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Lot 64
The Tank Corps Book of Honour by Major R F G Maurice, published in 1919 by Spottiswoode, Ballantyne & Co Ltd; A Short History of the 9th / 12th Lancers by Brockbank; Narrative of the 502nd (Wessex) Field Company Royal Engineers 1915-19 by Major C L Fox MC; Old Cavalry Stations by Baker. Various conditions.
Lot 37
Four Single Victory Medals, awarded to 12674 PTE. R. RESTIEAUX A.CYC.CORPS; 163 SJT.W.G.H.FOX. R.A., with a Comrades of the Great War lapel badge and a Royal Life Saving Society medal dated 1908; CAPT.H.B.MAXWELL with a typed Record of Service; REV.T.F.BAKER, with photocopies of the Army List of 1918, 1919 and 1920 in which he appears; a First World War Pair, of 1914-15 Star and British War Medal awarded to 34792 PTE.J.G.WARD, R.A.M.C.; a First World War Pair, of British War Medal and Victory Medal, to 83034 PTE.W.HAMMOND, R.A.M.C. (10)
Lot 54
A Late 19th/20th Century Meritorious Long Service Group of Four Medals, awarded to 2307 CR.SGT. T.HUNT, 1/WELSH R., comprising Egypt Medal with clasp GEMAIZAH 1888, Khedives Star, undated, Army Meritorious Service Medal and Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal; also, an un-named bronze 'Little Folks Legion of Honour' medal (5)
Lot 18
Bede, Homilies, in Latin, cuttings from a manuscript in a fine Anglo-Saxon minuscule on parchment[most probably north-eastern France (perhaps Arras), first quarter of the ninth century]Large fragment of a single leaf bisected laterally into two equal halves, remains of double column of 25 lines in a pointed Anglo-Saxon minuscule, with an open 'g' with a zig-zagging tail, an oversized 'e', uncial style 'd', an 'r' descending below the line and both pointed and 'oc' forms of 'a' (for the same features cf. the contemporary hands of Basel, UB F III 15a and Kassel, 2o Ms. theol. 25: reproduced in Fuldische Handschriften aus Hessen, 1994, nos. 19 and 29), containing parts of book 2, homily 7, of the text, areas partly painted blue-green and tooled with fillet on outside and traces of red staining inside (probably from reuse around in north-European binding around outer board edges of a later book), together 180 by 180mm.; set individually in glass and within fitted case These are substantial cuttings from a copy of a work by Bede, the foremost Anglo-Saxon author, here in Anglo-Saxon miniscule, copied on the Continent in a house under English influence or by a visiting English scribe Provenance: 1. Written for use in a Continental scriptorium, perhaps by an English scribe, in the first quarter of the ninth century. In 1994 the script was identified by Prof. G. Schrimpf, Herrad Spilling and Wesley M. Stevens of the Theological Faculty of Fulda as from a centre in north-east France.2. Private American collection, dispersed by Quaritch in 1993.3. Schøyen Collection, London and Oslo, their MS 1654; acquired from Quaritch. Text and scriptorium:The use of Anglo-Saxon script in Continental Europe during the close of the Early Middle Ages is a testament to the influence of English missionaries there in the eighth century. At the close of the seventh century, Ecgberht of Ripon inherited the proselytising ambitions of the Irish and sent monks to convert Frisia, followed by the missions of SS. Wihtberht, Willibrord and Boniface, each of whom founded monasteries and established connections to early Anglo-Saxon England. Soon after the death of Bede in 735, his scriptorium in Wearmouth-Jarrow was supplying copies of crucial Christian texts to communities there, and annotations to the celebrated Moore Bede reveal that it was in France perhaps as early as the reign of Charlemagne. Bischoff studied the Continental houses producing Anglo-Saxon script, with the majority in German scriptoria and only a handful in France (B. Bischoff, Mittelalterliche Studien, III, 1981, pp. 5-38), but the influence of these Anglo-Saxon hands and scribes did not widely survive the script reforms of the early Carolingian era, and by the early ninth century the practise was kept on only in the larger German centres such as Lorsch, Echternach and St Gall, and "[f]rom 820 on, Fulda is the only stronghold of Anglo-Saxon script in Germany" (B. Bischoff, Latin Palaeography, 1990, p. 94). If the identification of the present cuttings as French in origin is correct, then these would be a remarkable witness to the survival of the script in at least one house in France in the early ninth century.No surviving manuscript of the text definitively predates this witness to the text, and it is one of only nine recorded manuscripts of the ninth century. Of these, two are connected to Arras in north eastern France (Arras, Bibliothèque municipale, 739 [olim 