Manuscript on parchment of Apollonius, Ars notoria, sive Flores aurei. A text in which a direct approach to knowledge is sought by means of incantation. The text of the manuscript also includes numerous prayers, some of them consisting of exotic names
Description:
In Latin., Script: Neatly written in Gothica Textualis, mostly very regular and small, sometimes minute, with various additions by similar and later hands., Capitals in red, blue, or green at paragraph beginnings, mostly plain, but some with slight extensions; a large capital in red and blue with green tracery at beginning. Diagrams and drawings in red ink, mostly accompanied by text in brown, often with the text forming a part of the design, on parts or all of ff. 10v-17v., and Binding: Wrapper, probably modern, consisting of a piece of old parchment, perhaps cut from the blank portion of a large document with a fold and some slits, the modern sewing penetrating the back.
Manuscript on parchment of 1) Le livre de Lancelot du Lac, part III. 2) La queste del Saint Graal. 3) La mort au Roy Artus
Description:
In French., Script: Written in elegant gothic textura by one scribe, with a few interlinear corrections in later hands (14th and 15th centuries)., The decoration of this lavishly illuminated manuscript consists of seventy-seven large column miniatures, fifty-one smaller miniatures, and thirty-six historiated initials. Miniatures and historiated initials by at least two artists, the scale and quality of whose work distinguish the manuscript from contemporary and most fourteenth-century Arthurian manuscripts., Large miniatures, 12- to 11-lines, one column, framed and usually divided into two registers by thin bands, gold, red and/or blue with white highlights, edged in black, sometimes with arched canopies, often with architectural elements protruding (a few frames composed of thicker bands); figures in black pen against burnished gold (occasionally with painted gold diaperwork), blue or black grounds; chief colors: light blue, dark blue, grey, light brown, white, maroon, with some orange, green and gold. Borders on folios with large miniatures of a variety and inventiveness that defy strict classification: gold, red, and blue bands, edged in black, also running between, below and/or above text columns, terminating in dragons, dragon or human heads, groteques or, most commonly, floral spirals, some with frets, blue and red with white highlights and orange and green dots, against gold, blue and/or maroon cusped grounds, often with pinwheel-like projections. The borders are populated with magnificent grotesques and marginalia in the same style as the miniatures, many of them of a narrative or satirical character; some of these incorporate coats of arms., Small miniatures, 5- to 6-line, 1/2 text column, often with a 2-line initial inserted in upper right corner, otherwise as above, with border decoration on a smaller scale and unattached to miniature. Historiated initials, 5-line (letters without ascenders or descenders) to 13-line, red and/or blue, with geometric motifs in paler shades of red and blue, white, with touches of orange, against gold grounds, edged in black, with long dragon and floral serifs, as above, against cusped gold grounds; figures in same style as miniatures, against gold grounds., Illuminated initials, 3- to 1-line, gold, with globular serifs, edged thickly in black, against irregular red and blue grounds, also edged in black, with white floral filigree or heraldic birds, in white; flowers touched in with orange. On folios without miniatures (except ff. 2v-8v), a thin gold band runs along the left side of each text column, interrupted by initials, with a thin red pen-line on either side; adjacent, to the left, a column of I's each 3-line and blue and red alternately, with small spiral and curlicue flourishes, terminating in large flourishes in red or blue on alternate openings, each with pinwheel-like arms projecting from a central spiral with small petals and flourishes in blue and red; design of the terminal flourishes varies from one gathering to another; some with naturalistic leaves and flowers or fleurs-de-lis; terminals on ff. 1v-2r by the same hand as penwork initials on those folios. Line-fillers of varying design: two pairs of blue and red tapering bands, heraldically arranged and joined at center by red flower; undulating red line with red and/or blue balls under and over each crest and trough; red zigzag with blue infilling and spiral flourishes at terminals; alternating red and blue flowers; red and blue dots, etc., Some folios stained; f. 253 slashed in margin; f. 361 cut right across and glued together., and Binding: 2003. Full alum-tawed goatskin. See conservation treatment report for full description. Former binding stored in separate box: 18th century. Light brown calf blind- and gold-tooled. Sewing holes in inner margins.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Arthurian romances, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment of Petrus Riga, Aurora, as well as Aegidius Parisiensis, De poenis inferni, and an unrecorded poem on the vices and virtues
Description:
Script: main text copied by three hands writing Gothica Textualis Libraria: scribe A (ff. 1r-198r and 243r-279v6); B (ff. 198v-204v) wrote larger and bolder; C (ff. 205r-242v and 279v7-360r)., Decoration: headings in red, partly written in the margins, missing after f. 350r. Line fillers at the end of almost every line. Guide letters; flourished initials., Binding: 19th century, signed by P. Lefebvre: dark blue straight-grained leather over cardboard, the covers decorated with simple frames of gold-tooled fillets., and In Latin.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Peter Riga, ca. 1140-1209. and Abbaye de Cîteaux.
