Beschreibung:

BIBLE, with the Prologues attributed to St Jerome and the Interpretation of Hebrew Names, DECORATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [northern France, mid-13th century] 160 x 123mm. iii paper, i as pastedown + 469 leaves + iv paper, iv as pastedown: 1-11 1 6 , 12 8 , 13-29 1 6 , 30 1 3 (of 16, xiv-xvi cancelled blanks), COMPLETE, two columns of 54 lines written in a small gothic bookhand between four verticals and 55 horizontals ruled in plummet, justification: 118 x 78mm, rubrics in red, running headings and chapter numbers alternately blue and red, two-line initials alternately in red flourished with light blue and in dark blue flourished with red, LARGE FLOURISHED INITIALS of five to ten lines in height with staves of red and dark blue often extended into the margin, generously flourished in red and light blue, early marginal annotations (cropped into flourishing, many leaves creased, some later pen-trials). 17th-century leather over pasteboard (worn); brown leather slipcase. A 13TH-CENTURY BIBLE FROM THE LIBRARY OF NICOLE GILLES, FIRST HISTORIAN OF FRANCE AND BUSINESS-PARTNER OF ANTOINE VéRARD PROVENANCE: 1. This is typical of the small Bibles skilfully produced on very fine vellum in Paris and the scriptoria of northern France. It is suggested that such portable Bibles were made for use by members of the newly established orders of mendicant friars: C. de Hamel, The Book. A History of the Bible , 2001, pp.137-139. 2. Nicole Gilles (d.1503): Nicolas Gilles inscribed on the front pastedown; probably the single-volume Bible in the inventory of the books in his house on the rue St Antoine in Paris, which was made on the death of his wife in 1499: une Bible escripte en parchemin en lettre de forme reliée entre deux ais couverte de veloux rouge (M.R. Doucet, Les bibliothèques parisiennes au XVIe siècle , pp.83-9, no.46). Nicole Gilles has been recognized as the first historian, rather than chronicler, of France with his Annales et chroniques de France , published probably in 1492 and in eight further editions by 1621. Gilles made his career in royal service: by 1475 he was notary and secretary to Louis XI and from 1484 controller of the treasury to Charles VIII. Some of his wealth was invested in the partnership that launched Antoine Vérard's publishing career but was ended by Vérard in 1491, although unbound stock was still in Gilles's possession in 1499. The inventory records 43 manuscripts but not all his books appear there since an otherwise unrecorded chronicle, used for his history, also bears his name (Bern, Stadtsbibliothek Ms 70). He clearly liked to inscribe his books, whether a newly commissioned copy like Paris, BnF Ms fr.17088, written for him in Paris in 1474 or earlier manuscripts like this Bible or BnF Ms fr.789, an Alexander Romance of c.1300, bought in Tours in 1484 (R. Scheurer, 'Nicole Gilles et Antoine Vérard', Bibliothèque de l'école des chartes , 128, 1993, pp.415-20). 3. Jaques written in margin of f.387v. 4. Purchased Dawson's Bookshop, Los Angeles, 20 August 1931 -- donated to SMS 6 December 1937. CONTENT: Bible with the customary prologues ff.1-426v; Interpretation of Hebrew Names ff.427-469v. This Bible follows the pattern for texts and decoration established during the earlier 13th century in Paris. Each Biblical book and each prologue opens with a large flourished initial which often forms a partial border, demonstrating the status accorded to the prologues in the newly systematized arrangement. The fine parchment and small script make it possible for the whole Bible to be contained within a single, easily handled volume, while the attractive decoration lightens and clarifies the densely written text.