Ɵ Paul the Deacon, Homiliary, in Latin, manuscript on parchment [Germany, early 11th century]

Ɵ Leaf from a copy of Paul the Deacon's Homiliary, with extracts from Leo the Great, tractate 82:4-5, and Pseudo-Maximus, sermon 68, in Latin, decorated manuscript on parchment[Germany, early eleventh century] Single leaf, with double column of 28 lines of a notably rounded and elegant Romanesque bookhand, with tongued 'e' with a notably high cross-bar and thus small compartment, a strong st-ligature, and a capital 'C' with an extra loop at its head so it resembles a reversed '3', remains of four loops from descenders of medieval folio no. at head (otherwise trimmed away), rubrics in large ornamental capitals, Responses, Antiphons and Psalm indications added by contemporary hand in thin and slightly shaky pen in margin, one 4-line initial 'G' in red bars terminating in floral buds, reused in a later binding and hence folded and trimmed at edges, overall good condition, 330 by 256mm.; in cloth-covered binding, Provenance: 1. Erik von Scherling (1907-1956), of Leiden, dealer (see lot 6): with two parts of foolscap envelopes, one stamped at corner with his name and address, these with copious pencil notes on contents in apparent hand of von Sherling, and with similar pencil notes in margin of reverse of leaf. Passing after his sudden and untimely death to Maggs Bros., London, along with a large part of his stock.2. Bernard Rosenthal (1920-2017), of San Francisco, California, his I/141, acquired in 1964 (with copy of report by Prof. Marvin Colker on the leaf, written for Rosenthal).3. Quaritch cat. 1147, Bookhands of the Middle Ages V, 1991, no. 81. 4. Schøyen Collection, London and Oslo, their MS.632, acquired from Quaritch in June 1990. Text and script:This homiliary was composed in the 780s at the behest of Charlemagne by Paul Warnefrid, better known as Paul the Deacon (c. 720-probably 799), a monk of Monte Cassino, as part of the drawing up of improved Biblical and liturgical books during the early Carolingian period. It remained one of the fundamental homiletic collections throughout the Middle Ages.The script here is a fine example of a formal Germanic Romanesque hand, displaying the elegance and raw beauty common to that script. See for other examples, the fragment of a Bible produced in Fulda in the second half of the tenth century (reproduced Fuldische Handschriften aus Hessen, 1994, no. 44), a Glossed Psalter written in 993-996 in Cologne (Glaube und Wissen im Mittelalter, 1998, no. 40) and a Gospel book from Regensburg c. 1030-50 (Regensburger Buchmalerei, 1987, no. 20, pl. 100).