Add MS 39657

PARHAM MS. LXXV. GENESIS in pictures; with accompanying text derived from a Bible History in French. The pictures occupy the whole space of the left-hand pages, the text being inscribed on the opposite pages. Rubrics descriptive of the subjects (not deriving from the source of the text) are inscribed usually above the pictures, but sometimes above the relevant section of text. The text derives from the Bible History found in Harley MS. 4412 (where it is accompanied by vignette pictures in a different style). The same Bible History is found in Bibl. Nat. MSS. fr. 906 (dat. 1462), 17061 and 22888 (dat. 1496), and in the Arsenal MS. 2000. For an account of this text see P. Meyer's review of S. Berger's Bible française au Moyen Age in Romania, xvii, p. 140. MS. 906 differs

from the other MSS. by containing Picard forms. The present MS. has forms of a northern dialect. The text beg. " [A]u comence- Ment creait dieu le ciel et la terre," and ends fragmentarily (f. 131) "et ly ysseront plus de gens asseis " (Harl. 4412, f. 43 b) with the blessing of the sons of Joseph by Jacob (Gen. xlviii. 13-20). The picture with rubric for Gen. xlix follows overleaf, but the text has been lost. The text is usually in shorter sections than in Harley 4412, and each section had an illustration. There are 113 pictures, and an uncertain number has been lost. The series probably began with a Creation picture before f. 3. It ends at present with the picture of Jacob blessing his sons (Gen. xlix), and probably never went beyond Genesis. The subjects are drawn upon the plain paper in a thick outline and tinted, some use being made of parallel lines for shading. The figures, of large scale, are set in each case on an isolated piece of ground cut away by section in irregular shapes in the foreground, and rising in the background into precipitous hills with fir-like trees. A somewhat similar setting of the subjects in an early 15th cent. Dutch MS. in the Dyson Perrins collection (no. 108, plates xcii, xciii in Warner's Catalogue) may be compared. The execution is vigorous and the treatment of subject unusual. The manner approximates to that of the early Dutch and German wood-engravers. The drawings were perhaps executed in Flanders in the second half of the 15th cent. Paper (inlaid in modern paper, 14 in. x 10 1/4 in.) ; ff. 132 (including

18 leaves of modern paper mostly inserted to indicate lacunae). Original size 10 1/2 in. x 7 1/2 in. XV cent. Watermarks of anchor

with cross, and ox-head with nostrils and eyes and cross. The MS. had become dilapidated and was repaired at an early date. The following inscriptions occur :-

-(1) " Nicolaus Montangons residan a Mellet proiche de Rommielle [or Jomielle] " (16th cent.). There is a Mellet in Hainault, but there does not appear to be a Romielle (or Jomielle) in its neighbourhood. f. 3 ;-

-(2) " Alicui nouum illud est quod nunquam vidit sed aliquis nunquam vidit hunc librum ergo hie liber est alicui nouus." In the hand of Florent Gouverneur, see next inscription. f. 38 ;-

-(3) " Florent Gouuerneur natif de Moyenne et docteur en la lay en lan 1614." This has been scribbled through. f. 76 ;-

-(4) " Nunc noua delectant, mihi nunc antiqua placebunt. Florentius Gouuerneur. 1614." f.107;-

-(5)"Abraham Poerson 1637." f. 124;-

-(6) "Castaras de Gaincats 1637." A calculation in a French hand of the age of this inscription in 1815 follows. f. 127. Binding (English) of red Morocco, gilt-tooled. Curzon Cat., MSS. in Modern Languages, no. 7.

Bindings ENGLISH: Red morocco, gilt-tooled: 19th cent.

Bible. Bible Histories: Genesis in pictures, with French text: 15th cent.

Art. Illuminations and Drawings FLEMISH: Genesis in pictures: 15th cent.

includes:

• f. 3 Nicolaus Montangons: Inscription: 16th cent.
• ff. 38, 76, 107 Florent Gouverneur: Inscriptions by: 1614.
• f. 127 Castaras de Gaincats: Inscription in: 1637.