Manuscript fragment on parchment of a south German homiliary containing Homily II.
Description:
In Latin., Script: written in Caroline minuscule, which Bischoff has dated to the second quarter of the ninth century., and Decoration: the text is divided by paragraphs into short sense units, each beginning with a 1-line uncial in red that is set apart from the text; rubrics in red uncials; punctuated with the punctus, punctus elevatus, and punctus versus.
Manuscript on goatskin of Specchio delle donne; Pseudo-Bernard of Clairvaux, Planctus beatae Mariae and Meditatio super Salve Regina; St. Bonaventure, Meditatio in Orationem Dominicam; and various other prayers and devotions
Description:
In Italian., Script: Copied by one hand in Gothico-Humanistica Libraria/Formata with single-compartment a., Decoration: Headings, paragraph marks, and 2-line plain initials in red. Art. 9 entirely written in red. A 6-line historiated initial with acanthus extensions and burnished gold bezants in the margin on f. 1r: half-length figure of Christ as Man of Sorrows, sitting in the Tomb among the Instrumens of the Passion. The illumination is attributed to the Master of the Vitae imperatorum., and Binding: Contemporary brown leather over wooden boards with square edges, damaged and rebacked; sewn on three split leather thongs. Marks of four small bosses on each cover. Marks of one clasp probably attached to the front cover. Title inscription on a partly preserved paper label on the spine: “[S]pech[io] / [d]ell[e] / [d]on[ne]." At the bottom, there are remainders of a printed paper label with handwritten number "**9."
Manuscript, on vellum, in a single hand, of a version of this fourteenth-century pastoral manual. The text is in eight sections, or Tabulae, in Latin, with extensive passages in Middle English prose and interpolated Middle English verse
Description:
In Latin and Middle English., Layout: single columns of 32 lines., Script: written in an English bookhand., Decoration: red and blue initials with contrasting penwork., and Binding: nineteenth-century morocco.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Clergy, Christian life, English poetry, English prose literature, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on paper of Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum Historiale, Books 21-25. Previously bound together with the Vinland Map (Beinecke MS 350A).
Description:
In Latin., Watermarks: Briquet Tête de boeuf 15056., Script: Written by a single scribe in a well-formed running hand with bâtarde shading and flourishes in the upper and lower margins that are often decorated with red. The same scribe also wrote the Hystoria Tartarorum (Beinecke MS 350A.1). A somewhat later hand, (approximately 1500), added running titles in the upper margin in italic script., Rubrics, Roman numerals and some simple initials in red., and Binding: Fifteenth century. Sewn on four tawed, twisted, double supports laced into grooves extending approximately 25 mm on the inside of beech boards and pegged. The spine is square and lined with vellum extending onto the inside of the boards between sewing supports. Covered in brown leather blind-tooled with concentric frames, the center panel filled in with small, square bird tools. The entire binding was tooled upside down. Impressions of the tools go through to the wood. Four fastenings, the clasps on the upper board. Restored; endbands added and clasps wanting. On the glue left from the original pastedowns, now wanting, are the offset impressions from a single, heavily annotated manuscript document that was cut in half vertically; dated 1437 from the Council of Basel.
