Manuscript on parchment (trimmed) of 1) Robert de Borron, Joseph d'Arimathie. 2) Robert de Borron, Lestoire de Saint Graal. 3) Robert de Borron, Lestoire de Merlin. Lestoire de Merlin was copied in 1357, by Jehan de Loles. The other two works are probably contemporary, but rubbing on the first folio of each work suggests that they were once bound separately
Description:
In French., Script: Written by five scribes in gothic textura. Scribe 1: ff. 1r-11r (Joseph d'Aramathie). Scribes 2: ff. 12r-83v and 3: ff. 84r-140r (Lestoire de Saint Graal). Scribe 4: ff. 141r-317v (Lestoire de Merlin), except ff. 149r-156v, the second gathering, written by Scribe 5. Scribe 4 is identified as Jehan de Loles from the colophon. Guides for rubrics written in lower or inner margin. Inscriptions adjoining miniatures in 14th-century cursive, brown or black ink, are possibly either later identifications or instructions to the minaturist., The decoration, the work of four hands, is of relatively poor quality. Three large miniatures, 11- to 13-line and two column, blue and/or red frames, gold squares in corners, surrounded by a thin gold band, with gold ivy leaves on black hair-lines at midpoints and corners. Miniatures accompanied by 3/4 bar borders, red, blue and gold, with white highlights; dragon and ivy terminals, with additional ivy extending from the gold segments. 182 small miniatures, 8-line, one column, most in bottom margin, suggesting execution after the original illumination had been completed: thin gold, red, and blue frames, single gold ivy leaf on hair-line stem at each corner; gold and diapered grounds., One historiated initial, f. 186v, 3-line, red against a blue and gold ground, knight and three men outside tent. Illuminated initials, 6- to 4-line, for books and chapters, red against irregular blue grounds with white highlights; gold dots in cusps at corners, infilled with blue and red ivy against gold. 2-line initials (guide-letters remain), gold, against irregular blue, orange, and red grounds with white highlights; black hair-lines at corners. Rubrics in red throughout, with guides for rubrics written in lower or inner margin., and Binding: Sixteenth century. Worn purple velvet over boards, with massive brass corner pieces and fastenings; plaque with arms removed from front cover. Made for Henri, comte de Clermont-Tonnerre.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Robert, de Boron, 13th cent.
Subject (Topic):
Arthurian romances, French literature, and Manuscripts, Medieval
In Latin., Script: Written by a single scribe in a neat gothic bookhand. Marginal notes and/or corrections by original scribe and several later ones., Historiated initials, 8- to 5-line, many excised, with figures (red and blue) in the summary, linear style characteristic of early 14th century French manuscript illumination; blue or pink with white highlights, with figures against gold grounds; descenders composed of dark blue, blue and red segments, often decorated with gold balls; long cusped floral serifs with gold balls, occasionally with additional trailing foliage, rabbits, birds, etc., Illuminated initials, 7- to 5-line (larger for I initials) for prologues, blue or pink with white highlights, cusped serifs, filled with curling vines, red trilobe leaves, and dragon heads, against red, orange, and gold grounds. 5-, 4-, and 2-line initials for chapters in red and blue with blue and red penwork, with elaborate calligraphic extensions running the full length of the text column; extensions composed either of two thick red lines with a thin blue one in between or two thick blue lines with a thin red line, the arrangement alternating for successive initials; with adjacent superimposed J's, alternating red and blue, also running the full length of column; elaborate vertical terminal flourishes. The more elaborate calligraphy for initials between ff. 360v and 370v appears to be by a different hand. Chapter numbers in margins, in alternating red and blue figures, with blue and red vertical hatching and red, blue, and occasionally purple flourishes. Running headings in similar manner. Marginal corrections boxed in red; glosses frequently underlined in red., First folio badly mutilated., and Binding: 19th-20th century. Original sheepskin covering of spine and part of boards, blind-tooled, adhered on a recent binding. Wooden boards also probably original. Stubs of three (originally four) fastening straps, reinforced with vellum, on upper cover.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Versions, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment (thin) containing 1) List of Epistle and Gospel readings (incipit and explicit) for the liturgical year. 2) Survey of the subdivisions of the Bible. 3) Bible text. 4) Interpretationes nominum Hebraicorum. Two folios are missing between ff. 184 and 185, two folios between ff. 282 and 283, one folio between ff. 295 and 296, all with loss of text
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written in very small Northern Gothica Textualis., Red headings and red heigthening of the majuscules. Alternately red and blue pain initials (1 line) in art. 4. Alternately red and blue flourished initials (2 lines) with long marginal extensions. Beautiful larger flourished initials in the same colours with very developed penwork, in which both colours are sometimes combined, at the beginning of the various books and sections. On f. 1r large littera duplex and on f. 8r (beginning of Genesis) large initial I with very fine penwork, both the full height of the text area and in the same colours. Running titles in red and blue., Many leaves and the lower outer corners of all leaves damaged by moist., and Binding: Sixteenth century. Blind-tooled brown calf over thin wooden boards, decorated with rolls. Rebacked. Remnants of two clasps fixed to the rear cover. On the spine two labels, the upper one with the gold-tooled title in Gothic, nineteenth century: "Biblia sacra cum interpretationibus Hebraicorum nomine [sic] in fine"; the lower one with gold-tooled inscription in Roman type "MS.P." On the first fly-leaf (f. Iv) a list of Biblical Kings.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Versions, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript leaf, on vellum, in a single hand, of part of the book of Ecclesiasticus (Sirach).
