Collection ID: 0023 | Metadata type: TEI | TEI XML | Data

Title

Bible

Other related names

• William, de Brailes, active 13th century, artist (http://viaf.org/viaf/42640982/)
• James Tregaskis (Firm), former owner (http://viaf.org/viaf/132262613/#James_Tregaskis_(Firm))
• Lewis, John Frederick, 1860-1932, former owner (http://viaf.org/viaf/63874811/)
• Lewis, Anne Baker, former owner

Funders

• Council on Library and Information Resources

Call number

Lewis E 29
(Philadelphia, United States, Free Library of Philadelphia, John Frederick Lewis Collection of European Manuscripts)

Alternate identifiers

• https://know.freelibrary.org/Record/1466058
• deRicci: 29

Publisher

Free Library of Philadelphia

Language

Latin

Origin

Place

Oxford, England

Summary

This manuscript contains a fragmentary copy of the Latin Vulgate Bible. It was made in Oxford circa 1230-1240, and the miniatures are attributed to celebrated English illuminator William de Brailes. There are thirty-nine historiated or inhabited initials, featuring figures or scenes relevant to the text they accompany. On fol. 81r, for example, Psalm 13 begins with an inhabited initial D showing a fool (the text reads 'The fool hath said in his heart: there is no God'). God is shown speaking to the prophets Hosea (fol. 113r), Amos (115v), Obadiah (118r), and Zephaniah (112v) in initials at the start of each of their books, and the two books of Maccabees begin with initials showing knights (fols. 127r and 137r). Occasionally, the decorated terminals of these initials have been excised (fols. 1r, 30v, 61r, 137r, and 153v). Many leaves are missing from this manuscript. Fourteen are known to be in the Lilly Library at Indiana University (Ricketts MSS C1, III:25, and III:53) and a number of others are dispersed among private collections elsewhere. Fols. 157-160 in the present volume are entirely detached and kept separately from the book itself, and others are partly loose within the sixteenth-century binding.

Notes

• Fragile; binding structure exposed; many leaves torn and damaged
   
• Four single leaves kept separately (fols. 157-160)
   
• Fourteen leaves from this manuscript are in the Lilly Library at Indiana University (Ricketts MSS C1, III:25, and III:53)
   

Extent

Ii+160+ii; 185 x 126 mm bound to 190 x 130 mm

Foliation

Modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto and lower right recto

Collation

Uncertain (fragile, some leaves partly detached)

Signatures

Contemporary quire signatures in Roman numerals on fols. 3v, 19v, 35v, 51v, 67v, 80v, and 94v

Support

Parchment

Binding

Sixteenth century (?); worn red leather over exposed oak boards; remains of two clasps; boards slightly too narrow for text block

Layout

Two columns of fifty-two lines; ruled in brown ink; written area: 118 x 75 mm

Decoration

Thirty-nine inhabited initials with biblical figures or scenes; forty-seven illuminated initials, some with marginal extensions/borders terminating in dragons or other figures

Script

Gothic--textualis semi-quadrata

Provenance

• James Tregaskis, bookseller, London (1909); John Frederick Lewis, Philadelphia; given by his widow, Anne Baker Lewis, to the Free Library of Philadelphia in 1936
   

Related resources

• De Ricci, Seymour, with the assistance of W.J. Wilson, Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada, vol. 2 (New York,: H. W. Wilson, 1935-40), p. 2025, no. 4.
• Noel, William, "Some Transatlantic Trails of W. de Brailes," in The Medieval Book: Glosses from Friends & Colleagues of Christopher de Hamel (Houten, Netherlands: Hed & De Graaf Publishers, 2010), pp. 441-445.
• Edwin Wolf II, with an introduction by Dr. A.S.W. Rosenbach, A Descriptive Catalogue of the John Frederick Lewis Collection of European Manuscripts in the Free Library of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1937), p. 36-37, no. 29.
• Cynthia Johnston, "A Model Community? An Investigation into the Use of Models in the Work of William de Brailes," in The Use of Models in Medieval Book Painting, ed. Monika E. Müller (Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Cambridge Scholars, 2014), pp. 90-98 (chapter: 89-110).

Keywords

• 13th century
• English
• England
• Bible
• Illustration
• Miniature
• Illumination
• Christian
• Missing leaves

Licenses

• Text

  These images and the content of Free Library of Philadelphia, Lewis E 29: Bible are free of known copyright restrictions and in the public domain. See the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark page for usage details, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

  URL

  http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

• Text

  To the extent possible under law, Free Library of Philadelphia, Special Collections has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this metadata about Free Library of Philadelphia Lewis E 29: Bible. This work is published from: United States. For a summary of CC0, see https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/. Legal code: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode.

