the eighth mode (beginning with the words "et ascensorem"), the third responsory at Matins for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, the text for which is excerpted from the canticle of Moses (Exod. 15:1-19).nnHesbert, Dorn René-Jean. Corpus Antiphonalium Officii, IV, 6270, var. A ("Currus Pharaonis ..."). Traces of soiling, a little creased, very small tears to one margin from sewing holes, four rectangular spots with remnants of adhesive on verso. Lightly ruled in pencil; gutter edge with a streak of dust-soiling and outer edge with prick marks (for ruling the page) remaining.",Full pdf available, https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/mu/islandora/object/mu%3A439211/datastream/PDF/view

Folio (approx. 346 x 245 mm; 13.625 x 9.5") The Branch and Millennial Peace (Zechariah 6:2 - 7:1). Medieval Bible leaves with famous prophecies are scarce. Such leaves in folio format are scarcer still. And folio leaves of prophecies that also contain extensive contemporary commentary are just plain rare. This leaf has all of that and is extremely attractive as well.nnThe Biblical text present here concerns the four chariots emerging from between the two mountains of brass. The horses of each are a different color (red, black, white, grizzled) and the symbolism is obscure to Zechariah who asks an angel to explain it all to him. The commentary on this page offers a different explanation than that given by the angel: Whereas the angels says the four chariots are the spirits of heaven, the commentary says they represent the four Evangelists.nnAn accomplished scribe has indited the text of the Bible in a large gothic textura hand and the commentary in a much smaller version of the same style. The texts are accomplished in a rich black ink on a high quality vellum with extremely wide margins. At the top of the recto is the abbreviation for Prophetia ("PPHA") in capital letters alternatingly in blue and red. There is one capital in the text of the Bible passage (an "E") that is written in blue. Six paragraph symbols in alternating red and blue also enliven this page. The text of the commentary fills the right margin but is also interlinear in the Bible text.nnAt the top of the verso is "Zacharias" in majuscules, the letters alternatingly present in blue or red. There is one capital in the text of the Bible passage (an "E") that is written in red. Two paragraph symbols in alternating red and blue also enliven this page. The text of the commentary fills the left margins but is also interlinear in the Bible text.nnThe vellum that was used for this manuscript was prepared with extra care, and consequently, neither side of the leaf has obvious signs of being the one that held the sheep's fur. On such vellum as this, a scribe's good penwork appears even 800 years later to be very fresh.nnIn very good condition. We present the leaf in a museum-recommended and -approved clear Mylar sleeve that will allow it to be enjoyed without worry of soiling it with hand oils or dust.,Full pdf available, https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/mu/islandora/object/mu%3A439267/datastream/PDF/view

Part of a leaf of a Hebrew Bible, text from Ezekiel 30-31, late medieval, forming the covering around a detached binding.

(1493-1570, patriot of Geneva, 'the prisoner of Chillon'). Autograph signature and endorsement (7 lines) on a document signed by three of the Syndics of Geneva, 20 September 1545, an order for payment of Bonivard's allowance as 'pryeur de Sainct Victor' for the autumn quarter, with Bonivard's receipt written below, 'Je Francoys de Bonivard confesse par ceste presente avoir receu de Magnifiques et mes treshonores Messrs les Sindiqiues de Geneve la somme de xxxv escuz soleil...', one page, folio, papered seal, endorsement on verso.nnBonivard succeeded his uncle in 1510 as Prior of the Cluniac priory of St-Victor in Geneva, but resisted the Duke of Savoy's exercise of his rights over the city and was imprisoned several times, from 1530-36 at Chillon. On his release he became a protestant, and obtained a pension from the city.",Measurements: 33 cm x 22.5 cm,Full pdf available, https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/mu/islandora/object/mu%3A439238/datastream/PDF/view

(535 X 618 mm). Manuscript on parchment, folded up. Seal delphinal and wire lakes of colors. (Some small rednesses, restored seal.)

Philip II (1527-1598, joint Sovereign with Mary I, 1554-1558, from 1555 King of Spain) Letters Patent Signed 'El Rey', as Duke of Milan, in a beautifully clear italic hand, in Latin with translation, with short titles in Spanish and Italian, saying that "following the settlement" on Philip of the "Duchy of Milan, Principality of Pavia, and County of Angleria, by the most Invincible and Puissant Prince and Lord CHARLES V ... August Emperor of the Romans ... my most respected Father and Lord ... we appointed our ... sincerely beloved Cousin Don FERNANDO ÁLVAREZ DE TOLEDO", (1507-1582, from 1532 3rd DUKE OF ALBA), Philip's father's and his "Lieutenant-General and Captain- General in Italy, to be our Governor in the said Dominion of Milan", accordingly he now empowers Alba or his deputies "to receive the ... accustomed homage and oath of fidelity on the succession of a new Prince to the said Dominion from the Feudatories in the said Duchy", knowing that Alba "is endowed with the highest loyalty, ... prudence, knowledge of affairs and experience", swearing that they will do "while they shall live, all ... that they are bound to do ... in obedience and loyalty to us and our successors ... by reason of their feudal possessions of whatever quality and nature ... according to the forms both old and new and the custom of the said State of Milan", the Duke can take any appropriate steps "even if such things should ... require a more particular mandate than is expressed in these presents", those not taking the oath to be "under the full weight of our anger and indignation, and pain of Ten Thousand marks of pure gold", with Philip II's armorial seal as Duke of Milan approximately 2 1/2 inches diameter, and elaborate note of registration, vellum, 14" x 25 1/2" folding to 10 1/4" x 6 1/2", Brussels "in the Duchy of Brabant, in the 2nd Year of Our Reign", 8th December 1555, lacking the obverse of the seal, here expertly replaced at some time with a plain wax backing, preserving without loss the coat of arms (rubbed, but its main features are all present), the surrounding legend defective but retaining lettering PHILIPPVS, VTRIVS (Siciliae) and (Dux) MEDIOLANI, the document in excellent crisp condition [55678]nnPhilip II was born and brought up in Spain, as heir to his father Charles V (1500-1558) and grandmother Joanna, Queen of Spain, 'la loca', who had died only on 11th April 1555.nnPhilip was now (joint) sovereign of England - the title put first in this document - having married Queen Mary at Winchester Cathedral on 25th July 1554. In September 1555, thinking ahead to his abdication, Charles summoned Philip from England to Brussels, and on 15th October 1555, at an emotional ceremony, conveyed the Netherlands, inherited from Charles's father Philip of Burgundy, to his son, detaching them from the Empire. They were to give Philip II endless trouble.nnCharles had also detached the Duchy of Milan, key to holding Italy against the French, which had reverted to the Empire after the last Sforza died in 1535. He had proclaimed Philip as Duke on 11th October 1540, but Philip is now sovereign. Charles was to complete his abdication on 16th January 1556, when the more compact but often unruly Empire went to his brother Ferdinand I, while the scattered western dominions - Spain, including Aragon with its dependent kingdoms in the Mediterranean, and vast portions of the New World - were confirmed as Philip's.nnThe Great Duke of Alba (Alva) had campaigned with Charles V, and had accompanied Philip to England. Charles knew that Alba was ambitious, and warned his son against trusting any one noble completely. However, as Spain's best general, he was indispensable. He was Governor of Milan, 1555, Viceroy of Naples 1556, and captured Rome in 1557. He is most famous for his fierce reduction of the Netherlands as Governor, 1567-1573, and for securing Portugal to the crown of Spain in 1580.nnPhilip's seal here displays, in chief, the Spanish dominions - 1st grand quarter, Castile & León, 2nd Aragón, including Aragon proper, the two Sicilies (largely hidden by the escutcheon), Hungary and Jerusalem, and, in base, the Burgundian - 3rd grand quarter Austria and Burgundy ancient, 4th Burgundy modern and Brabant, with a small escutcheon for Flanders and Tirol. In the centre is a large escutcheon, quarterly, for Milan.,(Translation)n[1] PHILIP, by the Grace of God, King of England, France, Hither Sicily, Jerusalem, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith: Prince of Spain, Archduke of Austria: Duke of burgundy, Milan and Brabant: Count of Habsburg, [2] Flanders, Tirol etc:nnWe acknowledge and make known by the tenor of these presents to all