Manuscript on parchment (thick, furry) of Speculum humane salvationis. With Pseudo-Bonaventura, Meditationes de passione Christi
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written by two scribes in similar gothic textura bookhands. Scribe 1 (ff. 1r-90v) in brown ink. Scribe 2 (ff. 91r-104v) in a darker ink and more compressed script. A few marginal comments and corrections of 15th-16th centuries., The manuscript originally contained 192 miniatures, of which 29 have been entirely and 1 (f. 53r) partially removed. Those remaining are drawn in light brown ink and tinted in brown and yellow washes with touches of red. The miniatures on ff. 7r-38v have been redrawn in black ink by a second hand. A dirty tan ground has been added to miniatures on ff. 67v and 68r., 2-line calligraphic initials, blue, at the beginning of each chapter and "figura" or type (I-initials, 6-10 lines; at the bottom of the page, e.g., f. 29v, the I breaks and runs beneath the lowest line of text), with elaborate, angular penwork and flourishes, in red (some, e. g., ff. 17r and 21r, with faces). On ff. 91r-104v 2-line blue initials, plain; spaces for some initials, including a 6-line initial on f. 91r, left blank. 1-line red or blue initials, some of the blue with red penwork. Capital A's in each Amen alternate red and blue. Guide-letters for initials throughout. Paragraph marks, blue. Tituli, inscriptions in miniatures, chapter numbers, and pagination in red throughout. Guide-numbers for pagination still visible, especially on ff. 58v-60r., The parchment is worn and dirty, with many torn and slashed folios. Apart from the folios which are missing entirely, the upper portions (with miniatures) on ff. 47, 53 and 57 have been removed., and Binding: Fifteenth century. Dutch or German? Sewn on six double, tawed cords laced into beech boards and pegged in three holes. Endband cores laid in grooves and pegged. There is an inner cover of pink, tawed skin. Over this is a chemise of thin, white tawed skin stitched to a heavy outer, tawed pigskin cover which extends about 25 mm. at the head, 70 mm. at the fore-edge, and was whip-stitched at the edges. The tail edge has been cut down. Two straps are attached to the upper cover and tacked to the extending skin at the fore-edge with a narrow, tawed thong. There are two square marks where pins were attached to the lower cover. The original sewing cords have broken and have been replaced, a part of the book resewn, and part of the chemise pocket cut away. The ends of the fastening straps and the endbands are wanting.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Devotional literature, Latin (Medieval and modern), Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment (leaves are very uneven due to irregular trimming) originally composed of roughly executed full-page illustrations and diagrams that constitute the Speculum theologie
Description:
In Latin., Script: Inscriptions written in gothic bookhand, additions in either textura or running scripts (ff. 2r. 7v)., The illustrations on ff. 1r-7v are drawn in red ink, heightened with green, orange, and yellow. The diagram on f. 8r is drawn in brown and red, touched with blue, red, yellow and gold., Folio 8r darkened and rubbed with some loss of text., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Half bound in mottled brown goatskin, gold-tooled, with a red label. Marbled paper sides.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Didactic literature, Latin (Medieval and modern), Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Theology
Manuscript, on parchment, in a single hand, containing the text of William of Nassington's poem. The Speculum vitae is followed by several other devotional texts in prose and verse, including Walter Hilton's prose commentary on Qui habitat and Bonum est; and poems on Purgatory, the evils of covetousness, a prayer to Jesus, and two dialogues, one between Christ and Man, and the second between Christ and a sinner
Description:
In Middle English, with rubrics in Latin., Ownership inscription for the Francisan convent at Lichfield?, dated 1486., Layout: double columns of 50-58 lines., Script: English bookhand., Decoration: initials in red and blue penwork., and Binding: original wooden boards, rebacked.
Subject (Geographic):
England., Connecticut, and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
William, of Nassington, -1354. and Franciscans
Subject (Topic):
Devotional literature, English (Middle), English literature, English poetry, English prose literature, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Purgatory
Manuscript on paper of a play in five acts, written for an audience of nuns by a Dominican friar. The only surviving manuscript containing this text
Description:
In Italian., Script: the original text copied by a single hand, writing Humanistica Cursiva. The changes and additions are written in Humanistica Cursiva Currens under Gothic influence., Play (Commedia) in five acts, in verse, about S. Catherine of Alexandria, written for an audience of nuns (see the frequent allusions to Christ as “sposo celeste”) by a Dominican friar whose initials are F.N.F. There are many important changes and additions by a slightly later, rapid hand., and Binding: early paper binding.
Manuscript fragment on parchment of a portion of old statutes related to the Carthusian order
Description:
In Latin., Script: written by two scribes in gothic script, one writing littera hybrida script (fols. 1-2) and the other writing littera textualis (fols. 3-4)., and Decoration: there are spaces for 2-line initials and rubrics, but they have not been added; 1-line capitals within text are in black; punctuated with the punctus, punctus elevatus, and punctus flexus; hyphenation is in the same ink as the text.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Carthusians.
Subject (Topic):
Manuscripts, Medieval and Monasticism and religious orders
