Lot 42: An important manuscript breviary in Middle Dutch

[MANUSCRIPT]

Hier beginnen die ghetiden van den advent... [Caption title on f. 1 recto] i.e. Breviary. Antwerp?: third or fourth quarter of the 15th century. Modern red morocco in pull-off slipcase, the spine titles of book and case misidentifying the manuscript as a commonplace book, and the language as Flemish. 7 x 5 inches (18 x 12.5 cm); manuscript on vellum, 140 ff., written 31 lines to the page in two columns in brown-black ink in an elegant Gothic bookhand, text in Middle Dutch; elaborate and beautiful Lombardic and Maiblumen-style initials in the text with extensive linework decorations in red and blue extending into the margin, most of these initials two- to four-line but occasionally larger, f. 20 with a charming single-column arch-topped miniature of the Nativity (the only miniature in this manuscript). Beautifully written on very high-quality vellum and in excellent condition; there are several leaf stubs, but the text appears to be continuous and the manuscript is apparently complete. The spine bears the initials J.A.G., but we have not identified this modern owner, who from pencil notes bought the book in Copenhagen.

A very graceful manuscript indeed. Vernacular breviaries are comparatively uncommon at this period. The first leaf begins with the first Sunday in Advent. The Fourth Sunday in Advent is on p. 27; Christmas-Nativity is on p. 40, with a small but charming miniature. Palm Sunday is on p. 235, and the works ends with a section of psalms for recitation. According to a pencil note laid-in, this was purchased in Copenhagen in 1956, and bound in San Francisco in 1958