men,nnThat, following the free division and settlement of the said State and Duchy of Milan, Principality of Pavia, and County of Angleria, made to us [3] by the most Invincible and Puissant Prince and Lord Charles the Fifth by Divine Clemency August Emperor of the Romans, King of Germany, the Spanish Dominions, the Two Sicilies etc., my [4] most respected Father and Lord, which he of his own liberality and munificence, with their rights and all things pertaining, had for a substantial period previously granted and given me, and with which he had invested me,nnWe have appointed and deputed our Illustrious and trusty, sincerely beloved [5] Cousin Don Fernando Álvarez de Toledo [1507-1582, from 1532 3rd Duke of Alba] Prefect of Our Bodyguard ['praetorio nostro prefectum'], His the said Imperial Majesty's and Our Lieutenant-General and Captain-General in Italy, as our Governor in the said Dominion of Milan [6]nnand to receive the usual and accustomed homage and oath of fidelity on the succession of a new Prince to the said Dominion from the Feudatories in the said Duchy, Principality and County.nnAccordingly we have conveyed full ability to the said Duke of Alba, whom we know to be endowed with the highest loyalty towards us, prudence, [7] knowledge of affairs and experience, of our own motion, certain knowledge and deliberate intention, in the fullness of our royal and ducal power and after receiving sound counsel, and have [8] given, granted and imparted power and by the tenor of these presents do convey, give, grant and impart, making, deputing and constituting him our Mandatory and our special Procurator,nnto be able validly to receive, seek [9] and accept in our place and name, by himself on our behalf, or by his substitute or substitutes to be delegated by him for that purpose by virtue of this our commission and mandate to be substituted and designated,nnthe due [10] and accustomed homage and oath of fidelity from any whatever our feudatories in the said Duchy and Dominion of Milan, Principality of Pavia, and County of Angleria, both titled and untitled, whether of age or minors [11] of whatever pre-eminence, dignity, status, rank, order and condition by whatever name they may be known,nnthat they perform, do and carry out, while they shall live, all and singular those things that they are bound to do and observe [12] in obedience and loyalty to us and our successors lawfully entering into possession of the said Duchy and Dominion of Milan, Principality of Pavia and County of Angleria, by reason of their feudal possessions of whatever quality and naturenn[13] and that in them they will be ever loyal and obedient to us: and will do and observe all other things that good and loyal feudatories in the said Duchy, Principality and County are bound to do: doing away with all [14] fraud and deceit. And finally [they shall do so] according to the forms both old and new and the custom of the said State of Milan.nnAnd generally, that he is empowered to say, ask, do, manage, pursue and exercise, [15] all things that he shall deem necessary in this regard, and appropriate in any way whatsoever, and which we would do, or be empowered to do, if we were doing so in person, even if such things should be such as to require a more particular mandate than is expressed [16] in these presents;nnCommanding by the tenor of the same that all the abovesaid persons, all and singular our subjects in the said Duchy, Principality and County, under the full weight of our anger and indignation, and pain of Ten Thousand [17] marks of pure gold to be exacted without remission from any person acting to the contrary, to be brought to our treasuries at the first opportunity by the said Duke, or those deputed by him,nnshall be given notice or required to perform the said homage [18] and to swear the oath of loyalty, putting aside all deliberation, doubt, difficulty and contradiction.nnIn testimony of which these letters [are] subscribed by our hand and confirmed by the attaching of our seal. Given at Brussels in the Duchy of [19] Brabant, the 8th December in the Year of Our Lord 1555, in the 2nd Year of Our Reign.nn[Signed in Spanish] The Kingnn[In Spanish] Your Majesty gives power to the Duke of Alba to receive their homage from the Feudatories of the State of Milan.nn[In Italian] 1555 8th December. Dispatch of the Most Serene King Philip II whereby he deputes his Excellency the Duke of Alba, Governor of the State of Milan, to receive in his name the oath of the Feudatories of that State.nn[In Latin, note of Registration] Court, leaf 1, 70.,Full pdf available, https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/mu/islandora/object/mu%3A439224/datastream/PDF/view