333], & Boulogne-sur-mer, Bibliothèque municipale, 75 [83], both of the second quarter of the ninth century), with further French examples in nearby Cambrai (Bibliothèque municipale, 365), and much further afield near the German and Austrian borders in Lyons, Bibliothèque municipale, 473. This suggests that a house in the north eastern corner of France may have been behind the earliest distribution of the text there, and lends weight to the palaeographical suggestion that a scriptorium there was the origin of this fragment. The choice of text and script makes it likely that the scribe of our manuscript was working from an exemplar sent from England, and may himself have been a monk visiting from there. Published: K. Gugel, Welche erhaltenen mittelalterlichen Handscriften dürfen der Bibliothek des Klosters Fulda zugerechnet werden? Teil II: Die Fragmente aus Handschriften, Fuldaer Hochschulschriften 23a-b, Frankfurt, 1995-1996, pp. 51-52 (as "Fulda?" and based on description made before the work of Schrimpf, Spilling and Stevens).
Lot 29
Ɵ Pseudo-Marcellus, Passio sanctorum Petri et Pauli, an apocryphal text based on the Acts of St. Peter, in Latin, decorated manuscript on parchment[Italy (probably Bobbio), tenth century] Single leaf, with single column of 27 lines in local variant of an angular Carolingian minuscule which leans to right and has noted lateral compression, with et-ligature used integrally within words, ligature for 'ri' formed from an 'r' with a final flick of the pen descending far below the line, the hand also preserving Insular-derived features in long 'r' and a flourished 'g', very faded red rubric at head of recto, one large acanthus-leaf initial in Insular-style penwork with pale orange-red wash, formed of elaborate scrolling leafy and petal designs, reused on a later binding of a later printed book and hence with torn edges, holes, scuffs and folds, trimmed at outer vertical edge with loss of a few letters there, much of text rubbed away on reverse with later inscription "Verrati / Contra / Luther", overall presentable condition, 290 by 200mm; in cloth-covered binding A fine tenth-century witness to a rare and strange early medieval text; and probably the last surviving relic of a book recorded in the library of Bobbio Provenance: 1. Probably produced for use in the celebrated Benedictine Abbey of SS. Peter and Paul, Bobbio, in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The abbey was founded by St. Columban in 614, and by the tenth century housed one of the finest libraries in the West. While the form of the initial and other Insular influences in script here can be found in pre-Carolingian books produced in Irish foundations throughout Europe (see St. Gall, MS 51: J. Duft and P. Meyer, Irish Miniatures in the Abbey Library of St. Gall, 1954, pl. IX), the present leaf is north Italian, and in 1993 Prof. Rosamund McKitterick noted the parallels between this initial and those in tenth-century books produced at Bobbio (see for example: Milan, Bibl. Ambrosiana, E. 20 inf., a Homiliary of the tenth century: A.L. Gabriel, The Decorated Initials of the IXth-Xth Century Manuscripts from Bobbio in the Ambrosiana Library, Milano, 1982, pp. 180-1). The text is an unusual one to find in a volume on its own, and we can be certain that Bobbio did indeed have a copy as it was recorded in their tenth-century library catalogue as "libros de passione apostolorum Petri & Pauli I" (G. Becker, Catalogi Bibliothecarum Antiqui, 1885, p. 69, no. 319; note, this is the only apparent copy of this work in the whole of Becker's survey). It may well have been of particular interest to the community at Bobbio as their house was dedicated to these two saints. Thus, that may well be a contemporary record of the parent manuscript of the present leaf. Bobbio was suppressed during the Secularisation during the period of French occupation, and its books and chattels scattered.2. Sotheby's, 23 June 1993, lot 3, sold for £6900.3. Schøyen Collection, London and Oslo, their MS 1679, acquired in Sotheby's. Text: This is a strange late fifth- or early sixth-century narrative, apparently intended to project Paul into the events of the Acts of St. Peter, in which it describes his journey from the island of Gaudomeleta to Rome and erroneously states that Peter was Paul's brother. It claims to have been written in part by one Marcellus; intended to be the namesake disciple of Simon Magus, whose confrontation with Peter is recorded in Acts 8:9-24. It was known to Jacobus de Voragine, and widely disseminated in the West in the Middle Ages, appearing in two Anglo-Saxon translations (Ælfric's Passio Apostolorum Petri et Pauli and Blickling homily no. 15, Spel Be Petrus & Paulus).
