Bible, - with prologues and Interpretations of Hebrew Names with prologues and Interpretations of Hebrew Names, decorated manuscript in Latin on parchment [England (probably Oxford), mid-thirteenth century] 437 leaves (plus 2 modern endleaves at each end), wanting a few single leaves (including a leaf from Job, which ends imperfectly in 41:21, and two from the Psalms which start imperfectly in 8:6 and are wanting Psalm 49:8-57:5, a leaf or two after Deuteronomy, with 12:15-18:22, and the same from I Kings, with 5:1-7:15, and a single leaf with the end of St Paul s epistle to the Hebrews and the opening of the Acts of the Apostles ), bound too tightly to collate, double column, 50 lines in a tiny early gothic bookhand, capitals touched in red, one-line initials in red or blue, running titles alternate in same, larger initials in same with penwork tracery, over 70 large initials in variegated blue and red (the colours separated by sweeping strokes or crenelated lines, and the 2 opening initials full-page in height with small clover shapes and dots picked out in blank parchment within their coloured panels), with offshoots of mirrored coloured leaf-shapes or elaborate penwork tracery in contrasting colours filling the borders, some terminating in small animal heads, the interpretations of Hebrew Names in 3 columns of 50 lines, numerous additions of thirteenth to sixteenth century in pen or drypoint in apparently English hands, tiny contemporary repair to a leaf at the end of Zachariah now with patch fallen away removing a small square 3 lines deep, and another leaf in the Minor Prophets with small patch covering the edge of a few lines of text, some spots and discolouration to endleaves and areas of ink loss to leaves in centre of volume due to poor ink (notably in Ezekiel), slightly trimmed at edges with small losses to edges of penwork and running titles, but overall in good and solid condition with wide and clean margins, 175 x 120mm., bound in nineteenth-century English morocco, profusely gilt in frames of arabesque designs (both inside and outside of boards), watered silk doublures, edges gilt and gauffered Provenance: (1) Most probably written and decorated for an Oxford student in the mid-thirteenth century, who seems to have added for his own reference the near-contemporary 5 page concordance of the Gospels at the end of the volume, listing subjects and chapter numbers in a series of long tables. Thereafter passing to a number of later English owners, with sixteenth-century and post-medieval names Wollocu[m]b in the upper border of a leaf from Colossians, John Templer, Thomas Pyme and William Cuttler amongst others below the beginning of Daniel (partially erased), and John By[ ] at the foot of the opening of Micah. (2) Samuel Whyle: his seventeenth- or eighteenth-century ex libris at foot of the Prologue to Genesis and the opening of Genesis. (3) Henry Yates Thompson (1838-1928), newspaper owner and grand bibliophile, whose personal collections were either sold by Sotheby s in the early 1920s or given to the British Library in two batches (one on his death and another on the death of his wife in 1941, with other gifts going to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge and the Bibliothéque Nationale de France. (4) The present volume was a gift to his descendant, Allan Heywood Bright (1862-1941), Liberal politician: an inscription and inserted letter from Yates Thompson recording his gift of the book at New Year 1894, as one sometimes sees more beautiful examples of these Bibles, but they are very rare, & every collection of M.S.S. should have one of these ; by descent to Christies, 16 July 2014, lot 1. Text: The evolution of the thirteenth-century Bible marked the initial jump from the medieval production of books to the earliest form of cottage industry, with scribes working on copying quires at the same time as each other, all under the direction of a single libraire (see Shailor, The Medieval Book , 1988, p. 98 and Sotheby s, The History of Western Script: 60 Important Leaves from the Schoyen Collection , 10 July 2012, lot 60, and references there). They were produced in vast numbers primarily to supply the growing university market, and their survival beyond the lives of their original owners appears to have substantially inhibited the copying of the text for the next century or so. They are most probably the form in which the majority of medieval people knew the Bible. However, in the last century they have become fewer and fewer to the market, with examples now regularly making record prices. This is an English manuscript of the text, which was not copied from the more common Parisian exemplar. It has Tobias, Judith and Esther in an invented order, is substantially different in its use of the prologues, and includes a version of the Interpretations of Hebrew Names in the uncommon version beginning Aad testificans … . It has elements that suggest it was a highly individual commission (English Bibles often omit the Psalms, but here strangely, the text is abbreviated after Psalm 77:31 to only what will fit on a single line from each Psalm). The Acts of the Apostles appears, unconventionally, after St Paul s Letter to the Hebrews. An early corrector has worked through the text renumbering chapters which have been erroneously numbered, with larger numbers in red ink and has been adapted by its earliest owner (with the concordance added at the end [see above], and 5 conventional editorial symbols and notes on their uses added to the endleaf at the front: Obelus est virgule iacens, apponitur in verbis vel sentenciis, superflue iteratis , Obelus desuper punctatus; limniscus; antigraphus; and asteriscus ). A marginal note in a near-contemporary hand at the opening of John, inserts part of Bede s commentary on the Catholic Epistles.
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Grant by Isabella, - daughter of William de Kayton, to Hugh de Collum of land in Cowlam daughter of William de Kayton, to Hugh de Collum of land in Cowlam, Yorkshire (East Riding), charter in Latin on parchment [Yorkshire, East Riding, late thirteenth or very early fourteenth century] Single-sheet charter, 12 long lines of a thin and precise secretarial hand with wide-nibbed ascenders, seal (in pieces in contemporary white linen cloth bag) attached by parchment tags recovered from another document, some small spots, else excellent condition, 115+25 by 186mm. This is one of the earliest known records of the deserted village of Cowlam, north east of York, and contains the name of the earliest known priest of the community. The estates there were granted as the dowry of Isabella, to her husband-to-be, Henry, the serf of Gerard. Henry was then to pay an annual rent of one penny a year for religious services in the church of St. Andrew s at Cowlam. It is witnessed by John the priest of Cowlam, Stephen his chaplain and a number of local men. The village of Cowlam dwindled in the post-medieval period and was deserted by the eighteenth century.
France 1849-1973 Collection in well ordered stock book, the early section mainly lightly used, the post 1960 MUH; we note a decent offering of classics from imperf Republic & Empire issues, later imperf 1870 Bordeaux issues inc some nice 4 margin copies, 1883/1900 Peace & Commerce to 5F. Mersons to 20F, 1930 1F.50 + 3F.50 purple sinking fund cds, pre/post war run through with useful, inc 1955 portraits fu (Cat €110), later fine MUH with attractive art stamps, odd Red Cross bklts etc. 100s. Clean lot in nice condition. Reserve: £160
Samoa 1877-1975 Fine mint collection on printed leaves, well filled early ranges with few gaps from Turn of Century issues, commences with 1877 Express issues inc SG7 1/- yellow (m), later reprints, 1886-1900 issues to 02-Jun with odd fu dup, 1899 Provisional Govt, odd 1914 GRI o’printed, Ed7/KG5 complete sequences with numerous sets & better, defins to 1/-, 1920 Victory, 1921 long set, 1926 Admirals with 3/- vfu, post War run through with attractive thematic sets, 1914-24 Postal Fiscals 2/-, 2/6, 5/- mint. 100’s. Clean, original lot. Reserve: £140
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