"12mo (18.5 cm, 7.25"). [1] f.Paris was the center of Bible production in the 13th century, with the text having been standardized there, and the University attracting scholars who wished to have just such a small Bible as this leaf came from—a new thing in the 13th century. The text here is Jeremiah 35:7-37:12, containing part of the prophecy of the defeat of Judah by the Babylonians.nnThis leaf is of fine quality (i.e., thin) vellum, with the text in two columns per page, of 32 lines each, ruled in lead, the top line written below the top rule. It is written small in black ink in compact Gothic textura script of the style typical of Bibles and other scholarly manuscripts of the 13th century.nnThe running headers are in red and blue with pen tracery. The number heading chapter XXXVI (on the verso) is likewise in red and blue, and there is also a two-line blue initial E with most elaborate pen tracery in red and blue running the height of the entire column of text and into the margin. Key initials in the text are lined in red.nnProvenance: Ex-Zion Research Foundation (later known as the Endowment for Biblical Research); very likely to Zion from Ege.nnA little cockled; text somewhat rubbed. Exceptionally nice penwork on the verso.",Full pdf available, https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/mu/islandora/object/mu%3A439264/datastream/PDF/view

Chronicle and Schembardt book

132 x 92 mm, 221 leaves + 1 flyleaf at front and back, complete, I-XVI10, XVII8, XVIII-XXI10, XXII10-1 (lacks 1 blank), XXIII2+3, justification 75 x 60 mm, ruled in blind lines for two columns of 30 lines, in a very regular, tiny and experienced hand with many abbreviations in a Southern Textualis in two sizes; catchwords. Rubrics red, versals touched in yellow, two-line initials alternating in red and blue, most of which with penwork decoration. 3 illuminated initials: 1 figurated nine-line initial F (fol. 1) with full border in the margin consisting of a four-sided bar around the text and flowers, birds, parrots, spray, pollen and tendriled hairlines, 1 seven-line initial P (fol. 25), 1 five-line initial D (fol. 166v). The opening of fols. 166v-167 was enhanced with a charming and captivating decorative grotesque of St Michael and the Dragon in monochrome green tones.nnThe underlying pen and ink drawing is very accomplished and made to appear as if part of the original decoration. Very clean and wide margins, prickings still visible in upper and lower margins, fine parchment, very few stains or darkening of vellum, overall crisp condition, illumination in fine condition as well, the green dragon a very little flaked. Modern calf, blind tooled, one clasp.nnIncipit: "Incipit in nomine domini breviarium usum consuetudinem romane curie in primo sabbato de adventu Ad vesperas Capitulum// Fratres scientes quia hora est …" => beginning of the ecclesiastical year on first of adventnnExplicit: "Et posui seyr [sic!] montes eius in solitudinem et hereditatem eius in drachones deserti. Explicit dominicale officium tocius anni" => verse from the daily proper of the mass.nnThe manuscript contains the Proprium de tempore, the temporal of the Roman breviary with no further local specifications. The rubrics mark the beginnings of liturgical sections and sometimes give notifications for the day. Both the neat script and the very thin high quality vellum suggest it was intended as a portable reference tool, perhaps for a wealthy priest or scholar. The three initials mark the beginning of the ecclesiastical year in advent, the liturgy for the Nativity of Christ "Primo tempore alleviata est terra zabulon …" and the opening of the liturgy for Pentecost "Deus qui hodierna die corda fidelium …".nnThe decorated initials, the