Description
This manuscript will only be sold to a museum or similar non-profit. Please call prior to purchase.
MATTHEW 14:9-18:13. “Confessing Christ”. VERY RARE TRANSITIONAL MANUSCRIPT. In Latin. [English translation 14:28-33 and 16:13-19 provided separately]. Handwritten and illuminated in England, c.1200-1225. On fine vellum, uncut, 5.6″ x 4.7″. FINE+ condition; remnants of glue to the corners from previous matting (see pics). This transitional manuscript, from a very early pocket Bible or Gospels, follows the older format of 62 lines per column with older Eusebian-like story divisions, yet on the “newer” approx. 6″ x 4″ format, coinciding for travel on the 4th Crusade c.1202-1204. The result is an astounding 16.5 lines per inch! Written with a simplified Gothic rotunda script. Chapter numbers (except XVI) and some other initials are situated outside the columns per 12th C custom; Eusebian-like notations in smaller capitals are found both outside and inside the columns. [Ch 15 begins with initial “T” outside. Ch 16 lacks a beginning initial. Ch 17 initial “E” is inside. Ch 18 beginning initial “I” is outside.] Greenish-blue paint along the edges further suggest an English origin which adds to its rarity. No matching manuscripts have been found among the world’s great museums! An additional theological bonus to this manuscript is the pontifical text in Mt 16 usually referred to as “Peter’s Confession,” followed by the resurrection-like “Transfiguration” in Ch 17. Quite an exceptional manuscript!
Initials / story placements: V 14:15. V 14:23. E 14:34. T 15:1. E 15:21. E 15:29. E 15:39. V 16:13. T 16:24. E 17:1. E 17:24. I 18:1.
This manuscript will only be sold to a museum or similar non-profit. Please call prior to purchase.
