Posted:
07 Feb 2018
BOETHIUS ETC. IN FRENCH. Haenel 6.
Vellum and paper, 11 by 7 7/9, ff. 146, in double columns of 48 lines and 36 in the latter part of the volume.
Cent. xv early (1406 ?).
At the top of f. 1 is: Roberti Hare, 1551.
On f. 145 b is :
Ce liure appartient a noble damoyselle mademoiselle de quiercheuille qui le trouuera cy luy Rende
and on 146 at top:
memoire que sur ce liure Jay preste (en bailie added) neuf solz *pad a *(?parisis).
Quiercheville may probably be Querqueville on the N. coast of the Dept of Manche.
Collation :
a8 V., b16 (wants two : 6, 7, 8, 14 V., 2-6, 9-13 P.) c18 (1,9, 10, 18 V., 2-8, 11-17 P.) d18 (as c) e18 (as c) f22 (1, 11, 12, 22 V., rest P.) g24 (wants 9, 10 : 9 replaced by a leaf from quire b : outer and middle sheets V., rest P.) h26 (wants 25 blank: outer and middle sheets V., rest P.). One leaf of b is now bound after f. 106: I find no trace of a lost leaf in the 1st half of b : but it must have had 16 leaves.
The hand is not pretty, but is legible. The volume is very copiously illustrated, and in a very curious way. There are two sets of pictures : the one illustrates the text, the other consists of a series of full-page pictures (in nearly all cases) which are appropriate only to a religious book, and as I take it, must be copied from a Psalter. Psalters usually had a series of preliminary paintings illustrating the Life of Christ, and the principal Saints.
All these pictures are by the same hand. They are extremely roughly drawn and coloured, almost no gold is used. The originals were probably very fine.
In describing the book I will take the literary contents first and then give a list of the illustrations.
Contents:
At the top of f. 1 b is the title :
Boesce de consolation. La chastelaine de Vergy. la regale du monde.
I. Boethius De consolatione philosophiae
III. La Regale du monde
Illustrations:
I. Boethius De consolatione philosophiae: Liber i ; Liber ii ; Liber iii ; Liber iv ; Liber v and intermediate illustrations
III. La Regale du monde
© N.J.R. James