first with a portrait of St Paul, including the border decoration on the first folio, link the manuscript to northern Italy. The blue and green acanthus leaves springing from the initials, the form and design with sprouting buds and green leaves on top, the mauve corpus and the burnished golden grounds argue for a workshop outside the centres of book illumination of Ferrara or Milan around 1450. In the absence of a calendar, the litany and the sanctoral, the painted decoration and its style are the only indicators to location and date. Our artist might have been a follower of masters like Giorgio d'Alemania, who was active in Ferrara between 1441 and 1462, in Modena around 1476.nnIt is interesting to note that the liturgy of Pentecost, doubtless a major feast day, is enhanced with an illuminated initial (fol. 166v), rather than Easter Sunday, which is regarded as the most important feast of the ecclesiastical year. And while the encounter of St Michael with the dragon would have matched the symbolism of the Resurrection, as Christ had vanquished the powers of the evil in rising from the dead, it seems a bit out of place in connection with Pentecost.nnThis extraordinary marginal decoration must have been added to the manuscript at a point when the liturgical function of the book was not its prime purpose. The well accomplished combination of spiraling floral ornament and the animated form of dragon and human figure, one almost emerging from the other, evokes the spirit of the Italian baroque, as it is found, for example, in Polifilo Zancarli's and Odoardo Fialetti's so-called 'Vertical Grotesques'. A series of ornament etchings at the British Museum and Harvard Art Museum and was published in Venice between 1600 and 1630. (Many of his grotesque designs can be browsed on the website of The Metropolitan Museum of Art). The playfulness of the design could well point to the early 17th century. On the other hand, there is a very striking similarity with a particular dragon from a late Renaissance calligraphy book, now in the Newberry Library at Chicago: Wing MS ZW 545.S431, letter S. This was written in England in 1592 by John Scottowe, who died in 1607. Our dragon is astonishingly similar to one there, its form only slightly adjusted to the marginal space it covers in the present manuscript. Without knowing the precise provenance, it will probably be impossible to prove how a pattern from a late 16th-century English calligraphy book could have found its way into a mid 15th-century Italian breviary, but this motif with only slight variations was known in Europe before 1600, and could have been added at that date. Either the model of this dragon was very widely spread among scribes and calligraphers, or, the manuscript was once in the collection of an English calligrapher. The green and blue monochrome tones of the modelling hint at an artist who intended to somehow 'medievalize' his work and perhaps adjust it to the period of the manuscript. The colouring is typical neither for the 17th nor 15th century.nnProvenance: The original provenance of the manuscript is hard to establish as the breviary does not include a calendar or a litany. Moreover, it seems to be complete without the sanctoral. The very few annotations usually only amend the text, but do not profile an early owner. A number in pencil on the front pastedown 128/12954 [47905] is in a German handwriting, so we may assume that the manuscript was in a German private collection.nn(Lit: La miniatura a Ferrara, ed. F. Toniolo, Ferrara, 1998),Some text was too far in the book's gutter to be captured.,Full pdf available, https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/mu/islandora/object/mu%3A440808/datastream/PDF/view

