Ɵ Glossed Bible, in Latin, manuscript on parchment [Northern France, 13th century]

Ɵ Leaf from a Glossed Bible, with Hosea 8:12-9:6, in Latin, from a decorated manuscript on parchment[Northern France (doubtless Paris), second half of thirteenth century] Single leaf, with single column of 25 lines of a professional early gothic bookhand (textualis prescissa), interlinear and marginal gloss in smaller version of same, the marginal gloss set in blocks around the main text up to 50 lines in length, capitals in tall and elegant double penstrokes, red rubrics, paragraph marks in alternate red or blue, running titles and versal initials in alternate red or blue capitals, small textual corrections on verso in drypoint gloss, slight water damage to upper outer corner of leaf with some shrinkage of parchment there, else good condition on fine and yellow parchment, 330 by 230mm.; in cloth covered binding Provenance: 1. From an excellent Glossed Bible made in Paris c. 1220. Other leaves from the same parent manuscript have appeared in Quaritch, cat. 1270, no. 14 and in the American trade.2. Schøyen Collection, London and Oslo, their MS 1374, acquired from Quaritch, cat. 1147, Bookhands of the Middle Ages V, 1991, no. 16. Text and script: The complex format of the layout here, with the main text written on alternate lines, and with the gloss interacting fluidly with the irregular shaped blocks of main text, to maximise the space of the page, has been associated by C. de Hamel with Parisian Bible production after the 1160s (Glossed Books of the Bible and the Origins of the Paris Booktrade, 1984, pp. 24-7).