The artist who created the design is Gerard Hoet, a Dutch painter and draftsman, and the artist who created the engraving is Andries van Buysen, a Dutch printmaker. The print contains titles of the subject in 6 languages: Hebrew, English, German, Latin French and Dutch. The biblical verse is identified on the print as Judges XVI:23-50.
Decoration:Major initials in alternating red and blue with pen infilling and flourishing. Large initials alternating in red and blue and pen-flourished, occasionally with faces (ff. 114v, 124, 125v). Mid-sized initials in black on green, occasionally with pen faces colored tan (ff. 119r-v, 124v, 125, unnumbered fragment verso). An erroneous large red initial A[lorificamus] on f. 187 has a discreet contemporary mauve G with harping inserted beside it.
Written in Campania, probably in Naples to judge from the watermark and later ownership; there were two houses dedicated to St. Gaudiosus in Naples, one of which (a nunnery) also enclosed a church devoted to St. Fortunata (Cottineau 2.2035). Belonged in the 17th century to Aurelia Carrafa (signature vertically in the inner margin of f. 12 and again on f. 13), member of an illustrious Neapolitan family, probably from the branch of the princes of San Lorenzo; the Carafa women had close ties through the generations with the convent of San Gaudioso (see B. Aldimari, Historia genealogica della famiglia Carafa [Naples 1691] 367). Bought from Les Enluminures, Paris (their TM 366), by Richard and Mary Rouse. Given to UCLA in 2005.
Written in Paris in the mid-fifteenth century. Two generations of births are recorded in the calendar for the periods 1543-1549 and 1573-1585. There are notes (badly faded) about the intermarried families of Petit and Cheron on virtually every folio of the calendar, mostly in the spacious bottom margin. Verse f. 120v: “L’an mil cinq cent soixante neuf / entre Coignac et Casteauneuf / fut porté mort sur une anesse / le grand ennemy(?) de la messe.” Ex libris f. iv: “Ces presentes heures appartient a Claude Petit femme de Barthelemey Cheron, demourant a Arulommiers en Boys” and another on f. 120 (last flyleaf): “Jadiz fuz a Marguerite Touart en son vivante femme de Jehan[?] Cheron qui estoit [sic] pere & mere de Barthelemy Cheron …” continued with notes in successive hands tracing the descent of the book in the same family until the 18th century, mentioning names of a later Jehan Cheron and of Maître Pierre Cheron. Lot 641 in an unidentified 19th-century American sale (printed paper label on front pastedown). Bought by William Tasker in whose family it remained; for other manuscripts belonging to Tasker see lots 63 (Michael of Belluno, Speculum conscientie, Italy 1404, from the same 19th -century American sale) and 67 (Ps. Albertus Magnus, Liber speculi, De veris virtutibus, Germany 1473) in the same Sotheby’s sale catalog. Acquired from Sotheby’s London, 17 June 1997, lot 75, by Richard and Mary Rouse. Given to UCLA in 2005.
Written by Alberico Spinola, a Camaldolese monk and a citizen of Genoa, in 1443, and illuminated by Hugo of Alexandria, noted in the Dictionnaire des Colophons (from the Quaritch catalog cited below). On f. 1 in ink: “Ex libris Dominici Merli Civis Lucensis 1787.” Listed in Bernard Quaritch, A Catalogue of Illuminated and other Manuscripts (London 1931) no. 74; at that time the manuscript was lacking only 2 leaves (first leaf of q. 3 and of q. 16) and contained: “f. 1, Calendar; f. 21, Officium B.M.V. (lacking 1st leaf); f. 141b, Missa B.V.M.; f. 147, Septum Psalmi Penitentiales cum Litania; f. 181, Officium Mortuorum; f. 257, Officium S. Crucis; f. 267, Officium S. Spiritus; f. 290, Memoriae Sanctorum”; at that time it was decorated with 14 illuminated and 3 historiated initials, and with three-quarter borders of “floreated scrolls.” Acquired, still whole except for the two missing leaves, by Nicolas Pavlov, Dobbs Ferry, NY, from Reiss & Auvermann at Glashuetten im Taunus, West Germany (Catalog, lot #15, with plates) in October 1988. Dismembered by Pavlov and portions sold to other dealers. A part, probably the Office of the Dead, was sold to the bookdealer Bruce Guenter of South Egermont, MA. Rouse MS 40 was acquired in its present state from Pavlov in March 1990 by Richard and Mary Rouse. Given to UCLA in 2005.
Written in England in the first half of the thirteenth century, to judge from paleographic and codicological features. Probably from the Phillipps collection. Bought from H.P. Kraus, New York, in 1983 by Richard and Mary Rouse, along with other fragments including Rouse MS 105 (see for modern provenance). Given to UCLA in 2005.
Fragments of 9 leaves of text (and of 2 blank leaves) containing a list of transliterated Arabic words, alphabetized by first letter only, with Latin synonyms (words or phrases). Frame-ruled with lead point. Written by one scribe in a rapid gothic cursive in medium brown ink, in 39-41 lines in two columns. All folios cropped, all edges (except cut-off edges) in tatters; evidence of having been glued to other folios in places; severely spotted, without loss of text. Pen-trials on blank folio 11v.
Written in Italy in the second half of the fourteenth century, to judge from paleographical evidence (trailing terminal “s,” vertical terminal “m,” backwards terminal “c” for “-us,” uncrossed tironian “et,” crossed “q” for “qui,” etc.), codicological features (quality of parchment and follicles, faint ruling), and decoration (harping, beading, and gold bezants on initials, hairlines on letter-forms). The original manuscript may have been cut into separate folios for individual sale in the modern era because of its gold-leaf initials. Bought from Bernard Rosenthal, San Francisco, by Richard and Mary Rouse, 28 February 1986. Given to UCLA in 2005.
Written in northern Italy in the last quarter of the thirteenth century. The opening words of the sermon on f. 183 — “Sicut dixi vobis hec mane” (As I said to you this morning …) — imply a community; observances for Saint Clare and Saint Antony of Padua, and the translation of Saint Francis with its indication that other feasts of Francis were observed (f. 285v), suggest a Franciscan origin. Purchased from Bernard Rosenthal, San Francisco in November 1985 by Richard and Mary Rouse. Given to UCLA in 2005.
Written in the fifteenth century at Windsheim near Nuremberg, Germany; although the title on the cover says 1414-1462, copying of the book began only in 1421 (cf. Prologue) and continued until at least 1476 (f. 8). Passed at an unknown date to the library of Nuremberg. Acquired from Bennett Gilbert, Inc., Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, December 1983 by Richard and Mary Rouse. Given to UCLA in 2005.