Guide To Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Huntington Library

HM 1054

PSALTER
Northern France, s. XIII^ex

1. ff. 1-4v: Calendar in red and black, lacking 2 leaves after f. 2 with loss of May-August; included are the feasts of Vedast and Amand (6 February), “Resurrectio domini” (27 March), Invention of Denis (22 April), Bertin and Taurinus (5 September), Evurtius (7 September), Maurilius (13 September), Germar (24 September), Leodegar (2 October), Denis, Rusticus and Eleutherius (9 October), Mellonius (22 October), Romanus (23 October), Magloire (24 October), Hilary (25 October), Eustachius (2 November); 3 entries by a later hand: Eulalia of Barcelona (12 February), Michael (29 September), Conception of the Virgin (8 December); astrological month verses in Latin, beginning: Arva nemus prata dat aquarum ymbre rigata. 2. ff. 5-107 [f. 5, blank]: Biblical psalter; antiphons and versicles added in the margins, s. XV, but later erased, except on f. 84v, where they were written straight on below the text; corrected in a contemporary gothic hand (e.g. ff. 10v, 17, 39v) and in a bâtarde script, s. XV (e.g. ff. 87v, 106, 114). 3. ff. 107-115v: Ferial canticles, ending defectively on f. 112v in Deut. 32, 43; the canticle trium puerorum begins defectively on f. 113 in Dan. 3, 77; Benedictus dominus deus; Nunc dimittis; Quicumque vult; an alphabet: a-z, ampersand, punctuation marks and the “et cetera” abbreviation; Pater noster; Credo in deum; Magnificat. 4. f. 116r-v: Litany of saints, beginning defectively: //Per ieiunium tuum libera nos domine… 5. f. 117r-v: [added in 3 different, but contemporary gothic hands] Ave stella matutina…[RH 2135]; Tres sainte arme de ihesucrist santefie me…e me prene iouste toy ma suy ut cum beatis laudem in secula seculorum Amen; Du haut seignor de gloyre quil du ciel descendit/ Qui por nous devint homme e que iudas vendit…A Touz mes biens fetours presenz e de iadis/ Enuoit diex es cors ioie es ames paradis Amen. [in 25 monorhyme verses; listed by K. V. Sinclair, French Devotional Texts of the Middle Ages: A Bibliographic Manuscript Guide (Westport, Connecticut, 1979) n. 2811.] Parchment, ff. ii (modern parchment) + 117 + ii (modern parchment); 203 × 138 (140 × 85) mm. 1⁶(-3, 4) 2-9¹² 10¹⁰ 11¹⁰(-3, 7, 9, 10; + a leaf added at the end, f. 117). 23 long lines, except f. 116r-v in 2 columns of 23 lines, ruled in lead, double bounding lines on all 4 sides and across the middle of the text; additional single rule in the outer margin. Written in a gothic book hand; f. 117r-v by 3 contemporary hands. Opening historiated initial, f. 5v, 12-line, in white-patterned blue, enclosing David playing his harp against a burnished gold ground; the initial is set on a diapered rose ground outlined by a narrow gold strip with colored swirled extensions; “-eatus vir” in gold letters on colored compartments, placed along the initial. Nine other historiated initials, 10- to 9-line, in pink or blue, on grounds of the other color with marginal extensions often including grotesques: f. 21 (Dominus illuminatio mea), David pointing to his eye while Christ blesses from above; f. 31v (Dixi custodiam vias meas), David sticking out his tongue and pointing to it with one hand, while holding his crown with the other, as Christ watches; f. 40v (Quid gloriaris in malicia), biting animal heads: f. 41 (Dixit insipiens), the fool, naked, holding his club and a round loaf of bread which he and a pelican are trying to eat; f. 50 (Salvum me fac), David waist deep in water with Christ blessing above; f. 62v (Exultate deo), David playing bells; f. 73v (Cantate domino), 3 monks before a lectern with open book, singing; f. 75 (Domine exaudi orationem meam), a monk praying to Christ; f. 85 (Dixit dominus), the Father and the Son, as identical figures, seated side by side on a throne with the Dove hovering between them. 2-line initials in gold with white-patterned blue or pink infilling and ground of the other color; 1-line initials alternating red with blue flourishing or blue with red; line fillers in alternating series of red or blue curlicues. 16 roundels in the calendar depicting the monthly occupations and the signs of the zodiac. Holes across the top of f. 5, presumably from a sewn-in protective cover for the opening initial. Bound by Riviere in brown morocco to a Lyonnaise design, with inlays of darker brown morocco and gold tooling; brown, green and red sprinkled edges. Written in northern France in the late thirteenth century. Belonged to Robert Hoe: Grolier Club (1892) n. 1; Bierstadt (1895) pp. 13-14; Cat. (1909) p. 162; his sale, Anderson, New York, 1911, pt. I, n. 2173 to G. D. Smith. Precise source and date of acquisition by Henry E. Huntington unknown.

Secundo folio: [f. 6, Text] quem proicit ventus

Bibliography: De Ricci, 86.

Abbreviations

Hoe: Bierstadt (1895): O. A. Bierstadt, The Library of Robert Hoe: a Contribution to the History of Bibliophilism in America (New York 1895)
Hoe: Cat. (1909): [C. Shipman], A Catalogue of Manuscripts Forming a Portion of the Library of Robert Hoe (New York 1909)
De Ricci: S. De Ricci, with the assistance of W. H. Wilson, Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada (New York 1935-37; index 1940)
Hoe: Grolier Club (1892): Catalogue of an Exhibition of Illuminated and Painted Manuscripts together with a few early printed books with illuminations…New York, Grolier Club, April 1892 (New York 1892); De Ricci, p. xv, “At least 66 of the European mss. were from the Hoe collection; others belonged to W. L. Andrews, S. P. Avery, etc.”
RH: U. Chevalier, Repertorium hymnologicum (Louvain 1892-1912, Brussels 1920-21)

C. W. Dutschke with the assistance of R. H. Rouse et al., Guide to Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Huntington Library (San Marino, 1989). Copyright 1989.
Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Marino, California.
Electronic version encoded by Sharon K, Goetz, 2003.
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