Add MS 19896

Contents:

ff. 1r-24v: Apocalypse Picture Book.

Apocalypse (Revelation) with a preface of St Jerome and commentary:

f. 25r: Prologus: Rubric: 'Incipit argumentum Apocalipsis Iohannis'. Beginning: 'Apocalipsis Iohannis tot habet sacramentum quot verba'.

f. 25r-: Preface of St Jerome: Rubric:'Incipit prefatio Sancti Jeronimi in apocalipsim Johannis'. Beginning: 'Johannes apostolus et evangeslita a Christo electus'.

ff. 25r-v: Apocalypse, table of contents.

ff. 25v-32v: Apocalypse with commentary: rubric: 'Incipit liber Apocalipsis Johannis, capitulum primum ', beginning: 'Apocalipsis Ihesu Christi quam dedit illi Deus palam facere servis suis', ending: 'Gratia Domini nostri Ihesu Christi cum omnibus nvbis. Amen. Explicit liber Apocalipsis beati Johannis'.

Decoration:

The layout and subjects of the miniatures are closely related to that of three Flemish manuscripts, all believed to have been copied from the same English exemplar, according to Montague R. James, Apocalypse in Art (1927), pp. 47-48. They are: British Library, Additional 38121, Manchester, John Rylands Library MS Lat. 19 and London, Welcome Institute, MS 49 (formerly in the Sneyd collection). A related copy is an early block-book of the Apocalypse, made in the Netherlands in the 15th century, derived from the same or a similar exemplar (see Montague R. James, Apocalypse in Art (1927), pp. 47-48).

92 tinted drawings, mostly two to a page (ff. 1-24). They illustrate the Apocalypse, the first four drawings show St John's life (f. 1r-v). Latin text and titles are interpolated between the drawings. Puzzle initial in red with pen-flourishing (f. 25). Initials and rubrics in red (ff. 25-32).

The subjects of the drawings are as follows:

f. 1r: John preaching to the heathen at Ephesus (above); John baptising a convert while guards are breaking into his house to arrest him (below).

f. 1v: John before the Emperor Domitian (above); John is exiled on a ship to the island of Patmos (below).

f. 2r: John on Patmos receiving the revelation in the form of a scroll (above) and John, an angel with a sword and the seven churches (below) (Revelation 1 and 2).

f. 2v: John is consoled by an angel and the vision of Heaven held up by an angel (Revelation 4).

f. 3r: John in heaven with angels and the four beasts (above), John weeping (left), the adoration of the Lamb (right) (Revelation 4).

f. 3v: The opening of the first seal: the Rider on the White Horse (above) and the second seal: the Rider on the Red Horse (below) (Revelation 6).

f. 4r: The opening of the third seal: the Rider on the Black Horse (above); the fourth seal: the Rider on the Pale Horse emerging from a monster's mouth with fire to pour on the earth (below), (Revelation 6).

f. 4v: The fifth seal: the martyrs are given white garments (above); the sixth seal: the earthquake (below) (Revelation 6).

f. 5r: John sees the angels holding the four winds (above); and the multitude adoring God and the Lamb (below) (Revelation 7).

f. 5v: The opening of the seventh seal: three angels are given trumpets and John with a staff (above); the censer is cast into the earth, with an altar on the left (below) (Revelation 8).

f. 6r: The angels with trumpets; above, an angel pours out incense from a censer (left) and another pours fire on the earth (right); below, an angel pours fire on the sea (left) and another blows a trumpet while a burning star falls from heaven (right)

f. 6v: The fourth trumpet (above), with the darkening of the sun and moon and the fifth trumpet (below) with the falling star, the locusts emerge from the pit (below) (Revelation 8,9).

f. 7r: The riders on horses with lions’ heads kill people (above); the angel instructs John to write in the book (below).

f. 7v: Abbadon and the locusts ride to destroy the people (above); the sixth angel blows his trumpet and the four angels of the Euphrates are released to kill humanity (Revelation 9);

f. 8r: The angel wrapped in a cloud with his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land (above); two witnesses proclaim God’s message, watched by two armed men (below) (Revelation 10, 11);

f. 8v: The two witnesses are beheaded by soldiers (above); the persecution of the witnesses, and a man cuts down an olive tree (below) (Revelation 11);

f. 9r: The people celebrate and give gifts (above); kings lie dead, a kneeling bearded man looks through a window in a city wall and beasts attack a seated figure (below) (Revelation 11);

f. 9v: The seventh trumpet: Christ is proclaimed by the kneeling 24 elders (above) and the Temple is opened in Heaven, with angels with censers on either side (below) (Revelation 11).

