The Digital Walters is a branch of The Walters Art Museum Manuscripts Department.
This compact devotional work contains biblical extracts taken from the Lutheran 1534 German translation, illustrated by small hand-colored narrative woodcuts and woodcut borders. It was likely realized for or in a Saxon (princely?) milieu, as there exists a very rare imprint (unicum?) of the same text in Paris (Paris, BnF, Vélins-1790) with a shield of the Prince Elector Augustus of Saxony. The elegant and unusual binding presents panels recorded on Leipzig or Wittemberg bindings of the second half of the sixteenth century.
Support: Parchment; Extent: i+47+i; 125 x 76 mm bound to 134 x 80 mm; Foliation: Modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto (lower flyleaf is foliated as fol. 48); Collation: 1-2 (8), 3-4 (6), 5 (10), 6 (10, -10)
One column of thirteen lines; written area: 93 x 53 mm
Gothic--Fraktur
Each devotional theme within the book is illustrated by a selection of biblical quotes and a woodcut (except the last two themes which have no woodcuts); in total, there are thirteen woodcuts, one less than in the printed vellum 1581 edition; the title page, text, and woodcuts are framed by four-sided woodcut borders, highlighted in similar colors as the woodcuts, with gold outlining, repeated on each page
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.
The present manuscript contains the same selection of biblical excerpts as a vellum imprint, printed in Leipzig by Jacobs Berwaldts [Bärwald] Erben in 1581 (sole located printed copy: Paris, BnF, Vélins - 1790); there are initials in a rounded medallion placed in lower border of fols. 11v, 19v, 23v, 30v, 43v: initials B/V/E/S separated by a crossed candelabra and dagger; also found in the lower borders of the 1581 edition, there initials have not been identified, but there is a supplementary clue in the printed 1581 edition: the blank heraldic shield simply inscribed here in ink with the letter "L" (fol. 24r)
Title-page (fol. 1r) includes the following text: "Warhafftiger Grunt und Zeugniis unsers Cristlichen Glaubens aus der Heiligen Schrifft des alten und newen Testaments trewelich unnd vleissig zussamen gezogen allen frommen Christen zu einer Lehr und Trost. Durch einen Hochgelerten der Heiligen Schrifft" [Authentic foundation and testimony of our Christian Faith taken from the Sacred Scripture of the Old and New Testaments, attentively and faithfully chosen and gathered together for all pious Christians for their teaching and consolation. By a learned connoisseur of Holy Scripture]
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.
Leipzig?, Saxony, Germany
The present manuscript contains the same selection of biblical excerpts as a vellum imprint, printed in Leipzig by Jacobs Berwaldts [Bärwald] Erben in 1581 (only located printed copy: Paris, BnF, Vélins-1790); there are initials in a rounded medallion placed in lower border of ff. 11v, 19v, 23v, 30v, 43v: initials B / V / E / S separated by a crossed candelabra and dagger; also found in the lower borders of the 1581 edition, these initials have not been identified, but there is a supplementary clue in the printed 1581 edition: the blank heraldic shield simply inscribed here in ink with the letter "L" (fol. 24) [for "Leipzig?], is instead interestingly filled with the arms of the Prince Elector Augustus of Saxony (1553-1586); he collected books that would be useful in his endeavors, following the advice of professors at the University of Leipzig, and taking advantage of the great Frankfurt and Leipzig book fairs; the luxury of the present copy suggests that it could be a presentation or preparatory copy made for or in the circle of the Prince Elector Augustus of Saxony (who ruled Saxony from 1553 to 1586), a reputed bibliophile, who commissioned manuscripts and imprints for the Electoral Library founded in Dresden in 1556; circa 1580, likely before 1581
Contemporary panel-stamped and gold-tooled binding, likely made in Saxony, in the region of Leipzig or Wittenberg, during the last quarter of the sixteenth century (c. 1580); the center of each cover is impressed with a panel representing on the upper cover the Crucifixion (shown, unusually, with two disputing soldiers flanking Christ, the brazen serpent, and a seated unclothed man) with inscription below: "Ecce . Agnus . Dei . Qui . Tollit // Peccata . Mundi" (80 x 47 mm) and the lower cover the Resurrection with inscription below: "Mors . Ubi . Tuus . Aculeus . U // bi . Victoria . Tua . Inferne" (81 x 46 mm), with initials "A.H." ; according to the description from Les Enluminures, this monogram could be that of Ambrosius Hirsch, although the present panels are not recorded in Haebler specifically (see Haebler and Schunke [1928], vol. 1, pp. 162-164); the bookbinder identified as A.H. (Ambrosius Hirsch) was precisely active in Leipzig between 1577 and 1617 (see Haebler and Schunke [1928], Bd. I, pp. 164)