Subject (Topic):
Versions, Christian poetry, Latin (Medieval and modern), and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment of Lucan, Bellum civile, with scholia. Preceded by Epitaphium Lucani, 4 lines only
Description:
In Latin., Script: Main text written above and below top line in a small early gothic bookhand by two scribes. Scribe 1) ff. 1r-37r; Scribe 2) ff. 37v-91v. First letter of each verse written to left of text between double rulings or on middle of three rulings; right-hand margin justified. Scholia, primarily at beginning of codex, written in a contemporary hand., Decorative initials, red or blue, 12- to 4-line, with simple designs in opposite color, for each book. Rubrics added sporadically. Plan of Brindisi appears in the margin of f. 15v (II.610) to illustrate Caesar's siege of the city; on f. 47v is a schematic circular drawing of Paulus in the center, surrounded by Pelion, Ossa, Otrix, Pindus and Olympus., Rubbing, staining, trimming of leaves, and worm holes result in some loss of text and scholia., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Light brown pigskin, blind-tooled, with brass fastenings.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut, New Haven., and Rome
Subject (Name):
Lucan, 39-65.
Subject (Topic):
Historical poetry, Latin, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, Scholia, and History
Manuscript on parchment of the Vulgate Bible, with interpretations of Hebrew names
Description:
In Latin., Script: Copied in small Northern Gothica Textualis (Pearl Script), Decoration: Historiated initials, with a normal height of 6 lines, at beginning of each book (further on this, see the catalog description); 4-line foliate initials, half inserted, at the beginning of each prologue; running headlines and chapter numbers alternately in red and blue majuscules or roman numerals., and Binding: 18th or 19th century romantic binding by François Bozerian (Bozerian Jeune): red morocco over cardboard; both covers gold- and blind-tooled with cruciform and floral motifs; gold-tooled spine with four raised bands and a gold-tooled title, "BIBLIA SACRA."
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Remigius, of Auxerre, approximately 841-908.
Subject (Topic):
Versions, Vulgate, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
In Latin., Script: Written by a single scribe in small, neat, gothic bookhand; note in his hand on f. 209r, too trimmed to be legible., Approximately half the historiated initials have been excised. The initials, 51- to 9-line, painted gold, red and blue with white highlights and punctuated with gold dots, terminate in spiralling floral serifs, often with biting animal heads, with long projecting stems against cusped grounds. The figures are red, blue, orange and grey, against red or blue grounds, some of them diapered and decorated with groups of three white dots and gold dots. Illuminated initials, 51- to 5-line, occasionally for books (f. 74v [Joshua] and f. 175r [Nehemiah]), for the most part for the prologues, similar to the historiated initials, except infilled with interwining and angular vines with biting head terminals, red and/or blue against red or blue grounds with gold dots and set in frames of painted gold. 2-line calligraphic initials for chapters, red or blue with blue or red penwork, each attached to a column of superimposed I's, red and blue, running the full length of the text column, with penwork flourishes, especially at the terminals. Capitals for verses stroked in red. Running headings and chapter numbers in alternating red and blue letters or numbers., and Binding: Date? Resewn on four single, round, vegetable fiber cords which are frayed out and adhered inside the oak boards. There are no endbands, but traces of alum tawed endband cores and sewing supports remain in the holes in the boards. The spine is square. Some lettering in ink on the fore-edge. Covered in red-brown calf, with an exceptionally large stamp of the Virgin and child in an aureole within concentric frames, one with an inscription, on the upper board and diamonds filled with crosses, roses and IHS in circles on the lower. The latter ornaments are also stamped on the turn-ins underneath the pastedowns. Rebacked and edges repaired. Upper board detached. Not the original and possibly not an early binding. Rebacked in the Yale Conservation Studio in 1982. The upper and lower covers are lined with single leaves, pasted down, of a missale plenum (11th century?). Portions of Dominica VI post Pentecosten, Feria IV of that week (upper cover), an unidentified mass of the Sanctorale, Dominica III post Pentecosten (lower cover). Where they occur, the texts of the proper chants are notated in German neumes in campo aperto. Some of the chants are cited by incipit; these are usually not noted. The Alleluia for DMC III is Domine in virtute; that for DMC VI is Eripe me. (We thank K. D. Hartzell for his assistance with these fragments.)