  URL

  https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode

Table of contents

• fol. 1r — Vulgate Bible, imperfect (II Kings to Romans 12:6)

Decorations

• Inside front cover — Bookplate, John Frederick Lewis
• Flyleaf 1 recto — Notations in pencil
• fol. 1r — Historiated initial F, King David
• fol. 1r — Partial bar border, dragon
• fol. 10r — Historiated initial E, King David
• fol. 20v — Inhabited initial P, king
• fol. 20v — Partial bar border, dragon
• fol. 30r — Illuminated initial S
• fol. 30v — Inhabited initial A, male figure with book
• fol. 39v — Inhabited initial C, king
• fol. 50r — Illuminated initial D
• fol. 50v — Illuminated initial U
• fol. 50v — Illuminated initial I, with dragon
• fol. 53v — Illuminated initial E
• fol. 58r — Historiated initial T, Tobias
• fol. 58r — Illuminated initial C
• fol. 61r — Historiated initial A, Judith
• fol. 61r — Illuminated initial A
• fol. 65r — Illuminated initial L
• fol. 65v — Illuminated initial I, with dragon
• fol. 69r — Illuminated initial C
• fol. 69v — Historiated initial U, Job
• fol. 79v — Historiated initial D, King David
• fol. 81r — Inhabited initial D, fool
• fol. 81r — Illuminated initial Q
• fol. 81r — Marginal drawing, animal head
• fol. 83r — Historiated initial S, Jonah and the Whale
• fol. 86v — Inhabited initial C, monks chanting
• fol. 86v — Historiated initial D, King David praying
• fol. 88v — Historiated initial D, Christ
• fol. 90v — Inhabited initial A, female figure praying
• fol. 92v — Historiated initial P, King Solomon
• fol. 95r — Historiated initial P, King Solomon
• fol. 95r — Marginal drawing, seated figure
• fol. 95r — Illuminated initial I, with dragon
• fol. 101v — Inhabited initial U, king praying
• fol. 103v — Inhabited initial O, king
• fol. 105r — Inhabited initial D, king
• fol. 105r — Illuminated initial H
• fol. 106v — Inhabited initial O, king
• fol. 106v — Illuminated initial M
• fol. 113r — Inhabited initial U, God speaks to Hosea
• fol. 113r — Illuminated initial N
• fol. 115r — Illuminated initial S
• fol. 115v — Historiated initial U, God speaks to Amos
• fol. 116r — Illuminated initial O
• fol. 116r — Illuminated initial A
• fol. 116r — Historiated initial U, Amos
• fol. 118r — Illuminated initial A
• fol. 118r — Historiated initial U, God speaks to Obadiah
• fol. 118v — Illuminated initial S
• fol. 118v — Historiated initial E, Jonah and the Whale
• fol. 119r — Illuminated initial T
• fol. 119r — Illuminated initial M
• fol. 119r — Historiated initial U, Micah preaching
• fol. 120v — Illuminated initial N
• fol. 120v — Historiated initial O, Nahum
• fol. 121r — Illuminated initial O
• fol. 121v — Illuminated initial A
• fol. 121v — Historiated initial O, Habakkuk
• fol. 122r — Illuminated initial T
• fol. 122v — Illuminated initial I
• fol. 122v — Illuminated initial S
• fol. 122v — Historiated initial U, God speaks to Zephaniah
• fol. 123r — Illuminated initial A
• fol. 123r — Illuminated initial M
• fol. 123r — Illuminated initial I, with dragon
• fol. 123v — Illuminated initial Z
• fol. 123v — Illuminated initial S
• fol. 124r — Illuminated initial S
• fol. 124r — Illuminated initial I, with two dragons
• fol. 126v — Illuminated initial M
• fol. 126v — Illuminated initial U
• fol. 126v — Historiated initial O, Malachi
• fol. 127v — Illuminated initial M
• fol. 127v — Inhabited initial E, knight
• fol. 137r — Inhabited initial F, knight
• fol. 143v — Illuminated initial M
• fol. 144r — Inhabited initial M, Angel of Matthew the Evangelist
• fol. 144r — Partial bar border, dragon
• fol. 153r — Illuminated initial M
• fol. 153v — Illuminated initial I, with dragon
• Flyleaf 1 recto — Notations in pencil