Medieval English Vulgate St Jerome Bible Manuscript Page
13th century AD. An English manuscript bible leaf with blackletter Latin text in two columns to each face, dry-point layout lines; black text with red and blue fillers, marginal scrolled tendril detailing, prologues open with large decorated initials of blue patterned with white and flourished with red; illuminated D in blue, red, white and gold leaf, monk with lion's legs above, small grey dog to the left. 2.94 grams, 19.5 x 14cm (7 3/4 x 5 1/2"). Property of a North London gentleman; acquired on the UK art market before 2000. An example of the quintessential manuscript of 13th-century England: from a single volume Bible with the Latin translation of Saint Jerome, the so-called Vulgate, arranged according to the chapter divisions attributed to Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury (1207-1280) one of the major milestones of European Christian culture. In contrast to those produced more commonly in France, pocket Bibles produced in England in the 13th-century often, as in this example, omitted the Book of Psalms.
Fine condition.
Estimate: 600 - 800