This Easter Heritage et AL is featuring a selection of
illustrations from our illuminated medieval manuscripts and images of some
early (pre 1501) printed bibles. The illuminated manuscripts include a variety
of liturgical and devotional books of differing types, some of which are
described below.
These definitions are from Medieval & Renaissance manuscripts in
New Zealand Collections by Margaret M. Manion, Vera F. Vines &
Christopher de Hamel which is a comprehensive text on medieval manuscripts held
in New Zealand.
- Missal "contains the texts used for the celebration of Mass, together with a liturgical calendar."
- Breviary"contains the texts used for the recitation of the Divine Office, together with a liturgical calendar."
- Book of Hours "A devotional book, popular with the laity from the late thirteenth century onwards. It contains a selection of short Offices, prayers and devotions, and is prefaced by a liturgical calendar. The Little Office of the Virgin Mary is often included, and from this element comes the name ‘Book of Hours’ or ‘Hours of the Virgin’."
The Rossdhu book of hours is contains
large illustrations (miniatures)
portraying the Passion of Christ, the saints, Lazarus rising and the ascension
of souls to heaven, and is viewable
in its entirety on Auckland Libraries website. The image below is from page
45, the Agony of Christ. Christ is pictured praying in the Garden of Gethsemane
while the disciples sleep. It is interesting to note that throughout the
Rossdhu Book of Hours all the figures depicted are wearing fifteenth-century
garb.
These next images are from what is known as the Besançon Missal. The two volume
Besançon Missal was illuminated for Charles de Neuchatel (1439-1498) who was
elected archbishop of Besançon in 1463. The Missal dates from around 1471. The page below would have been for Mass on the Thursday during Holy Week as it shows Christ washing the disciples' feet.
Note the difference in Crucifixion illustrations between the volumes.
This illuminated Breviary was made for Augustinian
use in Umbria and was produced in Perugia between 1470 and 1490. It was owned
by Father Antonius de Macerata who held important offices in the Augustinian
order in Perugia from the 1460s to the end of the 1480s. The following page would have been for Easter Sunday as it shows the Resurrection.
All three of these manuscripts are written by hand on
vellum.
Early Printed Bibles
The following images
are from the first printed Dutch Bible, published by Jacob Jacobszoen van der
Meer and Mauricius Yemantszoen in 1477. The image is of the last page of the
Bible with the Printer’s stamp in red.
This is Psalterium cum canticis, printed in
Milan in 1481. The text is bothGreek
and Latin printed in parallel columns and at the beginning of each column you
can see the space left for the hand illuminated initial:
This is a Latin
Bible from 1483 believed to have been printed by Johannes Grüninger in
Strassburg. This was donated to the library by Henry Shaw,
as you can see from his signature and the year 1901 written on the first page
of the Prologus:
These images are from another Latin Bible also donated by Henry
Shaw. This Bible consists of four volumes and was printed in Nuremberg in 1485
by Anthon Koberger.
All volumes are bound in their original vellum covers; below
is the spine of volume 1:
This is a page from the Prologus in volume 3:
For more on Auckland Libraries’ early printed collections
see Zoë’s
recent post about Incunabula and for further reading on some of these manuscripts
and Bibles see the following publications:
- Amassing treasures for all times: Sir George Grey, colonial bookman and collector. Donald Kerr. (2006)
- A guide to the principal manuscripts, early printed books, autograph letters etc. contained in the Auckland Free Public Library. Henry Shaw. (1908)
- Real gold: treasures of Auckland City Libraries. Iain Sharp. (2007)
- The governor’s gift: the Auckland Public Library, 1880-1980. Wynne Colgan. (1980)
Author: Andrew
Henry