The Digital Walters is a branch of The Walters Art Museum Manuscripts Department.
This manuscript contains a fragmentary copy of the Latin Vulgate Bible. It was made in Oxford circa 1230-1240, and the miniatures are attributed to celebrated English illuminator William de Brailes. There are thirty-nine historiated or inhabited initials, featuring figures or scenes relevant to the text they accompany. On fol. 81r, for example, Psalm 13 begins with an inhabited initial D showing a fool (the text reads 'The fool hath said in his heart: there is no God'). God is shown speaking to the prophets Hosea (fol. 113r), Amos (115v), Obadiah (118r), and Zephaniah (112v) in initials at the start of each of their books, and the two books of Maccabees begin with initials showing knights (fols. 127r and 137r). Occasionally, the decorated terminals of these initials have been excised (fols. 1r, 30v, 61r, 137r, and 153v). Many leaves are missing from this manuscript. Fourteen are known to be in the Lilly Library at Indiana University (Ricketts MSS C1, III:25, and III:53) and a number of others are dispersed among private collections elsewhere. Fols. 157-160 in the present volume are entirely detached and kept separately from the book itself, and others are partly loose within the sixteenth-century binding.
Support: Parchment; Extent: ii+160+ii; 185 x 126 mm bound to 190 x 130 mm; Foliation: Modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto and lower right recto; Collation: Uncertain (fragile, some leaves partly detached); Signatures: Contemporary quire signatures in Roman numerals on fols. 3v, 19v, 35v, 51v, 67v, 80v, and 94v
Two columns of fifty-two lines; ruled in brown ink; written area: 118 x 75 mm
Gothic--textualis semi-quadrata
Thirty-nine inhabited initials with biblical figures or scenes; forty-seven illuminated initials, some with marginal extensions/borders terminating in dragons or other figures
For a full list of Decorations in this manuscript please see the Content and Decorations section by clicking on the [i] button in the top left corner of the image viewer above.
Fragile; binding structure exposed; many leaves torn and damaged
Four single leaves kept separately (fols. 157-160)
Fourteen leaves from this manuscript are in the Lilly Library at Indiana University (Ricketts MSS C1, III:25, and III:53)
These are pages that we pulled aside that disrupted the flow of the manuscript reader. These may be bindings, inserts, bookmarks, and various other oddities.
Oxford, England
Circa 1230-1240
Sixteenth century (?); worn red leather over exposed oak boards; remains of two clasps; boards slightly too narrow for text block
Latin
James Tregaskis, bookseller, London (1909); John Frederick Lewis, Philadelphia; given by his widow, Anne Baker Lewis, to the Free Library of Philadelphia in 1936
Oxford, England
Circa 1230-1240
Latin
James Tregaskis, bookseller, London
This manuscript contains a fragmentary copy of the Latin Vulgate Bible. It was made in Oxford circa 1230-1240, and the miniatures are attributed to celebrated English illuminator William de Brailes. There are thirty-nine historiated or inhabited initials, featuring figures or scenes relevant to the text they accompany. On fol. 81r, for example, Psalm 13 begins with an inhabited initial D showing a fool (the text reads 'The fool hath said in his heart: there is no God'). God is shown speaking to the prophets Hosea (fol. 113r), Amos (115v), Obadiah (118r), and Zephaniah (112v) in initials at the start of each of their books, and the two books of Maccabees begin with initials showing knights (fols. 127r and 137r). Occasionally, the decorated terminals of these initials have been excised (fols. 1r, 30v, 61r, 137r, and 153v). Many leaves are missing from this manuscript. Fourteen are known to be in the Lilly Library at Indiana University (Ricketts MSS C1, III:25, and III:53) and a number of others are dispersed among private collections elsewhere. Fols. 157-160 in the present volume are entirely detached and kept separately from the book itself, and others are partly loose within the sixteenth-century binding.
Fragile; binding structure exposed; many leaves torn and damaged
Four single leaves kept separately (fols. 157-160)
Fourteen leaves from this manuscript are in the Lilly Library at Indiana University (Ricketts MSS C1, III:25, and III:53)
Gothic--textualis semi-quadrata
Thirty-nine inhabited initials with biblical figures or scenes; forty-seven illuminated initials, some with marginal extensions/borders terminating in dragons or other figures
For a full list of Decorations in this manuscript please see the Content and Decorations section by clicking on the [i] button in the top left corner of the image viewer above.
These are pages that we pulled aside that disrupted the flow of the manuscript reader. These may be bindings, inserts, bookmarks, and various other oddities.
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