f. 10r: The Woman clothed with the sun and the Child attacked by the seven-headed Dragon (above); Michael and the angels fight the Dragon (below) (Revelation 12).

f. 10v: Two angels hold a sign with writing on it (above); St Michael and angels defeat the Dragon (below) (Revelation 12).

f. 11r: The Woman flies away with wings of an eagle (above) and the Dragon spews out a flood to wash her away (below).

f. 11v: The dragon attacks the saints or descendants of the Woman (above); the beast with seven heads comes out of the sea (below) (Revelation 12, 13).

f. 12r: The Dragon gives power to the Beast (above) and the worship of the Beast (below) (Revelation 13).

f. 12v: People worship the Dragon (above) and the Dragon tramples on the saints in armour (below) (Revelation 13).

f. 13r: The False Prophet as a beast with two horns and a group of people adoring the Dragon (above); the False Prophet forces the people to worship the dragon and those who do not are killed (below) (Revelation 13).

f. 13v: The False Prophet is seated on a throne and the people show the sign of the Beast on their hands (above); The Lamb stands on Mount Zion and the 144,000 people, the 4 living creatures and the elders worship him (below) (Revelation 13, 14).

f. 14r: An angel brings good news to the people (above); an angel proclaims the fall of Babylon (below) (Revelation 14).

f. 14v: The Lamb on Mount Sion, holding a cross, with angels on one side and people on the other (above) and the angels telling the people, including John, to fear the Lord (below) (Revelation 14).

f. 15r: The harvest of the Earth, represented by wheat being cut with a scythe (above) and the vintage, with the picking of grapes, the pressing and a wine chalice on the altar (below) (Revelation 14).

f. 15v: John and the seven angels hold vials (above) and the seven harpers (below) (Revelation 15).

f. 16r: Seven angels hold vials (above) and the first vial poured on the Earth (below).

f. 16v: The second angel pours out his vial on the sea (above) and the third angel pours out his vial on the rivers and springs (below) (Revelation 16).

f. 17r: The fourth angel pours out his vial on the sun and scorches men with fire (above) and the fifth angel pours out his vial on the seat of the Beast and the Wicked who are gnawing their tongues in pain (Revelation 16).

f. 17v: The sixth angel pours out his vial on the Euphrates River, with the Beast, the Dragon and the False Prophet watching (Revelation 16).

f. 18r: The seventh angel pours out his vial destroying the city and causing an earthquake and fire on earth (Revelation 16).

f. 18v: The Whore of Babylon is seated on the waters holding a golden cup (above) and rides on the Beast (below) (Revelation 17).

f. 19r: The city of Babylon has been destroyed (above) and an angel casts the millstone into the sea (Revelation 18).

f. 19v: Angels rejoicing in heaven, while the Whore of Babylon is cast into the pit (above) and the marriage supper of the Lamb (below) (Revelation 19).

f. 20r: The angel addresses John (above) and the Rider on the White Horse in a robe sprinkled with blood (below) (Revelation 19).

f. 20v: The birds devour the flesh of the dead (above); the Rider on the White Horse fights the army of the Beast and wounds the Beast.

f. 21r: The birds attack the Beast and the False Prophet who are in a hell mouth (above) and the angels force them into the bottomless pit of fire (below).

f. 21v: The Faithful and the Dead arise (above); the attack on the Holy City (below) (Revelation 20).

f. 22r: The Devil, the Beast the False Prophet and all the Wicked in the lake of fire and brimstone (above); God in a mandorla judging the Dead, with open books lying on the ground (below).

f. 22v: The New Jerusalem coming down from God (above) and John and the angel measuring the Holy City with a rod (below) (Revelation 21).

f. 23r: The glory of God shines on the Holy City (above); the Angel shows John the Lord in Heaven (below) (Revelation 22).

f. 23v: John teaching (above) and raising Drusiana from the dead (below).

f. 24r: John and Crato with the jewels (above); John destroying the Temple of Diana (below).

f. 24v: John drinking poison following Aristodemus' threat, and the hand of God coming down to save him while the two criminals are dying (above); John at an altar and John in his tomb (below).