Lot 39
Ɵ Small cutting from Sulpicius Severus, Life of St. Martin of Tours, in Latin, manuscript on parchment[England (St Albans Abbey, Hertfordshire), mid-twelfth century] Rectangular cutting, with remains of single column of 12 lines of Anglo-Caroline minuscule by 'scribe B' of the St. Albans' scriptorium during the abbacy of Ralph Gubiun (1146-1151), one large initial 'I' in blue on reverse, recovered from reuse as an endleaf in a sixteenth-century printed book (8o), slight darkening to edges through contact with leather of binding, one small split along old fold, else good and presentable condition and on strong and heavy parchment, 90 by 120mm.; in cloth-covered binding A fine example of English twelfth-century monastic script, written by a hand securely identified as the head scribe of St Albans Abbey Provenance: 1. The parent manuscript of this cutting was written by Scribe 'B', probably the head of the scriptorium of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Albans, in the mid-twelfth century, and the book presumably remained in use there until the close of the Middle Ages. The site of the monastery was Roman in origin, and an Anglo-Saxon church stood there by the time of Bede. A double-monastery was founded there in 793 by Offa of Mercia. Apart from some decades in the tenth century when it was abandoned after a Viking attack, it grew steadily to rank as one of the wealthiest English religious sites of the Middle Ages. Its scriptorium in the twelfth century produced such glorious examples of the book arts as the St Albans Psalter, and a century after the present manuscript was written was the place in which the famous medieval chronicler Matthew Paris worked. It is perhaps humbling to think that he may well have held and read the parent codex of this fragment. The abbey was dwindling by 1521, and was surrendered on 2 December 1539 and its abbot and inmates pensioned before the valuables of the abbey were looted. The sixteenth-century printed volume in which this fragment (and its sister fragment now in Keio University library, Tokyo) survived presumably left the abbey's holdings then and passed into private hands and the English booktrade.2. Dr. George Salt (1903-2003), entomologist and fellow of King's College, Cambridge, his MS 8.3. Sotheby's, 17 December 1991, lot 8 (part).4. Schøyen Collection, London and Oslo, their MS 1554, acquired in the Sotheby's sale. Scribe:Scribe 'B' of the abbacy of Ralph Gubiun (1146-1151) is "distinguished by the elegance and flamboyance of his hand, which is highly disciplined and with very distinctive flourishes" (R.M. Thomson, Manuscripts from St Albans Abbey, 1066-1235, 1985, I, p. 29). He copied all of Cambridge, Emmanuel College, MS 244; Pembroke College, MS 180; and St. Petersburg, Q.v.I, 62; as well as parts of Cambridge, Trinity College, B.2.19 and B.5.1; British Library, Egerton, MS 3721 and Royal MS 2.A.x; Bodleian, Laud MS misc. 370; and the rubrics in British Library, Royal MS 19,590. He also copied a St. Alban's charter, datable to between 1151 and 1154. His role was often that of the master of the scriptorium, taking charge over crucial texts such as charters, and copying rubrics as well as extensively correcting texts. He appears to have been the chief scribe of the scriptorium around the midpoint of the century. The cutting here contains part of chs. 13 and 16 of the text. Published: J. Griffiths, 'Manuscripts in the Schøyen Collection Copied or Owned in the British Isles before 1700', in English Manuscript Studies 1100-1700, vol. 5, eds. P. Beal and J. Griffiths, British Library, London, 1995, pp. 36-42.C. de Hamel, 'The Life of Saint Martin', in Papyri Graecae Schøyen (PSchøyen II): essays and texts in honour of Martin Schøyen, ed. R. Pintaudi, Papyrologica Florentina 40, Edizioni Gonnelli, Firenze, 2010, pp. 117-122.