"This leaf is printed on English-made paper from the Hertford mill of John Tate the Younger and has his watermark, an 8-pointed star within a double circle, which is the earliest English watermark.nnProvenance: From an offering of leaves from this edition of The Golden Legend by the Dauber & Pine Bookshops, New York City, in ca. 1928."nn"The collection of saints' lives called the Legenda anctorum, or Golden Legend (Legenda aurea) — ""worth its weight in gold""! — was composed in the 13th century by the Dominican hagiologist Jacobus de Voragine (ca. 1230–98, elected Archbishop of Genoa in 1292), and first printed in Latin at Basle in 1470 with William Caxton printing the first English version in 1483. Set in double columns and in English gothic type, this is folio ccxlviii (i.e, 248) of the 1498 London (Westminster) edition printed by Wynkyn de Worde (a.k.a., Jan van Wynkyn), England's first typographer and successor to Caxton, whose press he formally took over in 1495 after a difficult three years of litigation following Caxton's death.nnThis leaf of The Golden Legend has on its recto, and continuing on the verso, the final portion of account of the nativity of the Virgin, which recounts episodes from her mature adulthood and shows the Mother of God as a powerful figure with a powerful sense of what is due her. She promises death within 30 days to a bishop who has removed from office an unsatisfactory priest that she appreciates as specially devoted to her (he is reinstated and the bishop lives); she intercedes in another vision with her ""debonayre sone"" to reverse the damnation of a ""vayne and ryotous"" cleric who, on the other hand, has been specially devoted to her and her Hours (he reforms). In a third case, she redeems from the grasp of hell a bishop's vicar who, disappointed of promotion in office, had engaged ""a Jewe [who was] a magycyan"" to facilitate his signing in his own blood a soul-sacrificing deal with ""the devyll"" (the vicar repented). The Marian section closes with an account of ""Saynt Jherom's"" devotion to her. All this is followed on the verso by the beginning of the life of St. Adrian of Nicomedia, who before his conversion to Christianity and subsequent martyrdom was a Herculian Guard of the Roman Emperor Galerius Maximian. He is the patron saint of soldiers, arms dealers, guards, butchers, victims of the plague, and epileptics.",Measurements: 28 cm x 20 cm,Full pdf available, https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/mu/islandora/object/mu%3A439505/datastream/PDF/view

"12mo (appr. 14.5 x 10 cm, 5.75 x 4"). [1] f. Leaf from a psalter, likely part of a breviary or book of hours; the text on this leaf is part of Psalm 34 (35). One side of the leaf is visible in its mat, and it contains 6 one-line gilt initials, framed in pink and blue, with white tracery within and outlined in black. The lines' fillers are similarly pink and blue, studded with gold roundels. The text is written in black in a gothic bookhand, less angular than some; the pink used is almost reddish purple, and the blue is relatively pale. The pages are ruled in pink, 16 lines to the page.nnIn a simple cream-white mat. Excellent condition.",Full pdf available, https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/mu/islandora/object/mu%3A439484/datastream/PDF/view

"Vidimus is the name of the burgermaster, aldermen and council of Antwerp nnOf letters of Wouter van Berchem, ridder, 'in franchyne gescreven bezege met eenen zegel in groenen wasse', about rent from property at Winnende Lande in Schooten (just east of Antwerp), dated Monday in Easter (des maendags in de paeschdaye), 1336nnDated: 5 August 1553. Flemish.nn(The text of the original is not recited in French.)",Measurements: 25.5 cm x 22.25 cm (w/o seal tags), 33.75 cm (w/ seal tags),Full pdf available, https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/mu/islandora/object/mu%3A439421/datastream/PDF/view

"A VERY LARGE, VERY EARLY, AND VERY HANDSOME ROMANESQUE ILLUMINATED VELLUM MANUSCRIPT LEAF, FROM AN EARLY MARTYROLOGY IN LATIN. WITH TEXT FROM THE CONCLUSION OF THE LIFE OF ST. VALENTINE AND THE OPENING OF THE LIVES OF SAINTS FAUSTINUS AND JOVITA. (Italy, ca. 1150) 18 1/2 x 13 3/4." 45 lines of text in double column, in a fine late Carolingian hand. WITH A BEAUTIFULLY PAINTED FIVE-LINE "D" with elegant detailing (the initial measuring approximately 48 x 50 mm.). Central horizontal crease, the hair side with brownish grain in vellum (as usual), very minor soiling and other faint creases, but IN EXCELLENT CONDITION, THE FLESH SIDE OF THE LEAF UNUSUALLY BRIGHT AND APPEALING.",Full pdf available, https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/mu/islandora/object/mu%3A439430/datastream/PDF/view

