Add MS 52255

PSALTER, of Sarum use, in Latin, written and illuminated in England; early 15th cent. Contents:- (1) Kalendar (Sarum use), in black and red. ff. 1-6b;-

(2) Psalter, Gallican version. ff. 7-221;- (3) Canticles. ff. 221-225;- (4) Litany. Invocations of saints and four extant collects agree with those printed by

F. Proctor and C. Wordsworth, Breviarum ad usum . . . Sarum, 1879-86, ii, cols. 250-4, to ' . . . Deus a quo sancta desideria' except for the slightly later marginal insertions of 'Sancta Birgitta' and 'Sancta Katerina'. Ends imperfect. ff. 225-230b. Ownership inscriptions on f. 1 read 'Ex Libris Caroli Otway' and 'Pignus Amicitia Litera Scripta Manu' in a 17th cent. hand, and 'John Morison, January 1801'. Bequeathed (see f. iii) by Mabel Morison, wife of Stanley Morison (1889-1967), F.B.A., typographer to the British Museum.

Vellum; ff. v+230. 137 x 95mm. Early 15th cent. Gatherings (17) of 12 leaves except i16 (7 missing, 12 cancelled), ii8, iii18 (9 missing, 14 cancelled), iv10, vi24 (12 missing), ix12 (8 missing), xi12 (3 cancelled, 8 missing), xiii22 (10 missing, 13 cancelled), xvi24, xvii10. Pricked and ruled, in purple ink, for 17 long lines within single bounding lines. Sec. fol. 'Kalends Martius'. Catchwords on final versos. Some ad hoc quire signatures on rectos, largely lost due to trimming.

The decoration consists of decorated major initials with partial borders, minor initials, pen-flourished litterae notabiliores and line-fillers. All are executed in gold and colours. Of the major initials which preceded Ps. 1 and the ferial divisions of the Psalter, only 2 remain, to Ps. 38 (f. 52b) and Ps. 68 (f. 91), the others having been excised. Those remaining are in colours on a gold ground with acanthus ornament extending into partial borders. There is a further, smaller initial to Ps. 119 (f. 193). The script is littera gothica textualis semi-quadrata, in black and red, by one hand. Brown calf binding, 18th cent., tooled in gold, formerly labelled 'Latin Prayerbook' on the spine. Marbled end-papers, with marbling over pages taken from a contemporary printed book (ff. i-ii, iv-v). Edges gilt and goffered. A 17th-cent. hand has added running title, pagination and marginal annotation, revealing that, although most of the excisions were already made, some at least may have occurred at this date.