Prayer Book in French, Latin and Italian.

[Incipit:] O Glorieuse pure vierge pucelle.

[Tours], c. 1500.

4to (220 x 143 mm.). ON VELLUM. French: [8]p. (including one blank); Latin: [62]p. (including seven blanks); Italian: [14]p.; Latin: [88]p. (including one blank). In two different contemporary Gothic hands (both cursiva formata, the first with distinctive Italian humanistic influences), 18 lines per page, writing frame c. 145 x 82 mm., ruled in ink, evidence of fore-edge pricking, EIGHT FINELY ILLUMINATED INITIALS infilled with flowers, buds and berries, smaller decorated initials, crosses, paragraph marks and line fillers in gold ink on alternating red and blue grounds, majuscules touched in yellow, red rubrication, vertical catchwords.

19th-century blind-ruled crushed green morocco (Niédrée; hinges slightly cracked at top and bottom), gilt-lettered spine title, all edges gilt, green silk marker.

            THIS ELEGANT TRILINGUAL PRIVATE DEVOTIONAL WAS PREPARED FOR A HIGH-RANKING FRENCH MILITARY OFFICIAL, likely a participant in the Italian Wars of 1494-1512. An identical suite of prayers appears in a manuscript (Morgan M.292) made for maréchal de France Pierre de Rohan-Gié (1450-1513), who campaigned in Italy with Charles VIII and Louis XII.
            Our anthology is centered on the faithful’s plea for military success and protection against the dangers of war. The opening prayers, in French, are rich in chivalric imagery. Next is an uncommon extended version of the Latin Abbreviated Psalter, a series of extracts from the Psalms compiled for soldiers and others unable to recite the full daily Office. The texts that follow include a Latin prayer for victory in battle (the placeholder n stands in for the name of the supplicant) and, unusually, the long pseudo-Augustinian Prayer for the Troubled in its Italian version.
            This last concludes the work of the first scribe, who, in line with the contemporary trends of luxury manuscript production at Tours, adopted a peculiar rounded bâtarde. His hand’s nod to the shapes of humanistic Antiqua doesn’t mitigate the striking mismatch of language and script in the italian prayer.
            In Latin, the Gospel readings on the Passion occupy the second half of the manuscript, executed in a more traditional hand by a second scribe. attractive uniform decoration unifies our intriguing manuscript. In very good condition.
¶Salmon, “Psautiers abrégés du moyen âge” in Analecta liturgica (1974) 80; Cottier, “Psautiers abrégés et prières privées durant le haut Moyen Âge” in Recherches Augustiniennes 33 (2003) 215-30; Avril & Reynaud, Les Manuscrits à peintures en France 165, 173 & 177.

Prayer Book in French, Latin and Italian. 
TEXTS & ILLUSTRATIONS 

I. French prayers to the Virgin: pp. [1]-[8]
            p. [1] Inc. O glorieuse pure vierge pucelle (Sinclair 6243); four-line illuminated initial in blue and white on red and gold ground, infilled with flowers.
            p. [6] Inc. Je te salve tres chaste espouse (Sonet 897); two-line boxed initial in gold ink on blue ground.
            p. [8] blank.

II. Confession formula and Psalterium Abbreviatum: pp. [9]-[58]
            p. [9] Inc. Confitebor tibi domine deus omnipotens; four-line illuminated initial in grey and and white on gold ground, infilled with flowers.
           p. [14] blank.
           p. [15] Inc. Beatifica me domine et peccatorum meorum; three-line illuminated initial in blue and white on red and gold ground, infilled with flowers.
            p. [25] Inc. Miserere mei deus secundum magnam misericordiam; two-line boxed initial in gold ink on red ground.
            pp. [35]-[36] blank.
            p. [37] Inc. Domine exhaudi orationem meam; two-line boxed initial in gold ink on red ground.
            p. [48] blank.
           p. [49] Inc. Domine quid multiplicati sunt; two-line boxed initial in gold ink on red ground.
            p. [58] blank.

III. Latin Prayers to Jesus and the Trinity: pp. [59]-[70]
            p. [59] Inc. Deus omnipotens pater filius et spiritus sanctus; two-line boxed initial in gold ink on red ground.
           p. [62] Inc. Iesu Nazarene respice ad meas miserias; two-line boxed initial in gold ink on red ground.
            p. [64] blank
            p. [65] Inc. Domine iesu christe qui septem verba; four-line illuminated initial in grey and white on gold ground, infilled with flowers.
            p. [70] blank.

IV. Pseudo-Augustine’s Orazione per i Tribolati in Italian: pp. [71]-[84]
            p. [71] Inc. O dulcissime signore iesu cristo vero dio; four-line illuminated initial in blue and white on red and gold ground, infilled with flowers. 

V. Psalm 117: pp. [85]-[90]
            p. [85] Confitemini domine quoniam bonus; three-line illuminated initial in blue and white on red and gold ground, infilled with flowers and strawberries.
           p. [90] blank.

VI. Gospel readings on the Passion: pp. [91]-[172]
            p. [91] rubric: Dominica in ramis palmarum. Text of Matthew 26-27 begins; four-line initial in blue and white on red and gold ground, infilled with flowers.
            p. [116] rubric: Feria tercia post ramos palmarum. Text of Mark 14-15 begins; two-line boxed initial in gold ink on red ground.
            p. [136] rubric: Feria quarta post ramos palmarum. Text of Luke 22-23 begins; two-line boxed initial in gold ink on red ground.
            p. [156] rubric: Die veneris sancta. Text of John 18-19 begins; three-line illuminated initial in blue and white on red and gold ground, infilled with flowers.
            p. [172] blank.

Item #12054

Price: $42,000.00