Portable Psalter, Franciscan Calendar and Added Hours, Use of Metz; France, Paris (?), Metz; 13th century, between 1235 and 1255 (?), and 14th century, early

Title

Portable Psalter, Franciscan Calendar and Added Hours, Use of Metz; France, Paris (?), Metz; 13th century, between 1235 and 1255 (?), and 14th century, early

Shelfmark

MS. Douce 48

Date

1235–1255 (?)

14th century, beginning

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment; paper fly-leaves

Physical extent

276 leaves Leaves were trimmed in rebinding, occasionally causing the loss of text and decoration.

Binding

Red morocco over pasteboard, late 18th or early 19th century, French (?). Triple gilt fillet line border with gilt circlets in the corners round the outer edge of the upper and lower covers. Gilt floral corner-pieces. Four raised bands on spine decorated with gilt designs. Panels between the bands have gilt floral designs and gilt double fillet line borders. Green leather label on spine with gilt double fillet line border and gilt lettering: ‘HEURES || GOTHIQUE’ [sic]. Fragment of (the Bodleian?) paper label on spine. Gilt edges of textblock. A design made of gilt stripes on turn-ins and edges of covers. Marbled paper pastedowns and fly-leaves. Further fly-leaves made of laid paper, contemporary with the binding, with fragmentary watermarks (a bunch of grapes (?) in a shield).

Acquisition

Bodleian Library: received in 1834 with bequest of Douce.

Provenance

Psalter made in northern France, probably Paris, in the second quarter of the 13th century; doubtless for a Franciscan patron, to judge by the calendar, perhaps in Rouen, to judge by the high placement of Maurilius in the litany.

Bound up with a book of hours for the use of Metz (fols. 191–266) of the early 14th century. A similar Metz book of hours was sold by Christie’s, 28 November 1960, lot 49; compare also MS. Douce 39, Book of Hours, use of Metz.

Letters ‘a’ and ‘abcd’ written in ink (fol. 1r), 16th century (?).

‘Webb, Jr (?), with Spanish-Green ... Book’ (fol. 269r), in pencil, possibly relating to the book’s current binding.

‘no 14/0’, a book-seller’s (?) note in pale ink (fol. 271r).

Book-sellers’ (?) pencil notes and marks: ‘14 Miniatures || Life of Joseph || & Calendar’, ‘P3/-/-’, ‘15’ encircled, ‘535’ (fols. i verso–ii recto).

Thomas Payne (1752–1831), London bookseller and publisher, see ODNB: no. 1079 in his 1830 catalogue of manuscripts, price £14. 14s. 0d, described as ‘Psalterium written in England early 15th c., 14 very richly and peculiarly painted miniatures, the Life of Joseph ...’. The catalogue number and price are written in pencil on fol. ii recto.

Francis Douce (1757–1834), see ODNB: bookplate on the upper pastedown. Bought from Payne; entered in his ‘Collecta’, a list of his acquisitions and exchanges (Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Douce e. 68), for February 1830 as ‘English psalter cent(ur)y 24o etc’ (fol. 14v).

Title

A Psalter, with canticles (fol. 173)

Shelfmark

MS. Douce 48

Summary

Preceded by an illuminated calendar (fol. 1), and fourteen illuminated pages, each bearing four medallion-shaped miniatures of the Life of Joseph (fol. 13): and followed by:

(fol. 188) a litany

(fol. 191) Hours of the Virgin

(fol. 227) the Penitential psalms

(fol. 235) the Office for the Dead

The calendar especially honours st. Francis and Antony.

Fols. 191-end appear to be rather later than the rest, and a leaf appears to be lost at the end of the Psalter, after fol. 189, which has exchanged places with 190. Besides the miniatures, there are some illuminated borders, capitals, etc.

Date

written perhaps at the close of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th cent. in France

Language

Latin

Physical facet

On parchment, with illuminations, miniatures

Physical extent

271 Leaves