Late medieval prayer book. The first part contains an incomplete Office of the Virgin (fol. 1r-45v) with variants for Advent and for the time period between Christmas and Candlemas (fol. 46r-51v), Absolutions, Benedictions, Orations and other short prayers (fol. 51v-68r). The Office of the Dead (fol. 69r-98v), including Vespers, Vigil, and prayers for the anniversaries of the deaths of priests, abbots and other deceased persons, is followed by prayers of indulgence (fol. 99r-111v). The beginning of the Office of the Virgin as well as possibly a calendar preceding it have been lost. The fact that the patron saints of St. Gall, St. Gall and St. Othmar (fol. 56r-56v; fol. 58r-58v), are the only saints mentioned other than Mary and St. Benedict suggests a provenience from the Monastery of St. Gall. The manuscript is written in Gothic script; it is decorated with numerous initials executed in gold leaf and with colorful vine scrolls in the margins of individual pages. The beginning of the Office of the Dead (fol. 69r) is adorned with a small miniature of a catafalque bordered by two Benedictine monks, one of which is holding a prayer book in his hands. The cut leather binding with the monogram S, created by a master whose name is unknown, is particularly noteworthy. The covers show the two Princes of the Apostles, Peter (front cover, with book and key) and Paul (back cover, with book and sword), surrounded by rich vine scroll ornamentation. The Abbey Library of St. Gall was able to acquire this manuscript in June 2006 at a Christie's auction in New York from the collection of the American brewer Cornelius J. Hauck (1893−1967) from Cincinnati (Ex Libris on the inside front cover).
Online Since: 09/23/2014
This vesperal in a distinguished binding was commissioned by Prince-Abbot Beda Angehrn (1767−1796); it was written in 1774 by Joseph Adam Bürke (chronogram with the name of the scribe on p. 92), an alumnus of the Gymnasium (preparatory school) of Neu St. Johann that was led by St. Gall monks, and richly illustrated by Father Notker Grögle (1740−1816). The volume contains the incipits of the chants for Vespers (antiphons and hymns), written in German plainsong notation (“Hufnagelnotation”) on five lines, for the feasts of Jesus Christ and of the saints for the entire liturgical year. It is divided into the parts Proprium de tempore (pp. 1−36), Proprium sanctorum (pp. 37−80) and Commune sanctorum (pp. 81−92). This manuscript was held in the choir library of St. Gallen Cathedral until 1989. Then it was transferred to the archives of the cathedral parish of St. Gall, and in 2014 it came to the Abbey Library of St. Gall. The volume, which consisted of 96 pages in 1774, was certainly used for the liturgy in the Cathedral of St. Gall until the 1930s. The mostly handwritten additions and supplements (after p. 97) date from the 19th century. Also glued and bound into the volume are texts from unspecified printed liturgical publications of the 19th and early 20th century. Noteworthy among the illustrations is the oldest pictorial depiction to date of the newly built “Gallusmünster”, today the Cathedral of St. Gall (p. 72). On the flyleaf is the finely drawn coat of arms of Prince-Abbot Beda Angehrn.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This Engelberg codex, currently held in Carinthia, typifies the painstaking yet unostentatious method of manuscript production practiced under Abbot Frowin (1143-1178), to whom the volume is dedicated on 1r. At the beginnings of the primary texts are indications for planned initials (1v, 103v), or completed initials in red and black ink (2r), with incipits in red ink. Otherwise there is little book decoration other than a few decorative capitals (including the one at the beginning of the last text on 145r). The artful application of patches to damaged sections of the parchment, typical for Engelberg, is also evident (18, 59, 62, 141, 154).
Online Since: 07/04/2012
This papyrus fragment contains 29 lines in uncial script, without spacing between words, written in the late 7th or early 8th century. The text includes a portion of Augustine's homily 351 (c. 3.6: … agitur in stadio sumus …; cf. PL 39, col. 1542 to c. 4.7: … exserat seueritatem suam, cf. PL 39, col. 1543). This single sheet was originally part of a volume of at least 30 quires, containing homilies and letters by Augustine. Surviving quires are: 4-11 (containing 63 sheets + 1 sheet) and 24-30 (53 sheets), the former currently constituting Paris, BnF lat. 11641, the latter Bibliothèque de Genève, lat. 16. This particular sheet was originally the second bifolium in the 8th quire (Quinio), and would properly take its place between f. 26 and f. 27 in Paris BnF 11641. The marginalia on the verso side were made by the hand of Florus of Lyon († ca. 860).