Lot 41
Ɵ Vergil, Georgics III:259-458 and IV:393-564, in Latin didactic hexameter verse, leaves from a decorated manuscript on parchment in situ in an Oxford binding by Dominique Pinart[England, c. 1200] Remains of two bifolia, trimmed at edges with losses to one column on each, each leaf with single column of 48 lines in an early gothic book script, with initials set apart in margin as common for verse, simple red initials with baubles and pen flicks added to their bodies, one dark pastel green initial, contemporary running titles, some contemporary marginalia, modern pencil marks giving textual notes, some staining, scuffing and small holes, else in good condition, each leaf 190 by 100mm.; in situ in binding of a copy of a printed book: William Thomas, The historie of Italie, London: Thomas Berthelet, 1549, binding of blindtooled calf, using rollstamps identified as nos. XII and XVIII in S. Gibson, Early Oxford Bindings, 1903 (see also Ker, Pastedowns in Oxford Bindings, 1955, pp. 210-11), suggesting a binding date of c. 1581 or before, sewn on 3 thongs, by Dominique Pinart, a French immigrant and the principal Oxford binder of this period, skilfully rebacked; with a letter from Neil R. Ker to a "Mr Edwards" dated 21 March 1964, noting that he had "not found Virgil before in Oxford bindings, save in one insignificant late manuscript" Provenance:1. Most probably written and decorated for English scholarly use around the turn of the thirteenth century, probably in Oxford. Later discarded and reused there for binding material at the close of the Middle Ages.2. Various English owners, with ex libris marks from "Peter ...son" in a sixteenth-century hand on the back pastedown, and another partly erased name dated 1676 on the front pastedown.3. William Charles de Meuron, 7th Earl Fitzwilliam (1872-1943): his armorial bookplate on front pastedown; his library sold in the Wentworth Woodhouse sale at Sotheby's, 27 April 1948, doubtless including this volume.4. Quaritch cat. 664 (1949), no. 289.5. Hodgson, 19 March 1964, lot 254, to "Mr. Edwards", an apparent bookseller.6. Quaritch, London, November 1991.7. Schøyen Collection, London and Oslo, their MS 1395, acquired from Quaritch. Text:The celebrated Roman poet, Vergil (70-19 BC.), wrote the Georgicsc. 29 BC. for Maecenas, the ally and political agent of Octavian, to whom it was reportedly read after his return from defeating Anthony and Cleopatra in 31 BC. The text surveys the field of agriculture, namely raising crops and trees, livestock and horses and beekeeping, set within the context of farming as a noble and senatorial pursuit in Roman society. It enjoyed great popularity and had enormous literary impact from its composition onwards, surviving in numerous fifth- and sixth-century manuscripts as well as an explosion of Carolingian witnesses, these demonstrating serious study and careful correction of the text in eighth- and ninth-century France.To view a video of this item, click here.
