Bifolium from Jacobus de Voragine, Sermones de sanctis, in Latin, decorated manuscript on parchment [Italy, fourteenth century (perhaps first half)]

Bifolium from Jacobus de Voragine, Sermones de sanctis, in Latin, decorated manuscript on parchment [Italy, fourteenth century (perhaps first half)]

2 conjoined leaves, each with double column of 33 lines in a tiny rounded Italian bookhand heavily influenced by university script, capitals touched in red, paragraph marks in red or turquoise blue, one red rubric, some staining and wormholes, folded over at top (only affecting upper margin), trimmed at edges with losses to edges of outer column of text on one leaf, overall fair and legible condition , complete leaf: 157 by 120mm.

The author was the archbishop of Genoa celebrated for his compiling of the Legenda Aurea. He records in his Chronicon januense that after taking the office of archbishop he composed his sermons concerning all the saints, providing sermon material for saints feasts throughout the liturgical year.