Description:
In Latin., Layout: double columns of 46 lines each., Script: gothic., and Decoration: Three illuminated initials with bar borders; illuminated chapter numbers.
Manuscript fragment on parchment of the Breviari d'Amor by Matfre Ermengaud. This fragment, the sole example of troubadour lyric in North America outside of the Morgan Library, contains sections II.15913-16015 of the poem, which details the ten punishments of hell. Marginal notes in two later hands are present
Description:
In Old Occitan (Old Provençal)., Accompanied by: nineteenth-century printed description in French and translation into modern French., Script: main text in vernacular Gothic bookhand. Marginal notes in a late medieval hand and an early modern hand., Decoration: nine four-line initials in alternating red and blue with contrasting penwork. Two two-line initials in red. A single red capitulum mark. Rubrics present in red., and Layout: single column of thirty lines; the initial letter of each line is set slightly apart. Light brown ink.
Manuscript on parchment. Includes computistical mnemonic verses for finding the date of Septuagesima for all the years of the 19-Years Cycle (Septuagesima interval prayer).
Description:
In Latin., Script: copied by one hand, writing Gothica Textualis Formata in two sizes. The scribe Pierre Berger, priest of the church of Our Lady in Bourg-en-Bresse (France, dépt. de l'Ain), is unrecorded., and Binding: 18th century (?). Plain leather. On the flat spine and partly on the covers, a label with the handwritten title "Heures / manuscrites / Sur Vélin. / d'une belle / Conservation".
Manuscript on parchment of 14th century French breviary; includes a liturgical calendar, a ferial psalter, an Office for the Dead, a Temporal, a Sanctoral, a Common of the Saints, Readings, and a hymn in honor of St. Nicholas
Description:
Script: Copied in Northern Gothica Textualis Libraria. Art. 7 is written in the same script, but by a differnet hand, and in the15th century. Art. 8 and several other additions are written in Gothica Cursiva Libraria/Currens., Decoration: Yellow heightening of majuscules; red rubrics; underlinings and paragraph marks; alternately red and blue 1-line plain initials; 2-line (rarely 3-line) gold dentelle initials on a blue and/or red background with penwork; and several large foliate initials, anywhere between 4 and 8 lines, in the same colors, with decorative staff in the intercolumnary space or in the left margin. The lost first page of art. 2 possessed a large initial and full border in the same style. The 15th century addition has red rubrics and is decorated with 2-line red plain initials., Binding: 17th century undecorated brown sheepskin over cardboard, sewn on four double cords. The binding is very damaged and the spine is missing., and In Latin.
Manuscript leaf, on parchment, in a single hand, probably from an Anglo-Norman breviary
Description:
In Latin., Layout: double columns of 25 lines., Script: gothic., and Decoration: Rubricated. Two illuminated initials with long marginal extensions; two smaller initials.
Manuscript on parchment of prayers, liturgical regulations, and offices
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written by several scribes in gothic bookhand., Ornate initials in red, blue, and violet., and Binding: Eighteenth century. Damaged brown leather over pasteboards, recovered in paper. Red leather gilt label on spine reading: "Breviarum Manuscriptum".
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Franciscans
Subject (Topic):
Manuscripts, Breviaries, and Manuscripts, Medieval