Lot 43
Ɵ Leaf from an Atlantic Bible with a large white vine initial, text from Job 1:1-4; 1:7-3:2 with prologue of St. Jerome, in Latin, decorated manuscript on parchment[Italy (Tuscany), first half of the twelfth century] Large cutting from lower part of a once vast leaf, with a large initial 'V' ("Vir erat in terra ...", the opening of Job) in pale red and blank parchment band, intertwined with and enclosing a swirling mass of thin acanthus leaf sprays on pale pastel blue, red, dark green, beige/yellow, brown and perhaps once silver grounds (the latter now oxidised and crystalline with areas of metallic sheen), red and black tall ornamental capitals opening text, remains of double column of 25 lines in a bold proto-gothic bookhand, showing many earlier features such as a ct- and NT-ligature and a 'r' that descends below the baseline, torn at edges, some spots and stains, darkened on reverse, but overall a good initial in bright condition, 300 by 230mm.; in cloth-covered card binding, with Bernard Rosenthal's cataloguing Provenance: 1. Erwin Rosenthal (1889-1981), of Berkeley, California, art historian and antiquarian bookseller; personal gift to his son Bernard Rosenthal (1920-2017) in 1956, "to encourage me in the formation of this collection".2. Quaritch cat. 1147, Bookhands of the Middle Ages V, 1991, no. 12.3. Schøyen Collection, London and Oslo, their MS 668, acquired from Quaritch in June 1990. Decoration:The initial here, with its thin white vine branches that cross the body of the initial in several places, compares closely to other Tuscan examples, such as those in a Passional, probably made in the second quarter of the twelfth century in San Gimignano (now San Gimignano, Bibl. Comunale, cod,1: K. Berg, Studies in Tuscan Twelfth Century Illumination, 1968, fig. 66), another Passional, made in the second quarter of the twelfth century in Florence (Florence, Laurenziana, Mugel. 13: Berg, fig. 74) and a copy of Augustine's commentary on the Gospels, made in Siena in the first half of the twelfth century (Siena, Bibl. Comunale, F.I.2: Berg, fig. 461). However, none of those employ silver alongside their pastel palettes. Silver is notoriously difficult to use in book arts, but had enjoyed some popularity in the Carolingian centuries, and appears in occasional grand Romanesque volumes (cf. the Genesis page of the Bible of St. Mary de Parc which has silver beast masks at its corners and silver interlace around the main initial: reproduced in W. Cahn, Romanesque Bible Illumination, 1982, fig. 90).
Lot 44
Ɵ Sermons on the Annunciation of the Virgin attributed to Augustine, with a large decorated initial, manuscript in Latin on parchment[Italy, mid-twelfth century] Single leaf, with a large initial 'S' (opening "Scientes fratres dilecctissimi ...") in vivid blue bands fishtailed at each terminal, enclosing a blue sprig of foliage with green, red and white tendrils and a large white stylised flower, all set on pale yellow ground in imitation of gold, first line of text in ornamental capitals, single red rubric, double column of 47 lines in a professional early gothic bookhand, without biting curves, catchwords sloping down at lower corner (partly trimmed away), recovered from a binding and hence with numerous later penwork additions of devotional material, spots, stains, a few small holes and a large fold horizontally across midpoint, overall in fair and presentable condition, 430 by 300mm.; in cloth-covered card binding, with Bernard Rosenthal's cataloguing Provenance: 1. Aldo Olschki (1893-1963), of Florence, publisher and antiquarian bookseller, son of the grand bookseller Leo Olschki (1861-1940). 2. Bernard Rosenthal (1920-2017), of San Francisco, California, his I/75, acquired 1959.3. Quaritch cat. 1147, Bookhands of the Middle Ages V, 1991, no. 91.4. Schøyen Collection, London and Oslo, their MS 656, acquired from Quaritch in June 1990. Text and decoration:The text here was based on Augustine's sermon 369, and in the Middle Ages was attributed to him as well as Ildefonsus, Jerome and Maximus of Turin. It is most probably the work of an anonymous early medieval author (see R. Grégoire, Homéliaires liturgiques médiévaux, 1980, p. 179, no. 66).The fleshy acanthus leaves of the initial here, painted in broad brushstrokes in a vivid palette, and using a yellow wash ground to imitate burnished gold, are of interest. They look northwards to Bible decoration in France (cf. the Bible of St. Mary de Parc: reproduced in W. Cahn, Romanesque Bible Illumination, 1982, fig. 90) and forwards to Italian decoration of the thirteenth century, rather than to the white-vine initials that dominated Italian book arts of the twelfth century.
