DPL Reed MMF50

Bible, Latin. Central Italy, mid-twelfth century

Single leaf. 495 by 350mm. Double column, 48 lines, ruled in blind, written space 285 by 235mm; Romanesque bookhand.

Text: I Maccabees 16:23–24; capitula for II Maccabees; II Maccabees 1:1–20.
Decoration: Full-length elaborately decorated initial 'F' on verso in geometric and arabesque designs in yellow, red, blue and green.
Provenance: From a monumental Bible. The fragment was used in Italy to cover a binding titled in a sixteenth-century hand 'Liber primus Annotationum'. Purchased from Quaritch catalogue 1056 (1985), no. 2.
References: Manion, Vines, de Hamel no. 112; Reed Early Bibles no. 10.
Shelfmark: RMM Fragment 50.

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).