Copy number: G-251(1)

Wanting gatherings [a–c] containing the table of contents.

Binding: Contemporary German blind-tooled pigskin over wooden boards, with metal bosses, corner-pieces, and remains of metal clasps and catches; formerly chained: staple-marks of a hasp at the head of the back cover. On both covers an outer border along the spine contains small shields bearing a man's head in profile; five lines of fillets form an intersecting double frame; within the first frame are square stamps with a pierced heart and circular floral stamps of two kinds; the inner rectangle is divided by diagonal quadruple fillets into lozenge-shaped and triangular compartments, decorated with lozenge-shaped floral and swan stamps, and with flower stamps of two kinds. On the corner-pieces, the inscription: 'Maria hif(!) uns aus not Ma'. At the head of the upper cover a label with title and another one with 'M'. Labels with title and author on the upper and lower parts of the spine.

Size: 430 × 288 × 72 mm.

Size of leaf: 408 × 281 mm.

Pastedowns consist of four double leaves from an early eleventh-century German lectionary, with two three-line initials supplied in orange with green, yellow, and red (oxidized to silver) decoration. The text is arranged over one column of 20 lines. The front pastedown, cut out, has left the impression of text on the back board. The text is arranged as following: on the front pastedown, the upper left leaf begins: ‘in arborem sicomorum' (Lc 19,4-10); the upper right leaf begins: 'Et populi tui Israel' (III Rg 8,30-34); the lower left leaf begins: 'Deus ante tempora secularia' (Tit 1,2-9), the lower right leaf begins: 'Confirmav[ ] dominus sermonem suum quem locutus' (II Par 6,10-15). On the rear pastedown the upper left leaf begins: ‘uiro suo. Et audiui vocem magnam' (Apc 21,2-5), the text continues on the upper right leaf with I Cor 3,8-15 and Lc 6,43-45, ending: 'Bonus ho[mo]'. The lower left leaf of the rear pastedown begins: ‘suos peruiam quocumque mise[ris]' (III Rg 8,44-48); the lower right leaf begins:`descendente decaelo, habente claritate dei'(Apc 21,10-16).

A few marginal annotations, extracting key words, in different early hands. On [F9r] is an inscription in a contemporary German hand: ‘Und unnder andrn ist das Buch gesehen und das ist ins werck gesetztt worden.' Remains of early signatures of the gatherings, apparently signed a–z A–F, as above.

Woodcut initials decorated in green, pink, and yellow, or green, blue, and red; the border is decorated in green, blue, and red. Paragraph marks, capital strokes, and underlining of chapter headings are supplied in red.

Provenance: David Stuart Ker (1816-1878); sale, 8 Mar. 1847, lot 551. Purchased for £2. 12. 6; see Books Purchased (1847), 16.

SHELFMARK: Auct. Q sub. fen. 1.16.