Rare books from Les Enluminures

ILLUMINATED MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPT IN LATIN ON PARCHMENT, Northern Italy, c. 1440-1470. 203 x 153 mm. 70 folios, complete (collation, i-vii10), remnants of quire and leaf signatures, flourished vertical catchwords, written in a humanist minuscule on 30 long lines (justification, 147-149 x 95-100 mm), horizontal lines ruled very lightly in ink, single vertical bounding lines ruled in lead, prickings remain in top and bottom margins on some leaves, rubrics and paragraph marks in pale red, two-line red or blue initials with contrasting pen flourishes in violet or red, two five-line blue initials, ff. 29v and 35, infilled and on square grounds of elaborate penwork; f. 64v, seven-line polished GOLD INITIAL with white vinestem decoration extending along twenty lines of text and into the upper margin, infilled and edged in deep red and blue with numerous tiny silver dots; f. 1, five-line polished GOLD HISTORIATED INITIAL of St. Jerome, bearded and dressed in red, standing before a Crucifix, with a hilly… Read More

DECORATED MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPT IN LATIN AND ITALIAN ON PARCHMENT AND PAPER, Central or Southern Italy (Lanciano?), c. 1450-1475. 135 x 90 mm. 109 folios preceded and followed by single flyleaves, watermark in Piccard, complete (collation, i-vii10 viii5 [of 10; five leaves canceled with no loss of text] ix-x12 xi10), chiefly written in five semitextualis or hybrida hands on 26-31 lines, two hands on long lines and three in two columns (justification, 95 x 65-70 mm.), red rubrics and underlining, 2- to 4-line red initials, 4- to 5-line initials in blue and red, three 7-line initials in blue and red (ff. B 1, 1v, 5). BINDING: Late fifteenth-century Italian blind-stamped brown leather over wooden boards, sewn on three cords with remnants of blue endbands, clasps removed, remnant of upper clasp on front fore-edge visible, parchment pastedowns, originally blank. TEXT: This small-format Franciscan miscellany is an example of a mendicant pocket-book, designed for easy portability. This one is still preserved… Read More

A BEAUTIFUL ILLUMINATED COPY OF THE COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL BY HAIMO OF AUXERRE COMMISSIONED BY Jean II Budé. Illuminated manuscript on parchment, in Latin, France, Paris, c. 1460-1480 and c. 1500. Dimensions 278 x 105 mm. 193 folios, catchwords, guide words, numerous small initial in red and blue, TEN LARGE DECORATED INITIALS in blue or red and gold accented with foliage and flowers, LARGE FRONTISPIECE MINIATURE with acanthus leaf border and bas-de-page the arms of Jean Budé. BINDING: Late eighteenth-century red morocco attributed to Bozerian, with fitted red slipcase. TEXT: This manuscript contains the commentary on the Epistles of Paul by Haimo of Auxerre apart from Romans and 1-2 Corinthians which never intended to be included. Haimo of Auxerre taught at the school of the Benedictine house of Saint-Germain at Auxerre in the ninth-century and is the author of many widely-read commentaries on the Song of Songs, Revelations, and the Minor Prophets, as well as of many sermons. He was best… Read More

MEDIEVAL SERMON MANUSCRIPT IN A FIFTEENTH-CENTURY CHAINED BINDING, CHAIN INTACT, decorated manuscript on parchment, in Latin, Austria (Vienna?) or Southern Germany, c. 1275-1300. 182 x 127 mm. 190 folios, complete, written in a rapid Gothic hand with cursive influence in two columns of thirty-two to thirty-seven lines (justification, 141-143 x 96-100 mm.), parchment ruled in brown ink, quire signatures, guide notes for rubrication, red rubrics, capitals and names of cited authorities stroked in red, rhymed phrases underlined in red, red paraphs, two- to three-line plain red initials, two-line red initial with pen flourishing in red (f. 131v), occasional scribal corrections and marginalia. BINDING: Fifteenth-century blind-tooled and -stamped red calf with eight engraved and bossed cornerpieces, intact fore-edge clasp, and chain hasp with intact chain, with two manuscript fragments serving as front flyleaf and lower pastedown. Chained libraries were a late medieval solution to the problem of providing… Read More

SUBSTANTIAL BOOK OF HOURS IN GOOD CONDITION WITH MANY LARGE AND SMALL MINIATURES. Illuminated manuscript on parchment, in Latin, Southern Netherlands, Ghent or Bruges, c. 1460-1470. Dimensions 179 x 124 mm., 118 folios, complete, written in brown ink in a textualis formata bookhand on 19 lines, one-line initials, 2- to 3- line champ initials, fourteen 6-line initials, one HISTORIATED INITIAL (5-lines), ELEVEN SMALL MINIATURES (6-lines), FOURTEEN FULL-PAGE MINIATURES, 28 FULL BORDERS. BINDING: nineteenth-century dark brown calf, gold-tooled, contains words in gilt (mostly rubbed out) MARIE (front board) and ROSARIE (back board), gauffered edges. ILLUSTRATION: Painted in the style of the Masters of the Beady Eyes, this Book of Hours is distinguished by its unusual and enigmatic details. The artist is eager to represent architectural and structural details, which sometimes lead to curious spatial arrangements and juxtapositions. PROVENANCE: The painting style situates the production of this book in Ghent… Read More