"Folio (32.5 cm, 12.75"), 2ff. The "Liber interpretationis hebraicorum nominum" ("Book of Interpretation of Hebrew Names") was often found as part of the fore-matter of medieval and Renaissance Bibles penned in France, especially in Paris. It is an alphabetical list, with quite fanciful etymologies or origins, of Hebrew proper names in the Bible.nnIn hand are two large conjugate leaves (i.e., four pages), the very attractive "spread" measuring 32.5 cm x 45.5 cm (h x w) (or 12.75 x 18"). The text is penned in an extraordinarily neat, even impeccable hand in sepia ink, using a modified and sometimes semi-rounded gothic textura hand, in triple-column format with 49 lines per column, on large pages with very ample margins. One folio contains the entries Anatha to Araphah on its two sides, the other Badam to Benael. Each entered name begins with at least a large one-line initial in red or blue, and each time the third letter of a name changes from that of the previous entry, the initial of that name is a large two-line one embellished with tracery in the margin and with decorative in-fill. Thus, a typical page has 8 large red or blue initials with contrasting tracery and 55 to 60 smaller initials in red or blue.nnFine quality vellum, supple and white. As pleasing to look at, as interesting for content.",Full pdf available, https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/mu/islandora/object/mu%3A439425/datastream/PDF/view

"Textualis hand. Double-column format. Space left for one initial on each side, unaccomplished. From a binding, cut down in lower area with loss of text. Large roundish hole in text with loss to seven lines on each page."

"A VELLUM MANUSCRIPT BIFOLIUM, WITH ILLUMINATING REMNANTS OF AN HISTORIATED INITIAL, FROM A LARGE MISSAL IN LATIN. (Germany, 15th century) Slightly irregular, but approximately 14 x 20." Rubrics in red, capitals struck with red, seven small and 11 large initials in red, and the remnants of a large (54 x 52 mm.) historiated initial of St. Peter (see discussion, below). Recovered from a binding, so with a few small holes, slight wrinkling, and overall browning, that part of the text written in brown ink on the inner two pages indistinct (about half of it legible), but the text of the outer pages quite readable (and all of the red paint well preserved), inner pages rather spotted, but still an appealing item as a revealing specimen despite its defects.nnMoisture from the glue used in binding has faded or effaced much of the text on the inner pages here, and it appears to have taken away all but a tiny vestige of (red) paint used for the initial. But this loss provides us with a significant gain because it enables us to see the illuminator's technique in an especially memorable way. The areas within the initial's rectangle that would have been gold are clearly indicated by a terra cotta color that marks the presence of gesso, a thick substance usually composed of plaster, chalk, or gypsum bound together with a glue, the mixture used as a ground for gilding because it formed a raised adherent surface ideal for burnishing (the raised surfaces are pronounced on the present leaf). The same terra cotta color is seen in several small disks at the top and along the left margin, which were no doubt the ground for gold bezants, probably as part of an elaborate scrolling decorative painted border (there are significant remnants of gold adhering to the gesso in the initial, but not in the border decoration). At least as important, the disappearance of the paint from the initial has exposed the careful and rather elaborate underdrawing in brown ink for the figure of St. Peter. The recto of the leaf on the left side concludes the sanctoral cycle of the ecclesiastical year with Mass propers for the feasts of Chrysogonus (24 November) and Catherine of Alexandria (25 November). A rubric at the bottom of the second column announces the incipit of the common of saints, beginning with the Mass for the vigil of the feast of an apostle, the text of which follows on the verso beneath the initial depicting St. Peter. What can be identified on the conjugate leaf is the common for the feast day of a confessor bishop.",Full pdf available, https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/mu/islandora/object/mu%3A439433/datastream/PDF/view

