Universal Chronicle.

[Incipit:] De la creation du monde iusques ala fondacion de romme.

[Tours, workshop of Jean Bourdichon] c. 1480.

4to (235 x 162 mm.). [234]p. ON VELLUM. In a single Gothic hand (cursiva formata), 23 lines per page, writing frame c. 160 x 105 mm., ruled in red ink, OPENING ILLUMINATION OF THE VERMANDOIS COAT OF ARMS supported by two lions rampant on a field of acanthus, flowers and fruit on gold ground enclosed in an ILLUMINATED THREE-QUARTER BORDER OF ACANTHUS, FLOWERS, FRUIT, BIRDS AND IMAGINARY CREATURES ON A DIVIDED WHITE AND GOLD GROUND; one four-line and two five-line illuminated initials in blue on red ground with penwork decoration en camaïeu d’or, boxed paragraph marks in gold ink on alternating red and blue ground, majuscules touched in yellow, vertical catchwords, marginal annotations in a slightly later hand.

Mid-16th-century gilt-ruled vellum over soft paper boards (minor soiling), gilt azured central ornament of interlacing strapwork around an open center, flat spine gilt with foliage rolls and fleurons, two recent gilt-lettered black morocco labels, overlapping edges, spine lined with a fragment of a 16th-century vellum document in French, all edges gilt, evidence of four green silk ties, early manuscript title on the front cover.

            ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THIS UNPUBLISHED FRENCH UNIVERSAL CHRONICLE. It covers the world’s political, military and religious history from Creation to 1315, with a progressively greater focus on events in France as the narrative progresses.
            Commissioned by a yet unidentified partisan of Louis XI (1423-83), the text draws on authoritative works in natural history, philosophy, theology and history. The compiler relies on the marvelous, the legendary, the scandalous, the shocking and the anecdotal to instruct and entertain — the flatulent wife of St. Gangulphus, the Holy Grail, Crusader cannibalism, the slaughter of heretics, a Polish count devoured by rats, a woman with two torsos, feats of civil engineering, a hairy fish with a lion’s tail, Halley’s comet….
            At about the year 1240, the compiler admits that the manuscript of his primary source, Mamerot’s 1458 Croniques Martiniennes, is “no longer in my possession” (p. [183], tr.). The narrative is now his own. His political sympathies become clearer, though his respect for written authority continues undiminished. For instance, he proudly records consulting the autograph manuscript of Guillaume Durand’s Speculum iuris (now BnF ms. Lat. 4255).
            The last event reported is the 1315 execution of Philip IV’s disgraced minister Enguerrand de Marigny, which the compiler compares to the similar fate of Pierre de Brézé (c. 1410-65), Charles VII’s chamberlain, some “thirty years ago” (p. [233], tr.), helping date our manuscript.
            One scribal copying error merits note. In a single quire, the text of two non-consecutive, non-conjugate leaves was swapped, a mistake only possible if the scribe worked on loose sheets rather than pre-folded gatherings. The catchword on this quire’s final verso matches the first word of the following recto, despite the discontinuity with the immediately preceding misplaced text.
            In good condition, faded 16th-century inscription on the final verso mentioning mons. de Longueval, avocat. From the libraries of Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872; Catalogus librorum manuscriptorum 6926) and of bookseller and bibliophile William A.W. Foyle (1885-1963; gilt morocco bookplate).
¶SDBM_198924.

Item #11899

Price: $125,000.00

Status: On Hold