Search Results: Titles starting with F from Littera Scripta

Recto: Text in Latin written on fine vellum in black ink a precise Gothic bookhand. Ruled in red. Three one-line illuminated initials in blue and salmon with fine white penwork on a ground of burnished gold outlined in black. Three illuminated line fillers. The initials are infilled with coloured flowers. An intricate full length panel of illuminations of blue, red and liquid gold acanthus leaves and flowers is inhabited by a hybrid creature or "grotesque" consisting of a bird with a long outstretched wing and a dragon's body and tail. While grotesques in medieval manuscripts are often subversively humorous or repugnant, this one is simply immensely charming.
Verso: As Recto, with four one-line illuminated initials, one line filler and a similar panel of illuminations, but with different flowers and no grotesque.
Origin: Northern France, probably Paris.
Date: c.1465
Content: The text on both Recto and Verso is from Psalm 142 (KJV 143), one of the Seven Penitential Psalms. (see Notes below). The… Read More

Recto: Text in Latin written on fine vellum in black ink a precise Gothic bookhand. Ruled in red. Five one-line illuminated initials in blue and salmon with fine white penwork on a ground of burnished gold outlined in black. The initials are infilled with coloured flowers. An intricate full length panel of illuminations of blue, red and liquid gold acanthus leaves and flowers is inhabited by a hybrid creature or "grotesque" consisting of a bird with a dragon's body and tail and with feathers standing up along its back. While grotesques in medieval manuscripts are often subversively humorous or repugnant, this one is oddly charming.
Verso: As Recto, with one two-line and three one-line illuminated initials, two line fillers and a similar panel of illuminations, but with different flowers and no grotesque.
Origin: Northern France, probably Paris.
Date: c.1465
Content: The text on Recto begins at Verse 24 of Psalm 101 (KJV102), one of the Seven Penitential Psalms.
Respondit ei in via virtutis suae:… Read More

Recto: 14 lines of text in Latin written on vellum in black ink in a high quality gothic bookhand. An intricate panel of illuminations runs the length of the text in a style known as rinceaux.
Verso: As Recto, with an equally fine panel of illuminations.
Source: Northern France, probably Paris
Date: c.1480.
Content: The text on both sides of the leaf is a section of the prayer Obsecro te. Recto reads:
...[quem] habuisti, quando filium tuum Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum ante crucem nudatum, et in illa levatum vidisti pendentem, crucifixum, vulneratum; sitientem hely clamantem audisti. Et per quinque vulnera Filii tui, per contractionem viscerum suorum, prae nimio dolore vulnerum. et per dolorem quem habuisti, quando vidisti eum vulnerari. Et per fontes lacrymarum tuarum: et cum omnibus sanctis per omnem passionem eius, et dolorem cordis tui, et per fontes , ut cum omnibus sanctis et electis Dei. Venias, et festines in auxilium meum,in omnibus orationibus, et requestis meis tribulationibus… Read More

During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries a number of factors influenced the development of writing styles. Gothic minuscule script, as on this leaf, came about from the need to quickly produce books for the rapidly increasing level of literacy of the early 13th century. New universities were founded, each producing books for business, law, grammar, history and other pursuits, not exclusively religious works for which earlier scripts typically had been used. Its predecessor, Carolingian minuscule, while supremely legible, was time-consuming to write and consumed a lot of manuscript space.
Parchment and fine vellum were very costly, so scribes compressed the letters to make the most of the space available. The resultant compacted, angular script, given the name gothic minuscule, was popular with the scribes who had taken over much of the copying task from the churches. Parisian and other commercial workshops produced "pocket bibles" for the clergy and wealthy academics.
The parent book of this leaf… Read More