Ɵ Lectionary in Latin, manuscript on parchment [southern Germany, 11th century (probably 1st half)]

Ɵ Leaf from a Lectionary containing Gospel and Epistle readings for the fifth Sunday after the Octave of Easter, Rogation Monday, and the Vigil of Ascension, in Latin, decorated manuscript on parchment[southern Germany, eleventh century (probably first half)] Single leaf, with single column of 30 lines in a neat and clear Romanesque bookhand, with both tall and rounded 's' at end of words and a tall capital 'Q' with a point at its apex, small capitals often following earlier letterforms, red rubrics in appealing ornamental capitals, one- and 4-line simple red initials (some with baubles mounted in their bodies), reused on a binding at close of Middle Ages and hence with one edge trimmed, a few lines rubbed, the whole leaf cut through horizontally and stitched back together, overall fair and presentable, 290 by 200mm.; in cloth-covered binding Provenance: 1. In German-speaking trade in early twentieth century: pencil inscription describing text at foot of recto.2. Mark Lansburgh (1925-2013) of Santa Barbara, California, the department store magnate, art historian and manuscript leaf collector; sold in 1963.3. Bernard Rosenthal (1920-2017), of San Francisco, California, his I/165. 4. Quaritch cat. 1147, Bookhands of the Middle Ages V, 1991, no. 27.5. Schøyen Collection, London and Oslo, their MS 628, acquired from Quaritch in June 1990. Script:The angularity of this script and initials here, pointed at their apexes, are distinctively Germanic and Romanesque (cf. a fragment of an eleventh-century Bible from Fulda, now Marburg, StA, Hr. 6 fasc 15a: reproduced in Fuldische Handschriften aus Hessen, 1994, no. 54; and a Boethius, De Consolatione Philosophiae from Salzburg from the first half of the eleventh century, now Munich, Staatsbibl. Clm 15825: reproduced Pracht auf Pergament, 2012, no. 28).