Original leaf from a medieval manuscript pocket Bible, written in Italy (probably Bologna), c. 1250. Latin rotunda gothic script, ruled in red & written in brown ink in two columns of 50 lines on animal vellum. (197 x 130 mm - 7.9 x 5.2").
Rubricated chapter numbers, three multi-lined illuminated Lombard style initials and elegant marginalia in red and blue. The gothic text is written in extremely tiny & very well formed letters – so small that there are ten lines of text to the inch!
This leaf begins Luke 3:1 – 5:20: ''Anno…'' (Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar...A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths...I indeed baptize you with water; but there shall come one mightier than I , the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to loose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire...Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased...Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God...Thou shalt adore the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve...He hath given his angels charge over thee, that they keep thee...Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God...Physician, heal thyself...).
Provenance: ex-collection Otto F. Ege - Dean of the Cleveland Institute of Art & Lecturer on History of the Book in the School of Library Science, Western Reserve University. Sister leaves are # 11 in the Portfolio of Fifty Original Leaves (reference: Gwara Hand List, HL-11). Also see Cary Collection - Rochester Institute (online example) and other museums.
Shipped in archival 14x11'' mat.
