Copy number: G-324(1)

Bound with:
2. Speculum exemplorum. Strasbourg: [Printer of the 1483 Jordanus de Quedlinburg (Georg Husner)], 1 Mar. 1490 (S‑267).

Binding: Contemporary (German: Hildesheim?) blind-tooled calf over wooden boards, with four metal bosses on the upper cover (one lost), and five on the lower, metal corner-pieces and two catches and one clasp, with one lost. On both covers double fillets form a frame outside which, on the upper cover, is a foliate stamp, a semi-circular cable stamp, a small fleur-de-lis stamp, and two different small flower-petal stamps; and on the lower cover the larger of the two small flower-petal stamps, a lozenge-shaped Virgin and Child stamp, and the small fleur-de-lis stamp. Double fillets form an inner rectangle, which, on the upper cover, at the head and tail has a small circular lamb-and-flag stamp, a fleuron, a foliate stamp, and two different small flower-petal stamps; headed-outline tools make up merrythoughts each containing a circular ‘IHS' stamp, or a circular rosette stamp, the lamb-and-flag stamp, and one of the small flower-petal stamps; and on the lower cover at the head and tail a circular cock stamp, a tiny flower-petal stamp, a lozenge-shaped foliate stamp, and a circular acorn stamp. Index tabs flat or ending in knotted thongs, and dyed red, green, or black; the rosette stamp, the headed-outline tool, and the coloured knotted or flat index tabs are also found on Auct. 2Q 3.30 (Bod-inc P‑169), which has been ascribed to Lüchtenhof by Jürgen Geiß.

Size: 295 × 211 × 85 mm.

Size of leaf: 282 × 194 mm.

On a3r of iten 1 and on a2r of item 2 a five-line initial ‘F' and ‘V' are supplied in pink and maroon, with curling acanthus scrolling edged in grey and white, the area defined by the letter decorated in green with acanthus scrolling edged in yellow and white; on i1r of item 1 a six-line initial ‘I' is supplied in blue with reserved white decoration, and red pen-work infill, decoration, and extensions into the margin. On 12r and a1r of item 2 similar initials are supplied in red with reserved white decoration and brown pen-work infill with extension into the margin. Other two- to five-line initials, some with pen-work infill, decoration, and extensions into the margins, in black ink, and paragraph marks are supplied in red; capital strokes and underlining in red.

Provenance: Hermann Holthusen (fl. 1491). Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, Augustinian Canons, BVM, ‘Lüchtenhof', Mariengarten, 1491; purchased from Holthusen; inscription on 11r of item 2: ‘Hunc librum Exemplorum comparauimus cum Postillis Guillermi pro iii [ ] a Hermanno Holthusen venditori librorum anno [mcccc]xci'; inscription on a1r of item 1 in a fifteenth/sixteenth-century hand: ‘yn dem Luchthove liber presbiterorum [ac] clericorum in orto [lumi]num beate Marie prope Hildeshim in Brulone.' Two later inscriptions, both heavily erased and unread under ultraviolet light. Francis Douce (1757-1834); armorial book-plate. Bequeathed in 1834.

SHELFMARK: Douce 234(1).