Add MS 38114-38115

HUTH BEQUEST. Vols. I, II. Bible, in Latin; Vulgate version. Preceded by Jerome's Epistle to Paulinus ("Frater Ambrosius") and preface to the Pentateueh ("Desiderii mei"). The arrangement of books is regular, except that Ezra (1 Esdras) and Nehemiah are followed by the apocryphal 1 Esdras (here entitled 2 Esdras), and that Acts comes between the Pauline and Catholic ("canoniales") Epistles. In two volumes, vol. i ending with the Psalms. All the books after the Pentateuch have prefaces, except Judges, Ruth, 2-4 Kings, Nehemiah, 2 (i.c. the apocryphal 1) Esdras, Psalms, Song of Songs, Lamentations, 2 Maccabees, and the Catholic Epistles (which have only the one general preface, "Non est ita ordo," prefixed to James). Job, Joel, Jonah, Micah, Matthew, and John have two prefaces each, Amos and I Maccabees Three; and the preface to Hosea is preceded by the "Prologus in duodecim prophetis," beg. "Non idem est ordo." For the most part these prefaces are the usual ones (cf. S. Berger in Mém. Prés. à l'Acad. des Inscr. ser. i, vol. xi, pt. ii, 1904, pp. 1-70), but two are worth noting, viz. the first of the two prefixed to John, "Omnibus diuine pagme" (Migne, Patrol. Lat. xxxv, col. 1377, cxiv, col. 355), and that prefixed to the Apocalypse, "Omnes qui pie uolunt uiuere" [by Gilbert de la Porrée]. At the end (vol. ii, f. 361) are the "Interpretationes hebraicorum nominum" [by Remy of Auxerre?], as printed in Bedae 0pera, iii, 1688, p. 371. Vellum; ff. ii + 328, 422 (ff. 359, 360 blank). 11 1/2 in. x 8 in. Second half of XIII cent. Gatherings of 16 leaves (last quire of vol. i, 8; in vol. ii, last quire of Bible, 8 leaves, last quire of "Interpretationes," 14, two blank leaves at the end having been cut away); quires 21 and 22 (ff. 337-352, 321-336) of vol. ii have been transposed in binding. Double columns of 42 lines, the "Interpretationes" in triple columns of 43 lines. Sec. fol., vol. i, "meditatio tribuere," vol.ii, "tur ad eam." With finely illuminated initials to the prefaces and books, the former filled with conventional foliage or other decorative designs, the latter enclosing miniatures, and both having partial borders attached. The work, especially in the first volume, represents the French art of the time at its best: the initials, whether historiated or merely decorative, are executed with extraordinary delicacy, and so are the exquisite little figures and groups (mainly humorous or grotesque) with which many of the pendent borders are enriched. The chapter-initials throughout both volumes, in blue and red, are adorned with pen-flourishes of great elaboration and delicacy. For vol. i, f. 5 (beg. of Genesis) see Cat. of Huth Bequest, pl. 1. On the fly-leaf (f. ii) of vol. i, and on the first page of vol. ii, is inscribed "Monasterii S^ti Michaelis de S^to Michaele Congregationis SS. Vitoni et Hydulphi" (17th cent.), showing that the MS. belonged to the Benedictine abbey of St. Mihiel, in the diocese of Verdun, which was affiliated in 1606 to the Congregation of SS. Vitonus and Hydulphus (Gallia Christiana, xiii, col. 1272). Huth bookplate. Briefly described in The Huth Library, 1880, vol. i, p. 158.