TEXT FROM ADVENT.

A VELLUM MANUSCRIPT LEAF FROM A LECTIONARY IN LATIN.

(Austria [Salzburg]: second half of 12th century). Unfolded: 350 x 296 mm. (13 3/4 x 11 3/4 mm.). Double column, 30 extant lines, in a lovely proto-gothic hand.

Rubrics in red, two four-line initials in red. Recovered from a binding and thus with top margin and a small part of text trimmed away, verso rather darkened with soil and glue (part of the text readily legible, the rest recoverable with effort), negligible wormholes and small cuts, but still a pleasing leaf, with the recto rather clean and quite easy to read.

This lectionary fragment, which contains extracts from patristic writings for the season of Advent, demonstrates a majestic, highly regular, and graceful proto-gothic book hand. The oval-shaped elongation of Caroline letter forms that are characteristic of 12th century book hands, along with the mixture of rustic and uncial capitals our scribe has used for section titles appear particularly pleasing in the lovely, uncramped hand at work here. The majority of the text is from St. Augustine of Hippo's "Quaestiones Evangeliorum," which provides a series of questions and answers regarding the Gospels of Luke and Matthew. The section of the work here, XLIV, discusses Luke 17:34-35, in which Jesus tells of the coming Kingdom of God. This text is preceded by Pope Gregory the Great's homily for the second Sunday of Advent. The final column of text on the verso is unfortunately rather rubbed and therefore difficult to identify, but the headline indicates that it originates from a sermon of Pope Leo the Great. The present leaf almost certainly belonged to a Lectionary owned by a Romanesque church in Salzburg, a manuscript that was later dismembered for use in bookbinding. According to the source from which we purchased this leaf, it was shown in 1893 to Willibald Hauthaler (1843-1922), the Medieval historian (and later the Abbot of St. Peter's, Salzburg), who wrote the identification along the lower edge. It was later owned by the Salzburg-based merchant, artist, and collector Carl von Frey (1826-96). It appeared at Christie's in 2010 where (along with five sister leaves) it sold for £13,970. (ST20617f)

Price: $2,500.00