Prayerbook, in Middle Dutch, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Low Countries (probably Western Flanders), C15

Prayerbook, in Middle Dutch, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Low Countries (probably Western Flanders), second half of fifteenth century (probably last decade)] Illuminated Prayerbook
Low Countries (Western Flanders), 1490

189 leaves, wanting a single leaf, else complete, collation: i6 (enclosing all the prefactory texts of the volume), ii-viii8, ix7 (most probably wanting first leaf), x-xxiv8 (this including blank original endleaves at back), written in single column of 23 lines of an angular vernacular bookhand, capitals touched in red, red rubrics, one- and 2-line initials in red or blue, the largest of these with blank vellum designs left inside their bodies, a few initials in gold on brown and burgundy grounds and with stylisted foliage extending into margins, four pages with large initials in same stylised foliage on gold grounds and will full decorated borders of flower cuttings and coloured geometric designs strewn on gold grounds, these including cockerels, a realistic kingfisher, a fox dressed in a hood as a prelate preaching to a group of birds as a white dog looks on growling in disapproval, one page with a large blue initial on gold grounds and with full border in grisaille on a silver ground with details of foliage and a realistic putti who looks at the adjacent text picked out in hairline gold brushstrokes, a page with a brown bear eating from an upturned pot on a grassy hillock in the bas-de-page, one full-page arch-topped miniature of the Garden of Gethsemane, with Christ kneeling before a rocky outcrop within a wooden fence, as his disciples sleep on the ground next to him, with full border as before, small area of one endleaf at front cut away, trimmed at outer vertical edge with some losses to edges of borders there, some very minor flaking from painting, a few spots and stains, overall in excellent and fresh condition, approximately 220 by 150mm.; bound in light brown nineteenth-century morocco, blind-tooled with chevrons and floral panels in centre of each board, and with an outer panel of gilt fillet enclosing geometric patterns, spine with Missal in gilt and six other panels all gilt-tolled with foliate designs, slight scuffs and bumps, book block separated at back along upper edge of spine, overall in good condition.

Text:

The volume comprises: tables for preferential bloodletting and similar; a Calendar, with local SS. Aldegund of Mauberge (30 January), Gotthard of Hildesheim, Arnulphus of Metz (18 July), Lambert of Maastricht, in red (17 September), Bavo of Ghent (1 October), Hubert of Liege (3 November), Willibordus, first bishop of Utrecht and venerated throughout the Low Countries, in red (7 November), and Lebuin, apostle of the Frisians (12 November); the Seven Penitential Psalms; nine prayers ascribed to St. Anselm, preceded by a prologue; a contemplation of the Passion of Christ ascribed to St. Augustine, followed by another Augustinian devotional text in Dutch translation; a prayer of religious meditation ( ghepeynsinghe ) on various subjects, in six parts, ascribed to Augustine in its explicit; and a prayer to God the Father.