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. (197x130mm)
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 I Corinthians 13:4 – 15:1: “[cari]tas non emulatur...” (Charity envieth not, dealeth not perversely; is not puffed up; Is not ambitious, seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger, thinketh not evil...When I was a child I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I put away the things of a child We see now through a glass in a dark manner; but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then I shall know even as I am known. And now there remain faith, hope, and charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity... He that speaketh in a tongue, speaketh not unto men, but unto God...).
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 to this one are # 11 in the Ege Portfolio of Fifty Original Leaves (Reference: Gwara Hand List 11). For other sister leaves see Cary Collection - Rochester Institute (online example) and other museums.
Shipped unmatted
