MSS 8

MSS 8

Ms on Vellum, from a Book of Hours, Excerpt from “Song of Ezechia” in Office of the Dead, Lauds

To Change Later

c. 1450 (?)

Latin

195 x 145 mm (100 x 80 mm)

Gothic Textualis Prescissa

Vellum (?)

No visible sign of pricking marks
Light brown ruling lines, most likely done in pencil, that extend to the vertical and horizontal ends of the page; ruling lines are more visible/distinct toward the sides of the page.

Fol. 1r:
15 lines of script occupy the center of the page. There are five illuminated initials that begin the lines of 2, 5, 9, 11, and 14. Each initial is written in golf leaf and is framed by a slightly larger polygon that roughly corresponds to the shape of the initial. Within the polygon are backgrounds in red and blue inks; intricate white designs are located within the frames of the initial and larger polygon. The final initial contains flourishes that extend into the left margin. All of the shapes that bound the gold leaf initials are pointed/dagger-like at certain corners. These pronounced lines, corners, and curves stand in stark contrast to the simple rectangular borders of the line fillers, which contain no such embellishment. The blue ink has retained its color very well, but some portions of the various red backgrounds have faded significantly. In the case that a sentence or thought ended before the furthest right vertical ruling line, line fillers are used to extend the line to the margin. Framed in black ink, they contain red and blue backgrounds with simple gold leaf designs on top. Further intricate designs appear in white within the line filler. Line fillers appear on lines 1, 4, 8, 10, and 15.

Fol. 1v:
15 lines of script in single column. There are five illuminated initials total that each comprise one line and are wider than the remaining text. Initials appear at the beginning of lines 1, 4, 6, 10, and 13. Each initial is written in golf leaf and is framed by a slightly larger polygon that roughly corresponds to the shape of the initial. Within the polygon are backgrounds in red and blue inks; intricate white designs are located within the frames of the initial and larger polygon. The second and third initials have flourishes that extend into the left margin from the framing polygon. All of the shapes that bound the gold leaf initials are pointed/dagger-like at certain corners. These pronounced lines, corners, and curves stand in stark contrast to the simple rectangular borders of the line fillers, which contain no such embellishment. In the case that a sentence or thought ended before the furthest right vertical ruling line, line fillers are used to extend the line to the margin. Framed in black ink, they contain red and blue backgrounds with simple gold leaf designs on top. Further intricate designs appear in white within the line filler. Line fillers appear on lines 3, 5, 9, and 12. There seems to be an even distribution of red and blue ink.

Fol. 1r:
More gold leaf zig-zag lines appear on this side. See above for more details about the layout and design of the line fillers.

Fol. 1v:
See mise-en-page for a brief summary of the decoration. Many of the line fillers, however, contain filled circles of gold leaf that are often surrounded by white borders of the same size or smaller white circles on either side of the gold leaf. Similar to the sharp linework of the initials’ shapes are some of the diagonal lines that appear on some of the fillers. Each line filler contains both a red background and a blue background that are divided by invisible vertical or horizontal lines. Note that these straight edges may have been accomplished by using the ruling lines as references. There seems to be no clear pattern between the gold leaf zig-zag lines and filled circles although both do appear in select line fillers. There is a tendency to craft rigid, pointed corners where lines intersect within the initials and line fillers. That being said, circles appear often within the confines of the line fillers.

Fol. 1r:
In the upper right hand corner the number 27 appears twice in pencil in a modern hand. There is a nearly straight horizontal line below the top of the page that may indicate that the manuscript has suffered some sort of water damage. The first instance of 27 appears below this line in the upper right hand corner while the second instance is located above this line on the very very upper right hand corner. No other marginalia is present.

Fol. 1v:
None.

Acquired from John Windle c. 2014
Item #36 in Catalogue 60 (Spring 2014)

8