Description

(ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT) OFFICUM MORTUORUM
Illuminated manuscript, 89 leaves, on vellum. 12mo, bound in later brocaded velvet covers. Italian, fifteenth-century.

This small illuminated manuscript contains, on the first leaf, a large initial with a full floral border, five other large initials in colors and gold with leaf designs extending into the margins; numerous smaller initials decorated with violet pen work; and a profusion of small capitals in red and blue. Likely extracted from a manuscript Book of Hours, the Litany would indicate that this manuscript was written in a confraternity or religious community. Rowland Gilson Hazard copy, with his bookplate tipped in front pastedown. Leaf 2 torn; portion of leaf 17 lacking; a number of leaves at the end damaged in the outer margins.

Property from the Collection of Herman Blum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania