Add MS 47437

DEVOTIONAL MANUAL, in Latin, containing prayers and meditations for the principal ecclesiastical seasons and days. Written, according to a colophon on f. 372 b, in the Cistercian nunnery of St. Giles at Münster, in Westphalia, in 1553. A note on f. 1b states that the book was to be in the keeping of the prioress 'et erit pro communi bono, et omnes utentes illo orent deum pro scriptrice'. The contents, which have no local characteristics, belong to the type of piety known as 'devotio moderna'. In this connection the activities of the Brethren of the Common Life at Münster as producers of books may be recalled (see W. Oeser, 'Die Brüder des gemeinsamen Lebens in Münster als Bücherschreiber', Archiv für Geschichte des Buchwesens, v, 1964, pp. 197-398). Vellum and paper; ff. i +372. 145 mm. × 105 mm. A.D. 1553. Gatherings irregular. Written in 'littera hybrida'. Simple decorated initials. At the front of the MS. is an illustration of a 'spiritual clock' (f. 2b). Within a circle, bearing the numbers i-xii, is a hand issuing from a heart and pointing at xii. In a rectangular frame round the design is a legend 'Mijn beste ure wl ich wachten Beyde bij daghe end oeck bij nachten. Wanneer die grote heer comen sal Die ick reden moet gheven van al'. An engraving and a woodcut, 16th cent., both hand-coloured, are pasted onto ff. 263b and 338b respectively. The former has a representation of the Trinity and is signed 'A.C.' (see A. von Wurzbach, Niederländisches Künstler-Lexicon, i, 1906, p. 280, no. 40; concerning the doubtful identification of the engraver A. C. with the Dutch artist Allaert Claesz see ibid., pp. 279-280, and M. J. Friedländer in U. Thieme and F. Becker, Allgemeines Lexicon der Bildenden Künstler, vii, 1912, p. 36). The woodcut shows the Visitation. Contemporary binding of calf over wooden boards, roll-tooled in blind with a figure of Christ rising from the tomb in the centre panel, and the four evangelists in the border. Bequeathed by Mrs Louise Victoria McCleverty.