MEDIEVAL ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT IN ITALIAN ON PAPER, Northeastern Italy, Veneto (Venice?), c. 1474. Dimensions 328-332 x 230 mm., 188 folios, missing at least three leaves, written in brown ink in an Italian cursiva libraria script, EIGHT ILLUMINATED INITIALS of seven lines, one-line paraphs in red or blue, simple two- to four-line in red or blue initials. BINDING: re-cased using original binding materials of brown half leather over bevelled wooden boards with three double bands, remains of four straps present. TEXT: Italian translation of Gregory the Great's Moralia in Job, one of the most important and widely copied texts of the Middle Ages. Though forty copies of this translation survive, this volume is unusual in its incorporation of Venetian dialectal forms. All other copies are in European institutions and have not been on the market for the last century. PROVENANCE: scribal colophon on f. 190v provides a date for this manuscript's completion and helps localize its production within Italy:… Read More

MISCELLANY WITH ELEVEN IMPORTANT TEXTS REFLECTING THE SPIRITUALITY OF THE MODERN DEVOTION. In Latin, Low German, and Dutch, decorated manuscript on paper, Netherlands (Southeastern?) or West Germany, c. 1460-1480. Dimensions 244 x 143, 222 folios on paper, apparently complete, written by at least four scribes in expert cursive gothic bookhands in 28-30 long lines, seven ORIGINAL TABS or place-markers made from white leather strips, blank spaces for 2-line initials, guide notes for rubricator, majuscules stroked with red, 6- to 2-line red initials. BINDING:
modern half-tawed leather and exposed wood, two brass clasp-and-catch fastenings, straps missing, fastening back to front, spine with four raised bands. TEXT:
A carefully thought-out miscellany that reflects the spirituality of the Modern Devotion (religious movement) and includes the Imitation of Christ, five visionary texts describing journeys to Heaven and Hell (one copied twice), and six texts on the Passion of Christ. PROVENANCE: Written in… Read More

FOURTEENTH-CENTURY MANUSCRIPT OF A RARE NEW TESTAMENT COMMENTARY COPIED BY A NAMED SCRIBE. In Latin, decorated manuscript on parchment, Southwest Flanders or Hainaut (Tournai?), c. 1350. Dimensions 240 x 170 mm., 120 folios, complete, catchwords in red and brown ink, quire signatures, written by a single scribe in a university bookhand, scrolling cadels at top lines sometimes in human and animal forms, numerous red and blue/black penwork initials of five to seven lines. BINDING: Nineteenth-century marbled boards and doublures, parchment covering corners and spine, spine title in red and black with filigreed decoration in red. TEXT: A New Testament commentary, Jacobus Folquerius's Viridarium Gregoriana, mined from many of Gregory the Great's works, drawing occasionally on Alulfus of Tournai's Gregorialis. The text is known in only three other manuscripts; this copy was, until now, apparently unknown, and is certainly the only of its kind on the market. PROVENANCE: Based on the script, this manuscript… Read More

MANUSCRIPT COMBINING A LATIN NEW TESTAMENT AND COMMENTARIES BY NICHOLAS OF LYRA. In Latin, decorated manuscript on paper, Northeastern Netherlands or Northwestern Germany, c. 1450-1475. Dimensions 275 x 198 mm., 383 folios, apparently complete, written in a formal cursive gothic bookhand without loops in two columns of 38 lines, red initials, nine- to fifteen-line blue or parted red and blue initials, added running titles, which continue to part two of the volume; ff. 146-end, copied in a very neat controlled hybrida script, red initials 3- to-10 line (occasionally blue), a few with pen decoration,10-line red initial, six 10-line parted red and blue initials. BINDING: seventeenth century(?) plain vellum over pasteboard with yap edges. TEXT: This sizeable volume combines a copy of the New Testament, lacking only the Gospels, with the Commentaries by Nicholas of Lyra on the same books of the New Testament. Although possibly of independent origin, these two sections are contemporary and were united very… Read More

MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPT OF A THEOLOGICAL COMMENTARY BY THOMAS AQUINAS. In Latin, decorated manuscript on paper, Central Italy, c. 1450-1500. Dimensions 225 x 237 mm., 134 folios, copied by two scribes in small gothic book hands, red and blue initials throughout. BINDING: reversed calf over pasteboards (eighteenth-century?). TEXT: St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), a Dominican friar and Doctor of the Church, composed his commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard while teaching in Paris in the 1250s. It was his first major work on theology, in which he presented ideas that were to be elaborated in the Summa contra Gentiles and Summa Theologica, the latter destined to become the standard textbook of Catholic theology for centuries to come. When Aquinas was teaching, the Sentences had been the standard theology textbook since its compilation in the twelfth century. Our manuscript includes only book one, and many manuscripts of this text in fact include only a single book (or books). Only one other copy of… Read More