"From a Book of Hours.nnTwo colourful miniatures illuminated in an engaging and rustic style depicting St Leonard raising the chains of two kneeling prisoners, set against a dramatic background, and St Florentinus, holding his book and episcopal crozier.nn2 large miniatures on recto and verso with the text for the suffrages to Sts Florentinus and Leonard (loss of pigment to the face of St Leonard, margins cropped, a few smudges). Mounted and in a double-sided frame. Provenance: This leaf is from a gathering of 8 leaves, foliated 304-311, containing 11 suffrages to saints, each with a miniature, sold at Sotheby's, 29 November 1990, lot 33. It was bought by Maggs, and leaves appeared in their European Bulletin 18 (1993), no 5 (St Nicholas, St Sebastian), and Catalogue 1167 [1994] nos 31A (St Florentinus, St Leonard), 31B (St Eligius).nnThe style of illumination suggests that the manuscript was painted in north-west France, probably Brittany, where Rennes was a major centre of book illumination. Another possibility may be Normandy, perhaps Caen.",Measurements: 19.5 cm x 14.5 cm,Full pdf available, https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/mu/islandora/object/mu%3A439498/datastream/PDF/view

"16mo (appr. 10.5 x 9 cm, 4.125 x 3.5"). [1] f. This leaf contains the latter part of Psalm 66 (67) and part of the canticle Benedicite omnia opera Domini Domino . . . (Daniel 3:57–88 & 56, according to the versification of the Vulgate). Psalm 66 joined with Psalm 62 (63) served as the third, and the Benedicite as the fourth, psalm at Lauds on Sundays and feasts in the classical Roman rite—though they are present without an intervening antiphon. Nonetheless, given their proximity, they must have formed part of that office, and this leaf is therefore likely from a book of hours or a breviary.nnThere are 1 two-line and 7 one-line initials on the recto and 7 one-line initials on the verso. The initials are in gold framed in black, pink, and blue, with white tracery inside. Line fillers are used from the end of the verse to the left hand rule, where there is room, and they are in a similar style to the initials—pink and blue with white tracery inside and with gilt roundels, rectangles, and triangular shapes, all bordered in black. The pages are delicately ruled in pink, 20 lines to the page. The text is in black textura gothic, with the exception of the word psalmus at the end of Psalm 66, which is in pink. The pink used is a reddish-purple.nnOn the outside edge of text on each page is an illuminated border with flowers in three gilt compartments: The compartments on the recto contain (from top to bottom) small blue flowers, roses, and thistle; on the verso are small blue flowers, roses, and what looks like blue lilies. Between the compartments are volutes foliated gold and blue on a background speckled black with a few touches of gold.nnIn a simple white mat with both sides visible. Some light smudging.",Full pdf available, https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/mu/islandora/object/mu%3A439495/datastream/PDF/view

Medici coat of arms on t.p.; historiated initial.,Measurements: 22 cm x 15.5 cm,Full pdf available, https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/mu/islandora/object/mu%3A439467/datastream/PDF/view

"Illuminated Vellum Manuscript Leaf from a small psalter in Latin (Italy (1350), 5 x 3 1/2"). Single column, 30 lines, written in an extremely pleasing rounded gothic book hand. Five groups of leaves from a sizable fragment: (1) basic leaves, each with several one-line initials in blue and red, typically six to eight (but ranging from two to a dozen) two-line initials in red or blue with elaborate penwork infilling and marginal embellishment in the contrasting color; (2) the same, but with at least one marginal symbol or neatly drawn doodle in brown ink as a method of emphasizing something in the text; (3) the same as the first group, but with an exceptionally charming pen drawing of at least one elf-like creature with a long pointed beard and a cap to match; (4) calendar leaves. Occasional minor soiling and other trivial defects, but almost entirely in very fine condition, especially bright and clean, and with quite ample margins.",Full pdf available, https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/mu/islandora/object/mu%3A439487/datastream/PDF/view