Results matching “Morgan Library”

(Taking a break from the Morgan Library)  Houghton Library Richardson 34 is an English book, use of Sarum, from the late 15th century.  The calendar has some interestingly English saints, like Swithun and Oswald, and the usual Reformation edits, all of the "pape" notations and reference to Thomas Becket were erased and then re-added in a much later hand.  St. Evaristus, who was a pope in the first century, and St. Hyginius (See f.1r below), pope in the second, were also added in that same later hand, though there's no evidence they there earlier.  Otherwise the calendar is exceedingly accurate and has many saints added alongside the larger feasts, such as St. Hillary alongside the Epiphany on January 6 (see f.1r below)

(DB ID: 190)

richardson 34 f1r.jpeg

Morgan Library - M.92

Morgan Library M.92 is another Book of Hours from my recent trip.  This one is a very early, 2nd quarter of the 13th century, French book, probably made in Paris but use of Soisson.  The first couple of leaves are full-page miniatures of the life of Mary, though only as it pertains to Jesus.  They start with the Annunciation and proceed through the scenes of Jesus' first year and then Crucifixion.  The last few are the death and accumption of Mary, and these are followed by the calendar, starting on f.15r.  This calendar is quite lovely, with rondels for both the labor and the zodiac on the outer margin, and bright gold for the parts of the Roman month (Kalends, Nones, etc)

The calendar is interesting from a scribal-practice sense, as the Lombard capitols, in red and blue, that go with most of the Saints were clearly done by a second scribe.  These are wrong quite often, and in ways that are so nonsensical, which is entirely different from the very careful and accurate main scribe.  Not all the errors are even on unusual saints, December 25th is "Sativitas d[omi]ni n[ost]ri ih[es]u [christi] in bethle[hem]e" (see f.20v below.  The tiny picture is the only one available from the Morgan).  The formation of the text in unusual, many more feasts are marked "passio" than one usually finds

(DB ID: 73)

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Morgan Library - G.14

Morgan Library G.14* is a late 15th Century Italian Books of Hours from Milan containing one of the loveliest calendars I have seen.  Each month is 3 sides, with a full-page miniature of the Zodiac starting the month, followed by 2 sides for the Saints.  The illuminations are attributed to Venturino Mercati. The signs of the zodiac are in a rondel, in a rectangular frame, on a starry-background of blue.  The Calendar is mostly well done, with very complete entries (i.e. for Jan 19, it has the fill list of "mauri m[ar]the audifax & abacu"), but there are some oddly empty spaces (the first 1/2 of April has no saints before the 13th).  There are also some evident copying errors, March 18 has "Sci caloceri mris" for an entry, most likely a copying error since St. Caloceri is April 18th.  

(DB ID: 130)

As I cannot post my photos of the text, I'll leave some of the Zodiac signs from the Morgan's picture library

Piceis

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Capricorn

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* If you're curious the initial G means this is part of the Glazier Collection that was donated to the Morgan in 1984.

Morgan Library - M.700

Taking a break from the Italian books, Morgan Library M.700, the Du Bois Hours, is a massive british Book of Hours, use of Sarum, dated to 1325-1330.  It starts with a couple of full page illuminations, including a last-judgement, and then the calendar starts on f.5r, one side per month.  It has most of the usual english saints and a couple of later additions in a regular, though difficult to parse, secretary hand.  Oddly there is no title material for the months, no KL, no verses, not even the name of the month -- apart from it next to the Kalends for the 1st.

(DB ID: 79)

Morgan Library - W.29

Morgan Library W.29 is a small, pretty book of hours from somewhere in northern Italy, perhaps Ferrara, as per the catalogue.  The calendar is not very well done, there are only about 120 days populated, and the scribe did not use the ruling from the date info columns, the left with the dominical letters and the roman dates, when writing in the saints, so they do not align directly with the dates.  This amplifies the large number that have ended up on the wrong date, for example the entire second 1/2 of July is offset by one day.  There are also a few spurious entries, for example a "Vigilia" floating above the "Circucisio dni" entry on Jan 1.

(DB ID: 110)

Morgan Library - M.1052

Some more from the Morgan Library, I was able to work through 13 books in 2 days, though M.1172, despite being lovely, is without a calendar.  The first added, M.1052, is from Naples, as testified to by several saints in the calendar as "neapli" (See Severi, April 30 or Eusebius, May 23).  A colophon on f.190r dates it to 1483, "finis. M.cccc..lxxxiii. die xi mensis.Marcii".  The calendar is unusual in its population, a large number of high-importance feasts in an otherwise sparse calendar:  70 red saints, 50% of the populated dates.  One would expect between 30 and 50 saints in a normal Italian calendar of approximately 200. 

The manuscript is in a poor state of preservation, the binding is split and there is much evidence of water damage.  In the calendar the red text has bled, whereas the black text has flaked.  Although there is no available image of the calendar pages, f.13r has the annunciation, a jeweled border and a small block of text, giving a feeling for the book.  The entire composition is surrounded by a "shredded" blue border.

(DB ID: 178)

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These are the last two of the Morgan Library books from my recent visit, so we'll be back to sharable images soon.  M.80 is a beautifully calligraphed Milanese manuscript written by Sigismondo de'Sigismondi in a flourishy Italian Gothic.  The calendar is rather unremarkable, nothing out of the ordinary.  M.1083 is a Florentine book, possibly by Antonio di Niccolò di Lorenzo.  The calendar is not terribly unusual and the manuscript in general doesn't stand out.  

If I can't share any of the calendar pages from M.80, here's at least the start of the Hours of the BVM, f.13r.

m80.013r.jpg

Two more of the Italian books from the Morgan Library have been uploaded, M.57 and M.315.  M.315 is interesting due to the number of Vigils, several not previously seen in the Corpus.  M.57 is more unusual in terms of decoration, it has the red/blue/gold (red and blue alternation for normal saints, gold for high-value saints) that is usually associated with Parisian complete calendars, but unusual in an Italian, 1/2 filled one. 

Another of the Books from the Morgan Library, M.311 is a northern Italian, perhaps Florence or Sienna, manuscript from the late 15th C.  Though not marked as such in the catalogue, the calendar has a strongly Augustinian focus, with a Vigil for his main feast when there aren't even Vigils marked for all the Evangelists. The calendar has very little metadata, lacking Golden numbers, roman dates and Julian dates, it only indicates the Dominical letter.

(As with all Morgan MS, my images cannot be posted, so we are left with f.13r)

m311.013r.jpg

Morgan M.227 is the first of six Books that I transcribed in the reading room of the Morgan Library in New York.  Although pictures are allowed for personal reference, I'm not allowed to post any of them.  This is a northern-Italian book, thought to have been illustrated by Taddeo Crivelli, was made in Ferrara around 1461.  The calendar is about 1/2 filled, and almost entirely undecorated.  The "section" of the Roman month (Ides, Nones, Kalends, etc)i sindicated by a 2-letter abbreviation, stretched to fill several lines of the calendar, which gives the page an unusual look.