RARE DUTCH TRANSLATION OF A TEXT IMPORTANT TO THE RELIGIOUS REFORMERS KNOWN AS THE DEVOTIO MODERNA. In Middle Dutch, manuscript on paper, Southern part of the Northern Netherlands, probably Limbourg, c. 1475-1500. Dimensions 207 x 140 mm., 188 folios, written in a littera hybrida by one hand, skillful and vary attractive penwork initials. BINDING: CONTEMPORARY, wooden boards covered with brown leather, blind-tooled with double and triple fillets, two brass clasps. TEXT: This neatly written codex includes the second Dutch translation of a compilation of early Christian hagiographic texts, presenting the lives of third- and fourth-century hermits as examples worthy of imitation. Appearing high on the list of recommended reading for the Devotio Moderna, the Vaderboec in this translation that originated not far from the heartland of the Modern Devotion is nevertheless very rare. PROVENANCE: Copied in the Northern Netherlands, probably Limbourg, c. 1475-1500; later owned by brother Conrad Melis of… Read More

MANUSCRIPT FOR CARTHUSIAN MONKS ON HOW TO OBSERVE THE LITURGY. In Latin, decorated manuscript on paper, Southern France (Méounes-les-Montrieux), November 15, 1544.Dimensions 145 x 90 mm. 96 folios on paper, watermark: a cross on a mount (unidentified), complete, written in a gothic cursive bookhand in a single column on 25 lines, red rubrics and initials. BINDING: modern half binding in cream-colored parchment over pasteboards, marbled papers on covers, pastedowns and flyleaves, five raised bands on spine, in excellent condition. TEXT: A handbook for the Carthusian liturgy for new priests. This is a manuscript about the Mass and Divine Office, setting forth the rules that governed the complex liturgical life of a Carthusian monastery. The information it contains is thus very different than the contents of much more common liturgical manuscripts like Missals or Breviaries. How widely this text was disseminated within the Carthusian Order remains a question for further research. PROVENANCE: copied at… Read More

FASCINATING MEDIEVAL BOOK OF HOURS WITH EXTENSIVE ILLUMINATIONS BY THREE DIFFERENT ARTISTS. In Latin and some French, illuminated manuscript on parchment, Southern Netherlands, Mons, c. 1460 (original portion), c. 1480-1490 (updated). Dimensions 167 x 116 mm., 199 folios, lacking one text leaf, written by two different scribes in gothic textualis bookhand in single column on 17 lines; BINDING: seventeenth century brown calf over wooden boards, spine with four raised bands, gold-tooled, gilt title ("OFFICIU / BEATEM / VIRGIN", partly worn out), gilt edges. ILLUSTRATION: 22 full-page miniatures within full rinceaux borders by the Mildmay Master (13), the Master of Philippe de Croÿ (7), and a third Mons illuminator, follower of Simon Marmion (2), and 4 small miniatures by the Mildmay Master, additional sixteen full rinceaux borders, and 5-line initials in pink or blue on burnished gold grounds. The Mildmay Master was responsible for the core of the original manuscript; the artist paints elongated… Read More

SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY ILLUMINATED DOCUMENT FOR A SPANISH NOBLE FAMILY. In Spanish, illuminated manuscript on parchment, Spain (Valladolid), May 8, 1622. Dimensions 310 x 220 mm., 87 folios complete, some leaf and quire signatures, prickings visible, written in a humanist bookhand in 28 long lines, headings in gold capitals on grounds of blue and dark red, TWO FULL-PAGE MINIATURES. BINDING: Modern (19-20th century?) reddish purple velvet binding over wooden boards, with a center ornament and border impressed in the velvet, two ornamental silver clasps, housed in a protective box. TEXT: This Carta Executoria, granted on behalf of King Philip IV of Spain (1605-1665), authenticates the nobility of Juan de Nurueña y Alava, thereby granting him exemption from taxes along with other perks. Our document is the formal copy that was commissioned and retained by the family, copied in a beautiful script, and lavishly illuminated. ILLUSTRATION: Two full-page miniatures. f. 2v,Immaculate Conception of Mary with the… Read More

ILLUMINATED CALENDAR FROM A PARISIAN PRAYER BOOK. In Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, France (likely Paris), c. 1400-1420. Dimensions 155 x 107 mm. 12 folios on parchment, (collation, one quire of twelve leaves), ruled in plummet, written in a gothic quadrata bookhand in black and red ink on 17 long lines, with 12 illuminated initials in burnished goldleaf on grounds of blue and purple with white tracery, with ivy leaf foliate and floral ornament in goldleaf extending into margin in the upper left quadrant of the leaves.
BINDING:Modern binding in quarter black Morocco. TEXT: Calendars from medieval manuscripts are rich sources for anyone who wants to learn about the medieval world. Without today's modern devices, they were how people knew what day it was and calculated the special feast days, such as Easter, that were so important to religious life. Most feasts were written in black (or dark brown) ink, whereas the more important feasts appear in red (hence, our term "red-letter day,"… Read More