Psalter (ferial) — 15th century, third quarter; Italian, Northeast, Venice (?)

Title

Psalter (ferial) — 15th century, third quarter; Italian, Northeast, Venice (?)

Shelfmark

MS. Buchanan g. 3

Place of origin

Italian, Northeast, Venice (?)

Date

15th century, third quarter

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Parchment, rather water-stained at beginning and end; offsets indicate that the bifolium was already missing after fol. 113 when the water-damage occured.

Physical extent

ii (paper, the first marbled and conjoint with the pastedown) + 115 + ii (paper, the second marbled and conjoint with the pastedown).

Hands

Written in a neat rounded gothic bookhand

Decoration

Headings in red.

One eight-line initial in gold and colours, with a bar-extender running the whole height of the page, to Ps. 109 (fol. 83r; pl. 000); a similar six-line initial and extender to Ps. 101 (fol. 66v); a seven-line foliate initial on a gold ground, with foliate sprays and gold balls extending half the height of the page and into or towards the upper and lower margins, at the start of the hymnal (fol. 97r); similar four- to six-line initials, their extensions ranging from half to full height, to Pss. 20, 45, 59, 73, 85 (fols. 18v, 38r, 44v, 52r, 60r), the start of the canticles for Advent and Christmas (fols. 92r, 93r), the Common of Saints (fols. 95v, 96v), hymns for major feasts of the Sanctorale (fols. 97v, 98v, 101v, 103r, 104r, 108v), the Common of Saints (fols. 109r, 109v, 111r), and the litany (fol. 111r); four-line initial in red with purple penwork, the penwork extending almost the full height of the page, to Ps. 26 (fol. 21v); similar three-line initials alternately in red with purple penwork, or blue with red penwork, with similar penwork extenders, to psalms, canticles, etc. up to fol. 44r, thereafter two-line; one-line initials alternately in red or blue, to verses and other minor divisions; guide letters for coloured initials are visible throughout; paraphs in blue; simple red and blue line-fillers in the litany (fols. 111v–112v).

Binding

Sewn on three(?) cords (not clearly visible); bound in Italian 18th(?)-century mottled brown leather over pasteboards; rebacked, the old spine laid on, with gilt foliate ornament and a pale brown leather title-piece lettered: 'OFFIC | DELLA | B.V.M', slightly damaged along the side of the upper joint; marbled pastedowns and conjoint flyleaves; the edges of the leaves coloured red, later than the date of the binding, since the red also affects underlying corners of the pasteboards which are exposed by damage.

Acquisition

Given to the Bodleian by his widow, Mrs. E. O. Buchanan, in 1941; traces of a rectangular paper label with at least one perforated edge in the lower left corner of the upper board are probably the remains of a Bodleian shelf-mark label.

Provenance

Made for a Benedictine House (as evidenced by the grading of feasts with twelve lessons in the calendar, the Benedictine divisions and sub-divisions of the psalms, and the wording of the 21 March feast of Benedict) of the Congregation of Sta. Giustina (as evidenced by the emphasis on St. Justina in the calendar, litany, and hymnal; the emphasis on St. Placidus in the calendar and litany; the wording of vigils 'de precepto'; and the collect mentioning 'presidenti nostro'); the petition for sailors might hint at a coastal origin, since it occurs also in manuscripts of the Congregation written for S. Giorgio Maggiore, Venice (e.g. MSS. Canon. Liturg. 204 and 210), but not in the Breviary of the Congregation printed in 1484; yet it also occurs in a breviary written for nuns of the Congregation in the diocese of Brescia (MS. Canon. Liturg. 164).

? Monastery of SS. Felice e Fortunata, Vicenza (on which see Cottineau, Répertoire topo-bibliographique, II, col. 3360): according to van Dijk, and accepted by Pächt & Alexander, the added feast of these two saints in the calendar may point to the monastery dedicated to them; it was incorporated into the Congregation of S. Giustina in 1462. The fact that the feast is graded with twelve lessons, however, rather than as a duplex, casts some doubt on this.

Unidentified 18th/19th-century owner; inscribed (fol. ii recto): 'Horae diurne'.

Unidentified 19th-century owner: inscribed in pencil: 'LB13[?] V15+[?]' at the top left of fol. i verso.

Raguin, Paris bookseller, by 1875 (see Introduction, and below); inscribed in pencil: 'Bu.or'(?) in the top left corner of fol. 117r.

Rt. Hon. T. R. Buchanan (1846–1911), 1875: fol. ii recto with a slip of paper glued in vertically, inscribed in ink by Buchanan '[Ho]ræ B.V.M. MS. of 15th century. | Bought from Raguin Nov. 1875 -' (cf. especially MS. Buchanan d. 2, and the printed books, Buchanan e.65 and e.136)