Fragment, C12th | Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae, in Latin, decorated manuscript on vellum. [Germany, 12th century (middle)]

ISIDORE OF SEVILLE, ETYMOLOGIAE, a large leaf, in Latin, decorated manuscript on vellum. [Germany, 12th century (middle)]

A leaf, c.350 × 245mm, blind-ruled for a single column of 35 lines, rubrics in red, eight large initials in darker red, some with reserved designs and elegant terminals; recovered from use as a book-cover, with consequent imperfections and creases, somewhat worn and dirtied overall, the upper corners cropped affecting one red initial, the original gutter fold dirty, but still a handsome and easily legible leaf with wide outer and lower margins; bound into a blue cloth-covered folder with gilt leather title-piece.

TEXT

The preserved text is Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae libri XX, Book V, 35:1–19:7, from the beginning of the chapter on the four seasons, De temporibus anni: ‘Tempora anni quattuor sunt. ver. estas. autumnus & hyemps …’, followed by chapters on subsections on the year; on olympiads, lustria, and jubilees; on what lustria are (periods of five years); on what a jubilee year is (a fiftieth year celebration); on what generations and ages are; and the start of the Six Ages of the World, including the First Age (from the Creation to the Flood), and the Second Age (from the Flood to Abraham), here ending with the discovery of magic by Zoroastes/Zarathustra: ‘… Zoroaster magicam reperit ma[...]’.

Although described in 2001 and 2006 as being written in 10th/11th-century Carolingian minuscule, this handsome script lacks most of the features characteristic of the 11th century, and has in fact begun the transformation to Gothic, with the letters ‘pp’ fused together, and the tironian ‘et’ used to the exclusion of the ampersand. The ‘Z’ is of an unusual form, somewhat like an ‘h’ in appearance (e.g. on the last line of the verso, ‘Zoroaster’).

PROVENANCE

1. A 13th(?)-century reader drew a manicule pointing to the passage referring to the first worshipping of gods, between the building of the Tower of Babel and the beginning of the Scythian kingdom.
2. Hartung & Hartung, Munich, Auktion 103: Wertvolle Bücher, Manuskripte, Autographen, Grafik, 6–7 November 2001, lot 77 (ills.)
3. Hartung & Hartung, Munich, Auktion 115, 7 November 2006, lot 82 (ill.); bought by:
4. The Boehlen Collection, MS 1119.