Augustinian Missal (use Of Rome); In Latin, Decorated Manuscript On Parchment With Musical Notation -

FIFTEENTH-CENTURY PORTABLE AUGUSTINIAN MISSAL USED BY FRANCISCAN NUNS. In Latin, decorated manuscript on parchment with musical notation, Northern Italy (Lombardy?), c. 1450-1470. Dimensions 158 x 115 mm., 271 folios, lacking f. 131 with the Crucifixion miniature, otherwise complete, written in gothic bookhand (Italian textualis) in single column, music in square notation on four-line red staves, 10 staves per page, rastrum 7 mm., 1- to 3-line initials alternating in red or blue throughout. BINDING: Modern quarter binding in tan-colored calf with marbled-paper sides. TEXT: Missals provide the text and instructions for celebrating the Mass. They are relatively rare survivals since they were often used until they fell apart. Our manuscript also includes over twenty pages of noted music for chanting the sung parts. Made for the use of an Augustinian friar or nun, this is an excellent example of an important sub-genre, the portable mendicant Missal. PROVENANCE: Made for an Augustinian friar or nun in northern Italy, perhaps in Milan or nearby, c. 1450-1470, as suggested by a careful analysis of the liturgical evidence of its contents and supported by the evidence of its script; at the end of the fifteenth century the manuscript belonged to a Franciscan nun of the Order of Saint Clare at the Monastero di Santa Chiara in Abbiategrasso, in the outskirts of Milan; later, part of the famous collection amassed by Baron Horace de Landau (1824-1903): his engraved bookplate with the monogram of his initials is found on the front pastedown. Selections of the Landau-Finaly library sold at Sotheby's in 1948-1949. CONDITION: water damage in the margins and parts of text on ff. 1-63, the lower margins of ff. 7-10, 114-115 cut off, a small triangle cut off in the lower margins of ff. 130-134, stains and signs of wear, corners of binding rubbed and worn, the hinge of the front board broken, but in overall good condition. Full description and images available. (TM 1101)