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A Leaf from a Gutenberg Bible Illuminated in England

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A Leaf from a Gutenberg Bible Illuminated in England A LEAF FROM A GUTENBERG BIBLE ILLUMINATED IN ENGLAND EBERHARD KONIG OLD libraries, even those with a great tradition in providing information of a high standard, may sometimes benefit from visitors who insist on not confining themselves to what is listed or catalogued, although the outcome will frequently be—to the annoyance of all concerned—that the search was for something that does not necessarily exist. This situation is all too familiar to those art historians who are experts of illumination and who trace special styles of decoration in manuscripts or printed books; moreover, they do not very often meet librarians who take them to the shelves or are willing to waste days looking for one item which cannot be identified by a precise shelf-mark. It has happened several times that I wished to find objects in the British Library which I could not properly identify, and I have encountered the kindest possible help on each occasion, even when in the end we had to conclude that the book we had looked for did not really exist. ^ But the last time this happened the search was successful: to her own astonishment Lotte Hellinga found in the British Library collection of incunabula a forgotten leaf of a Gutenberg Bible which is not listed in its catalogue, BMC^ one of tbe greatest of all catalogues of incunabula.^ It was not by divination that I asked to see this leaf. Seymour de Ricci had listed it in 1911,-^ and Paul Schwenke, perhaps the only scholar to make a thorough study of all the copies of the Gutenberg Bible known during his lifetime, and who was well acquainted with questions of binding and decoration, described the leaf in his Ergdnziingsband (1923) to the first (and brilliant) facsimile of the Berlin copy of the Gutenberg Bible."^ Subsequently the fragment vanished from the Gutenberg literature, and apparently also from the memories of incunabulists. Don Cleveland Norman, who provided the longest list of single leaves of the Gutenberg Bible, did not know it existed,^ and on my visit to the British Library an application slip with Schwenke's reference: 'Bagford Collection, Sloane 1044' was rejected as containing a paradox, since the two names Sloane and Bagford appeared to be mutually exclusive. In fact, Sloane 1044 is mentioned on the last page of A. W. Pollard's 'Rough List of the Contents of the Bagford Collection' of 1902-4,"^ but this does not inform us about its location. However, the leaf was found in the end, in a guard-book filled with interesting fragments bearing the number Sloane 1044. It was subsequently detached from this volume and press-marked according to the system used for incunabula, and is now known as IC.56a. The leaf was cleaned successfully in the manuscript conservation workshop, and the accompanying reproductions show its present state of preservation (figs, i, 2). 32 -::m '.^^\- qm foninat iiwarnr fiia * ire rar i % inmrccoriimarami.iDiraflutit#o. :qmaiitfrminat p in Ipiritu: Hr Ipmm mttrt mm rcecno. nongftnmsi.lCarannramnmpifnt j&onuautffanmttG no brfirmmuo: &flntu:^m?autaDitfua tiporrnnm fuo mfcan^im orfiam^ jfrgo Dinn mnpue l^rin^ o{tr^ A tur:ut non iur bonu aD om£Q: maftor aiuf liteftctpriaotiiamra manui^ taxm: q ; mnij^ mimnolutpiatEicmmtnt^ iia*hnpulil(ma*lu{una*r&olpQ frcui- mount DOS arcunbt: tantu m roma iue-omrfina^inimmdt-ratmoiifQ • m&t gfminont no pananf. jRrq^tOi qmnrcunOutur irgtmmSotnut:!ei> muitfU * t^Oi^taUta • tbcirtamj- oluc uoBnrcun&intmramnsSca [n^tionro*iqi|8 fimilia:qpDiro oriatut. |!Hidji autabfu gloriari firut pDm: quoma qni ^alia liirim mircDni no&n it^rfu m&i:p(t agum rcgnu Oti no tonfFqumt. jfru quf inirt)! muHns miafi£u& tOr.'i rgo ttueautlptritustKcaritao-gaumu- ^; nmlio.i|n wM mim itf ffn nnn ami' pai*paamna*bmimiitae * bonitaa* ^ n&o aliquitj ualn nrqt^riu:iiEttno< 4 na rrcatuia.fr quininq;tjarrcgula •'JTA fura;it:patfU9iiloo 5|umrmolii nan tft Iff. llini Ti;;. 'fralirt Da. i?>r tmto ni miftii >uiJ! cavpKf niro pamr. mimm|pp tcit t^amo I oliquQ {clida*uoa qfpin Ch tifaiftl Ehcaur i fiat. ritu Imitano:ranfittca8 mpra nn tu at apl'ns rn:itron&fliqfi> mnpttna. JUttr altm? onrca poztatt: ^ficaDnpgjfilbltftjRafiqe q t^ftiraat ft aliquiD fflft lu niiftil fit: tpt If frOimt. SpiK^mn fuu^btt uolutatfim fifrfcsl liindmqm numomtsfnuponabtt. flut bijs qui tatt^r^af oobo: A i|m & rari^E^at in omnto bome. )Ho6 tetrrarc. lDr^noimDnur.ipnermm ftpwnaumt 'MVSEVM ^ ^?:'PMM Z'?;?. /. Leaf from a 42-line Bible, [DD]7 recto: beginning o{Epistola ad Ephesios. IC.56a naminaf no fblu t trot fmilofcis ma git ttoa in ma fltm in ftuuron otma rnbtrat rub pebito dlt^ l i immaoUahi d ^E^it tapuc Tupra omnt h^mmritatc.lDuinmftinamtnoQi qgppiT p