Online Since: 07/04/2012
Innermost bifolium of a quire whose second innermost bifolium is preserved in Chicago, Newberry Library Case MS Fragment 7. It is the remainder of a Fulda manuscript from the 2nd third of the 9th century with the so-called Collectio Veronensis of the acts of the Third Ecumenical Council of Ephesus in 431. The codex was obviously used as waste paper in modern times in Switzerland. When and by what route it reached Switzerland from Fulda cannot be determined; however, it may have arrived there, like a number of other Fulda manuscripts, in the first half of the 16th century as a potential text source for prints by Basel print shops. For a virtual combination of the two fragments see [sine loco], codices restituti, Cod. 6, Concilium Ephesinum.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
Leaf from the fourth volume (Juli-August) of a Fulda Legendary that originally consisted of six volumes, commissioned in 1156 by Rugger, monk at Frauenberg Abbey in Fulda (1176-1177 abbot of Fulda as Rugger II). This fragment contains parts of the Vita s. Amalbergae and probably was written by Eberhard of Fulda. The legendary was still used in the middle of the 16th century in Fulda by Georg Witzel (1501-1573) for his Hagiologium seu de sanctis ecclesiae (Mainz 1541) as well as for his Chorus sanctorum omnium. Zwelff Bücher Historien Aller Heiligen Gottes (Köln 1554). This is the only verifiable fragment from the 4th volume. The remaining surviving fragments from the legendary are in Basel, Solothurn and Nuremberg. They are from the third (May-June) and sixth (November-December) volume and show that these volumes at least reached Basel, where both evidently were used as manuscript waste around 1580.
Online Since: 06/13/2019
This manuscript, as yet almost unknown, contains an epistolary following the Ambrosian Rite. It was commissioned in 1342 by the priest Giacomo de Parazo for a church dedicated to St. Fermo not further identified. This manuscript probably reached Tesserete (Canton of Ticino), an area where the Ambrosian Rite was used, in the 15th/16th century; here it was taken apart and rebound, at which time was added a copy of a testament of dubious authenticity written in 1078 by Contessa from the city of Milan for the benefit of the church of S. Stefano in Tesserete. In the 17th century, the manuscript was the property of the Verdoni family of notaries; since the 20th century, it has been held by the parish of Tesserete. On the initial page, St. Ambrose, the patron saint of the diocese of Milan, is represented in an illuminated initial.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
This martirologio-inventario (an annal followed by an inventory of property) of the Church of S. Stefano in Torre in the Blenio Valley in Ticino, was written in 1568 at the request of the vicini (the original members of the municipal corporate body) of Torre and Grumo, in order to replace the older version. It contains the list of annuali, i.e., of the annual celebrations for the death days of deceased members of the Church, the inventory of movable and immovable property, of the monacharia and of the luminaria, that is, the requisites for illuminating the church. At the beginning of the manuscript there is a watercolor drawing of the church patron St. Stephen.
Online Since: 12/13/2013
This martirologio-inventario (an annal followed by an inventory of property) of the Church of S. Stefano in Torre in the Blenio Valley inTicino, was written in 1639 at the request of the vicini (the original members of the municipal corporate body) of Torre and Grumo, in order to replace the 1569 copy, which was not up to date. It contains a description of the old church of S. Stefano before its reconstruction during the baroque period; the list of furnishings, of liturgical vestments, and of gold items in the church treasury; the list of annuali, i.e., of the annual celebrations for the death days of deceased members of the Church; and the church revenues. At the beginning of the manuscript there is a partially gilded drawing of the church patron St. Stephen.
Online Since: 12/13/2013
The design concept of this manuscript, both the text and the execution, typify the Parisian 'Horae' tradition of the early 15th century ('Boucicaut-Meister'). The top-level organizational elements in the book's decorative program are seven pages decorated with miniatures; multi-line colorful initials mark the secondary textual divisions. The extremely squared illustrations on the decorated pages include scenes with figures enclosed on three sides by staffs entwined by tendrils with decorative gold, red and blue thorny leaves which completely fill the broad parchment margin. Four lines of text, introduced by a large colorful initial, are inserted between the illustration and the lower decorative staff. The beginning of each of the various offices is marked with such an ornamental page. This book of hours is not only the oldest item in the Carl Meyer collection in the Cantonal Library of Appenzell Ausserrhoden, it is one of its best and most valuable items. It is not know who originally commissioned the manuscript.
Online Since: 05/20/2009
The layperson who commissioned this book of hours is not known by name, but left definite personal traces on the book: he had a full page portrait miniature of himself painted on Fol. 11v, kneeling and accompanied by a coat of arms. The presence of such a prominent portrait of the benefactor indicates considerable ambition on the part of the book's commissioner, who was probably a member of the merchant class. In addition, the portrait was painted by a more talented artist than the other miniatures in the manuscript, which are made in the style of woodcuts. The book of hours could have been intended for use in eastern France. Stylistically, the work displays a provincial character.