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Versions, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Missals
Manuscript on parchment (trimmed). The codex is probably a normal French Bible but is so badly bound, with lacunae throughout, that we cannot be certain
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written by a single scribe in a neat, but slightly round, gothic bookhand, on the top line. Notes for initials and chapter numbers in margins, in an informal cursive script. Numerous corrections between rulings in lower margin; the corrections were then written in a neat gothic bookhand next to the text., The surviving historiated initials, 8-, 7-, 6-, and 5-line, are of varied design, and are all badly damaged. In type and style they are somewhat comparable to initials in mid-13th century Parisian manuscripts. For the most part, the initials are red or blue, with white highlights; the body of the letter on a dark blue, pink, or grey ground, with white dots; curling floral and dragon serifs, some with cusps (orange, red, and green); descenders (up to 2/3 of text column) same color as body of letter, with adjoining strips of pink, blue, or grey, often with cusped floral terminals, rampant dragons; all sections thickly edged in black. Other historiated initials, blue or pink, with cusped serifs, against a brown ground with delicate floral filigree in white; thick black edging. Three historiated initials (ff. 25r, 90v, and 117v) in architectural settings, in dark blue, blue, red, pink, and gold, with elaborate floral pendants below. The historiated initials for two books, f. 1r (Proverbs) and f. 63v (Philippians) were cut out; script and decoration have been restored with unusual care (15th century); large floral buds (green, orange, yellow, and/or pink) on short green stems against purple or black grounds., Illuminated initials, 4- to 2-line for prologues, pink or blue with white highlights, occasionally with gold; otherwise, diminutive versions of historiated initials types (f. 63 [Prologue to Philippians] with a small bird); one initial of this type f. 35v (John), originally historiated, has also been restored. 4- to 2-line initials for chapters, set into text columns, red and blue with blue and red penwork flourishes running along column into margins, some with animal-head terminals; some initials in bottom line with unusual penwork pendants. Capitals in text stroked in red. Chapter numbers, red and blue, often with flourishes; running headings, red and blue; rubrics in red throughout; corrections surrounded by undulating red lines, occasionally with trailing penwork flourishes., and Binding: 18th-19th centuries. Vellum case. Paper boards are composed of fragments of several French legal documents of the 16th and 17th centuries.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Versions, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment of Latin Bible, annotated (art. 3), with various related and unrelated notes (artt. 1-2).
Description:
In Latin., Script: Probably copied by several similar hands, writing a small Late Carolingian script; and the headings and the poem on f. 2v (art. 3), both in red ink, are written in display script., Decoration: red headings and heightening of majuscules; red and blue paragraph marks, initials, and litterae duplices; large historiated "I" with three roundels depicting scenes from creation on f. 3v; pen-and-ink drawing in the lwoer margin of f. 59v., and Binding: 20th century white parchment over cardboard; spine with four raised bands, gold fillets, and a gold-tooled title "BIBLIA"/ "CA. 1200" in the second and third compartments.
Manuscript fragment on parchment of an unidentified commentary on the biblical book of Wisdom
Description:
In Latin., Script: written in a small gothic script with frequent abbreviations (littera textualis currens)., and Decoration: 1-line initials are in black; punctuated with the punctus; quotations from Wisdom are underlined in black.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Criticism, interpretation, etc and Manuscripts, Medieval