otiaiitDnf atitmo iQdu txM m ipm quiomniaittomd&aluraplmir. lidim jiofitu uolutatie lut m lou^e - oCbam&tid V ^ gtotiegncfur.i^gtabEimuttnoem na oha in qnito aliquaoo M&l ( :i quo t^atem^ ntten ifilit pimp! poK&aaa attia tim^f^iat^ j) j^ g ^ nut oprcafin &Uoa Diffiluatri quite Uflutt in notes in otmtapimai pcu^ tt noa oinnta aliquaOo murtfaa fu^ Dmrionit notu fatetec nobiefaaamc muamOrftDrnjaiamieFiirt Caaota mm aolutan'e fnr lidm bEncplantu n9 oolutatf tarme i mgitationii: rt tea- q^p p nma natura Bb| irtfimil^ otm.iDr^ tulmne tepocu m&aurare oi am qui tuura eft m nnfrnmiUia^pax fiaqtaltdiqitmralutf^oqqiqq tntnia taritart fua Qua Dd^ noa:i ma no6 fom DOian fum^cpti^nati fttim jpofitu n^ q optcat omia (rdm no6 m&o-tut^ gcada ^a fSuao: et ^tiiunolutanefut: mfim^flauQe tactrurdtamtetiafeOttc&edtm cdtQt^ Atom n^ noequiiatclpaamui^f m^ bua in tn&o itftfn: nt ofimimttin fi^ §o.I|u quo 1006 tu auDdTms ontu omtatid maQdtufaluttaunrmquo naa granr fue in tsnitate Urn uoa in cc fO liKi fttO5f{iifoi onie fantbi :41 piO^ t^cC[Kasn9 m i ^on! aaufiaonismlauO^ no ei opr^bua: urar qma glo ilp&^mirum^ C3dra:nati ma M atftm q rQ In ni&o t^rfu ^ H p rqupgiarauit Icdionc in aiuFS faatorno oOo gra Oe^ ut m illiia ambulrm?. ^ d naa g^ b fi mainot^ntb)meia:nclif {jni nn tia getra t tame i| intebammi ^ludu ^ fuipr glade tta oobia ^v ab ta q Dmf amuifm m tacoemanu' nptig i !a±a:qn:mtajlloiu$!rii nnn n' illuminatoa odba mtijia ue nan adunTatoitf iItat^l i fid: uc DaanaqficIprQ ooramntan^ i jmi^nta ^u no n^ touiiif glottt Ijtaftirano ri^i Fan* dian q (tc ii^mnea magnituis uir^ ante m mSoitpfn Doa^ aliquaixo tuna tfi iavm qui otiiini? [idm opr^ rana loge Eadt eOta^r: m fanguine canonf poc&ir uirmtia quaopccat? mMr miftfJiGiq (ftf mfio:fit&^"9 tllu a momua-tt imu: 1 mttm pantrf matcde (bltna mOuuea ao Dtfcna M in otrftibua inimiddaa in tarnr fuarlegmi mam^ ftipta orane jmnopatu i pttftace tt mi; Deccectftmamaa ut Dnoa con&at uirmtf 1 Daariane-i orarnommqlj in fmimpmin oiin nouu If ominein J.-^iH!s»«sc*KSlIW!R»»^JR«£<i<JralB^^ Fig. 2. Leaf from a 42-Iine Bible, [DD]7 verso. IC.56a Schwenke has provided the basic information about the fragment:"^ it is a vellum leaf of an illuminated copy of the 42-line Bible, generally believed to be the first book ever printed.^ It can be identified as leaf [DD]7 (268) of vol. ii, which normally includes the New Testament. The leaf comprises the Vulgate text from the end of the Epistola ad Galatas (chapter vi is complete), to the middle of chapter ii of the Eptstola ad Ephesios. Fortunately this means that almost every kind of decorated initial which one can find in a Gutenberg Bible is represented: two-line initials at the beginning of each chapter, one four-line initial for the argumentum (which serves as a prologue) for each Epistle, and one six-line initial to introduce the book of Epistles.^ The vellum leaf had been used in the binding of another book, possibly as a pastedown, an endpaper, or a fiyleaf, or perhaps as the cover of a slim pamphlet. An enigmatic inscription on the upper part of the inner margin of the recto page reads 'Duke Humphrey', an intriguing name for anyone who has ever visited the Bodleian Library, but it remains an enigma. ^^The famous Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, founder ofthe first university library at Oxford, died in 1447, that is, at least six years before the earhest possible date of issue ofthe Gutenberg Bible. ^^ The inscription, in a hitherto unidentified hand of the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century, may therefore well relate to the contents ofthe book for which the vellum leaf served as pastedown or endleaf; the Duke was remembered in many different ways.^^ The binder had trimmed the leaf, but only part of each ofthe four margins is lost; the appearance of a perfect leaf with its characteristic proportions is therefore fortunately preserved. The book in which it was bound up must have been a quarto, for the leaf has been folded in the middle with damage to some lines. Stains, some perhaps of paste but some of other origin, have affected the printed type. The red ink ofthe rubrics has suffered damage caused by dampness. Large sections of paint have come off and most of the burnished gold has disappeared. But considering the rather stormy history of this leaf one may be surprised that it does not look worse. In spite of the lamentable damage, it still gives a true impression of its original appearance. At first glance the leaf does not contain much in the way of new information for incunabulists: there are, as there should be, exactly forty-two lines in two columns which gave the book its bibliographical name, the '42-line Bible' or 'B 42' in the jargon; there is not a single exciting special reading in the text, nor any spectacular feature of printing.
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