DPL Reed MS4a

1. Bible, Latin; Luke 3:23–4:19. Poland, early fourteenth century, f.1r (f.51r)
2. Bible, Latin; part of the Prologue to the Gospel according to John and John 1:1–1:23. Poland, early fourteenth century, f.17r (f.67r)
3. Bible, Latin; part of the Argument on Romans and Romans 1:1–1:7. Poland, early fourteenth century, f.49r (f.99r)
4. Bible, Latin; James 5:19–I Peter: 1:25. Poland, early fourteenth century, f.33r (f.83r)
5. Bible, Latin; part of the Prologue to Revelation and Revelation 1:1–1:7. Poland, early fourteenth century, f.39v (f.89v)

62 leaves. 437 by 300mm. Double column, 39 lines, ruled in brown ink, written space 335 by 217mm; gothic liturgical hand.

Note: See also Reed MMF61 a and 61b in the 'Fourteenth Century Individual Leaves & Fragments' Collection.
Decoration: Three-line red and blue initials mark chapters and summary argumenta throughout, with penwork infilling and marginal decoration in both colours; larger initials (7-line) in alternating red and blue with similar penwork; more elaborate flourishes along much of the vertical margin introduce the biblical books. 
Binding: Disbound, mostly in a fitted case.
Provenance: Portion of a lectern Bible identified by Christopher de Hamel in 2007 as once belonging to the Cistercian Abbey of Byszewo (or Koronowo), near Gdansk (suppressed in 1819); the first manuscript of Polish origin to be identified in New Zealand. A separate portion of the manuscript held by St John’s Theological College, Auckland, has the bookplate of the American collector John Christlieb Curtiss (ca. 1875–1923), of Chicago, IL. It is presumed that the complete manuscript was acquired by his father, Samuel Ives Curtiss (1844–1904), a Congregationalist minister and professor of biblical literature in Chicago who studied in Germany in the late nineteenth century. After the death of the younger Curtiss, his collection was sent to London where it was auctioned by Sotheby’s on 11 December 1923. The ‘Byszewo’ Bible was lot 299, and was purchased by the Guildford book dealer Thomas Thorp, who then sold it on to Reed approximately two years later. Reed subsequently divided the manuscript into the various sections. In addition to the two large portions given to St John’s Theological College and the Dunedin Public Library, Reed also gave individual leaves to Knox College, Dunedin, the University of Otago, and to friends in Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The manuscript was included in Reed’s original donation to the Dunedin Public Library in 1948.
References: Manion, Vines, de Hamel no. 59; Reed Early Bibles no. 5; C. de Hamel. ‘Medieval Manuscripts in New Zealand’ in Migrations: Medieval Manuscripts in New Zealand edited by Stephanie Hollis and Alexandra Barratt (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007), 36–7.
Shelfmark: RMM MS 4a.
 
Description reproduced from Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in New Zealand Collections (London, 1989) by permission of the authors (Christopher de Hamel, Margaret Manion, and the family of Vera F. Vines).