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Bible

French (possibly Paris)
Medieval (Gothic)
mid-13th century
Place of Manufacture: Paris (?), France

Medium/Technique Tempera and ink (some modern) on parchment; bindings of brown morocco over boards with gilding
Dimensions Overall (page dimensions): 16.5 x 12 cm (6 1/2 x 4 3/4 in.)
Credit Line Denman Waldo Ross Collection
Accession Number34.146
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope

DescriptionBible with 523 folios (ff.) and 8 leaves:

ff. iiiv-ivv: Table of contents (added in 15th century)
ff. 1-485: Bible, Old and New Testaments, most with the common set of prologues:
Pentateuch; Genesis; Joshua; Judges; Ruth; Kings I-IV; I Chron.; II Chron.; Ezra; Nehemiah; "II Ezra" [= III Ezra]; Tobias; Judith; Esther; Job; Psalms; Proverbs; Ecclesiastes; Cantica Canticorum; Sapientia (addition in lower ,argin in 14th-century hand); Ecclesiasticus ("Multorum nobis et magnorum," biblical introduction to Ecclesiasticus, treated as a prologue); Isaiah; Jeremiah; Lamentations; Baruch; Ezechiel; Daniel; Minor Prophets; Hosea; Joel; Amos; Obadiah; Jonah; Micah; Nahum; Habbacuc; Zephaniah; Haggai; Zacharias; Malachi; Maccabees; II Macc.; Matthew; Mark; Luke (Luke 1: 1-4, treated as a prologue); John; Romans; I Cor.; II Cor.; Galatians; Ephesians; Phillipp.; Collosians; I Thess.; II Thess.; I Timothy; II Timothy; Titus; Philemon; Hebrews; Acts; Canonical epistles; James; I Peter; II Peter, I John, II John, III John, Jude; Apocalypse.
ff. 485v- 522: Jerome's index to the Bible

2 columns of 50 text lines in Latin. Bounding lines in black plummet full-length to upper and lower edges and to inner and outer edges for headings, writing lines in black plummet, prickings extant in upper and lower margins for bounding lines.

No signatures or catchwords. Contemporary French Roman numerals in upper left corner of each verso in brown ink, uses several numbers twice and skips others, so reaches 522 instead of 523 (numbers as written used above for reference).

Written in a Scholastic bookhand in black ink with red rubrics. f. 1 recto, 8-line initial [F] in blue with serpentine infill in colors; f. 4 recto, full-length [I] in colors; 4- to 11-line initials throughout for book and prologue initials, in blue and red with blue and red infill and blue, red, and green harping into margin. Occasionally, the artist has supplied the wrong letter (e.g. f. 360 verso, where the artist has drawn [A] instead of the required [T]). Chapter initials throughout 2-line alternating red with blue and green filigree and blue with red filigree. Psalm divisions 6- to 8-line initial in colors with serpentine infill. In-text initials alternate red and blue.

Binding: 19th-century blind- and gilt-rolled and stamped brown morocco over boards; spine gilt in compartments with gilt-stamped title "BIBLE/ M.S.", gilt fillet board edges and turn-ins, marbled endpapers and flyleaves, all edges gilt.

InscriptionsSigned by two 19th-century : "Shillabar" and "Dr. Hunt, Nov. 1891."
Provenance19th century, Shillaber [with signature]. By November 1891, with Dr. Hunt [with his signature "Dr. Hunt, Nov. 1891"]. By 1934, with Denman W. Ross (1853-1935), Cambridge, MA; 1934, gift of Denman W. Ross. (Accession date: April 5, 1934)