German
Germany, Saxony, likely Leipzig; unidentified nineteenth- or early twentieth-century French bookseller's description tipped in on the front flyleaf describing it as "Très curieux manuscrit en allemand..."; from the collection of the late William Stuart Spaulding, Jr. (died 1961), with his signature, and his wife Angèle Louise Maggi (1925-2005), of Boston and Gstaad, Switzerland, their book plate, a serpent ("S") within an "M," the monogram contained in a circular frame, like a necklace of pearls; sold to the Free Library of Philadelphia by Les Enluminures, 2007
Leipzig?, Saxony, Germany
The present manuscript contains the same selection of biblical excerpts as a vellum imprint, printed in Leipzig by Jacobs Berwaldts [Bärwald] Erben in 1581 (only located printed copy: Paris, BnF, Vélins-1790); there are initials in a rounded medallion placed in lower border of ff. 11v, 19v, 23v, 30v, 43v: initials B / V / E / S separated by a crossed candelabra and dagger; also found in the lower borders of the 1581 edition, these initials have not been identified, but there is a supplementary clue in the printed 1581 edition: the blank heraldic shield simply inscribed here in ink with the letter "L" (fol. 24) [for "Leipzig?], is instead interestingly filled with the arms of the Prince Elector Augustus of Saxony (1553-1586); he collected books that would be useful in his endeavors, following the advice of professors at the University of Leipzig, and taking advantage of the great Frankfurt and Leipzig book fairs; the luxury of the present copy suggests that it could be a presentation or preparatory copy made for or in the circle of the Prince Elector Augustus of Saxony (who ruled Saxony from 1553 to 1586), a reputed bibliophile, who commissioned manuscripts and imprints for the Electoral Library founded in Dresden in 1556; circa 1580, likely before 1581
German
Germany, Saxony, likely Leipzig; unidentified nineteenth- or early twentieth-century French bookseller's description tipped in on the front flyleaf describing it as "Très curieux manuscrit en allemand..."; from the collection of the late William Stuart Spaulding, Jr.
This compact devotional work contains biblical extracts taken from the Lutheran 1534 German translation, illustrated by small hand-colored narrative woodcuts and woodcut borders. It was likely realized for or in a Saxon (princely?) milieu, as there exists a very rare imprint (unicum?) of the same text in Paris (Paris, BnF, Vélins-1790) with a shield of the Prince Elector Augustus of Saxony. The elegant and unusual binding presents panels recorded on Leipzig or Wittemberg bindings of the second half of the sixteenth century.
The present manuscript contains the same selection of biblical excerpts as a vellum imprint, printed in Leipzig by Jacobs Berwaldts [Bärwald] Erben in 1581 (sole located printed copy: Paris, BnF, Vélins - 1790); there are initials in a rounded medallion placed in lower border of fols. 11v, 19v, 23v, 30v, 43v: initials B/V/E/S separated by a crossed candelabra and dagger; also found in the lower borders of the 1581 edition, there initials have not been identified, but there is a supplementary clue in the printed 1581 edition: the blank heraldic shield simply inscribed here in ink with the letter "L" (fol. 24r)
Title-page (fol. 1r) includes the following text: "Warhafftiger Grunt und Zeugniis unsers Cristlichen Glaubens aus der Heiligen Schrifft des alten und newen Testaments trewelich unnd vleissig zussamen gezogen allen frommen Christen zu einer Lehr und Trost. Durch einen Hochgelerten der Heiligen Schrifft" [Authentic foundation and testimony of our Christian Faith taken from the Sacred Scripture of the Old and New Testaments, attentively and faithfully chosen and gathered together for all pious Christians for their teaching and consolation. By a learned connoisseur of Holy Scripture]
Gothic--Fraktur
Each devotional theme within the book is illustrated by a selection of biblical quotes and a woodcut (except the last two themes which have no woodcuts); in total, there are thirteen woodcuts, one less than in the printed vellum 1581 edition; the title page, text, and woodcuts are framed by four-sided woodcut borders, highlighted in similar colors as the woodcuts, with gold outlining, repeated on each page
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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