Beschreibung:

ISIDORE OF SEVILLE, SENTENTIAE: a bifolium in Latin, decorated manuscript on vellum[Italy, 10th century (2nd half)]
a bifolium, each leaf c. 225 × 160–70 mm, blind-ruled for 25 lines, the first leaf in a single column, the second leaf in two columns except for the first five lines, written in Caroline minuscule, numerals and rubrics in red, the latter partly in rustic capitals and partly accented with green, two red initials also with green; the lower margin cropped without loss of text, the second leaf lacking its outer and lower margin with some loss of text, overall somewhat creased and worn but still attractive; bound into a blue cloth-covered folder with gilt leather title-piece. PROVENANCEBernard Quaritch Ltd., bought in June 2005 by:The Böhlen Collection, Bern, MS 905. TEXTThe Sententiae or Sententiarum libri tres of Isidore of Seville (c. 560–636) is a collection of sentences, i.e. quotations, mainly from the writings of Sts Gregory the Great and Augustine, intended to act as a guide for the clergy. It is in three parts (‘books’), that treat such issues as the nature of evil, the ecclesiastical orders, and the judgement of God.  This was the central bifolium of a quire so the text is continuous, from Book II, 44.4a, to Book III, 1.2: ‘[deside]rio superni roris corpus suum … periculum exhibet. Explicit liber secundus. Incipiunt capitula libri [an erased word has been replaced with:] tercii’, followed by a numbered list of 56 chapters, a rubric, and the beginning of Book III: ‘In Christi nomine incipit liber tercius. Divinę sapientae … ut perfectio[ra]’ (ed. Cazier, 1998, pp. 190–94). Copies of the text are rarer than of Isidore’s most popular work, the Etymologies, and according to the Schoenberg Database, no copy earlier than 1200 has been sold since 1930.
REFERENCESP. Cazier, Isidorus Hispalensis Sententiae, Corpus Christianorum Series Latina, 111 (Turnhout, 1998).