Online Since: 05/20/2009
This book of hours is patterned after the liturgical format of the Parisian 'Horae'. It differs, however, in its richer, yet qualitatively narrower range of illustrations: each of the Gospel selections is accompanied by a portrait of its author, and the Marian Office by a complete cycle illustrating the childhood of Jesus. The artist's indirect reception of the originals by the well known Paris illuminator, via a series of intermediate steps, displays numerous misunderstandings or intentional revisions. To the modern eye, accustomed to modern aesthetic norms, the shallow fields, bold juxtaposition of colors, and extremely foreshortened perspective used in these illustrations come across as expressive and inventive. The commissioner of the work is unknown.
Online Since: 06/08/2009
The origin of this manuscript in the northern French-Flemish border region can be determined from its liturgical features, its leather binding with stamped designs and the inscription Robiers Plovrins as well as by a comparison with stylistically similar manuscripts. Another book of hours illustrated by the same artist is held at Claremont near Berkeley, California (USA). This exemplar is a somewhat cruder imitation of the style of scribe and book illustrator Jean Markant, who was quite popular around 1500 in Lille. The commissioner of this volume is unknown.
Online Since: 06/08/2009
This book of hours with a tall, narrow format is a true pocket book, and the framing of the miniatures with architectural elements, crowned volutes, putti, and garlands displays a definite Renaissance influence. The book is illustrated with 16 full-page illuminations and 21 smaller, simpler miniatures by a different artist. One of the full-page illustrations shows the coat of arms of the person who commissioned the book: he was a certain Michel de Champrond (d. August 1, 1539), Lord of Ollé, Advisor and Paymaster of the King. This would indicate that a well-to-do personage, not of noble birth, but part of the court circle, had an elaborate, richly decorated and partially customized prayer book made by a middle quality manuscript workshop as late as the 1530s, when printed Books of hours were already widely available.
Online Since: 06/08/2009
This highly unusual textual object contains three pastiches of cut-out colored initials and twelve Flemish miniatures from the second half of the 16th century, glued to newer parchment pages and outlined during the 19th century, such that the composite images are presented as if they were painted on a single, matted page. The miniatures were taken from a personal prayer book that belonged to Anne of Cleves (1515-1557).
Online Since: 07/31/2007
Paper manuscript setting forth moral and social wrongdoings by means of illustrations of stories from biblical, classical and medieval history as well as of contemporary works about manners and social customs. In the lower third of each page is a proverb in rhyme calling to mind the Christian virtue that forms a counterpoint to the moral wrong depicted.
Online Since: 04/26/2007
This paper manuscript – a Liber Amicorum for Ladislaus von Törring – contains 49 deptictions of costumes and four of coats-of-arms: all are high quality watercolors and probably all are by the same hand. The costumes mostly show high-ranking persons, mainly from France (Paris), Spain and Veneto. Means of transport, such as ships and carriages, from the same time period are also depicted. Some of the people pictured are identified by captions in French and Italian. Aphorisms and dedications, mostly in Latin, are added on seven pages. The dedicatee is Ladislaus von Törring (1566-1638), Baron in Stein and Pertenstein, Rector of the University of Ingolstadt, a relative of the Bavarian royal family.
Online Since: 03/19/2020
Album with depictions of members of the Zellweger family of textile merchants from Trogen, with biographical texts on the male representatives of the family. From the early modern era until the middle of the 19th century, the Zellwegers shaped the economy and politics of Appenzell Ausserrhoden. Victor Eugen Zellweger, the author of these texts, saw to the reproduction of family-owned paintings, drawings and prints, making use of the most modern techniques of photography. For the calligraphic design and illustration of the 3-volume work, he engaged the illustrator Salomon Schlatter from St. Gall.
Online Since: 03/29/2019
Album with depictions of members of the Zellweger family of textile merchants from Trogen, with biographical texts on the male representatives of the family. From the early modern era until the middle of the 19th century, the Zellwegers shaped the economy and politics of Appenzell Ausserrhoden. Victor Eugen Zellweger, the author of these texts, saw to the reproduction of family-owned paintings, drawings and prints, making use of the most modern techniques of photography. For the calligraphic design and illustration of the 3-volume work, he engaged the illustrator Salomon Schlatter from St. Gall.
Online Since: 03/29/2019
Album with depictions of members of the Zellweger family of textile merchants from Trogen, with biographical texts on the male representatives of the family. From the early modern era until the middle of the 19th century, the Zellwegers shaped the economy and politics of Appenzell Ausserrhoden. Victor Eugen Zellweger, the author of these texts, saw to the reproduction of family-owned paintings, drawings and prints, making use of the most modern techniques of photography. For the calligraphic design and illustration of the 3-volume work, he engaged the illustrator Salomon Schlatter from St. Gall.
Online Since: 03/29/2019