Lot 49
Ɵ Josias censing the altar in Jerusalem for the Passover,in a historiated initial on a leaf from the Villeneuve-lès-Avignon Bible, with Nehemiah and beginning of Ezra II, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment[France (probably Paris), second half of thirteenth century] Single leaf, with double column of 56 lines in tiny gothic bookhand (littera textualis or 'pearl script'), headings in red, capitals touched in yellow wash, running titles and chapter numbers in alternated red or blue capitals, three 2-line initials in red or blue will full length penwork in both colours, one large historiated initial 'E' (opening "Et fecit Iosias pascha ...", 3 Esdras 1), with Josias censing the altar in Jerusalem for the Passover, in style of 'Vie de Saint Denis' workshop, this fol. 166 of original codex, some marginal notes, overall excellent condition, 210 by 150mm; in cloth-covered binding Provenance: 1. From a Bible once in the medieval library of the Carthusian Abbey of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, founded in 1356 by Pope Innocent VI who gave the abbey 57 manuscripts. The parent manuscript of this leaf was at least a century old when acquired by the abbey, but its distinctive punctus flexus punctuation suggests that it came to them from another Carthusian house (see N.R. Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries, 1969, I, p. xii, n. 2).2. Transferred in 1812 to the Hôtel de Ville in Villeneuve, and sold by the municipality in 1853 to the Montpellier bookseller Félix Seguín, his cat. for 1854, no. 3.3. Subsequently broken up in London c. 1961 probably by Louis Bondy, and dispersed through the Folio Society and Maggs (see Maggs, Bulletin 2, 1962, no. 13, for the leaves with the ownership inscription of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon; for other leaves see M.M. Manion, V.F. Vines and C. de Hamel, Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts in New Zealand Collections, 1989, no. 68, pp. 89-90).4. Alan G. Thomas (1911-1992), London bookseller: with his price code. 5. Quaritch cat. 1147, Bookhands of the Middle Ages V, 1991, no. 19.6. Schøyen Collection, London and Oslo, their MS 654; acquired in June 1990. Decoration:The historiated initial here is in the style of the 'Vie de Saint-Denis' atelier, on which see R. Branner, Manuscript Painting in Paris during the Reign of Saint Louis, 1977, pp. 87-93.
Lot 6
‡ Homer, Iliad XI:1-5 (with Zeus sending Strife to the Achaean fleet, bearing a war-banner in her hands, at the break of dawn), in Greek, epic verse in dactylic hexameters, manuscript on papyrus [Egypt, second century AD.] One rectangular papyrus fragment, with remains of a single column of six lines in an excellent Greek half uncial script, here written as prose but with diagonal dividing lines marking the ends of lines of verse or noting punctuation (as no other examples of such lines are known their intended function remains speculation: see literature cited below), single line in unidentified Greek cursive hand on reverse, 51 by 45mm.; set in glass, and within a folding cloth-covered case An important early witness to one of the fundamental works of Western literature, with this fragment being the first recorded witness to this part of the text, and the only example on papyrus Provenance: 1. Erik von Scherling, Leiden (1907-1956), son of the Swedish consul in Rotterdam, who worked for the bookseller Jacob Ginsberg in Leiden, learning Latin and Arabic while there, and then opened up a dealership there issuing regular bulletins and a sale-catalogue/gossipy journal named Rotulus from the 1930s until the 1950s; almost certainly acquired from his "Egyptian correspondent" in the early 1930s or directly by him in Egypt during his manuscript collecting trip to Cairo in 1934-35.2. Maggs Bros., London (1964-1988), and among the clutter of material left by von Scherling on his sudden and untimely death in 1956, a small part of these offered for sale to various institutions and the remainder divided between Maggs and Laurence Witten of New Haven, CT, USA. 3. Sam Fogg, London, acquired from Maggs.4. Schøyen collection, London and Oslo, their MS 112/80, acquired June 1988. Text and script: A fragment of the single-most influential literary text in the Western world, in a copy contemporary with Suetonius, Martial and Pliny the Younger. Homer's account of the siege and fall of Troy is the foundation stone of European culture. The text is usually dated to c.850 BC., and consensus agrees that it was composed some decades before the Odyssey. It was extremely popular in antiquity, and remained so throughout the Greek speaking world in the early Middle Ages. This is most probably the work of an inexperienced scribe practising their copying in a scribal school, but is still of great importance as it is the earliest recorded witness to this section of the Iliad. As this fragment includes the first example of any form of uncials in this catalogue, a few words must be said here about this crucially important script. Around the second or third century AD. rustic capitals had evolved into large stately rounded capitals that St. Jerome named 'uncials'. Among modern readers the script is most well-known for the baffling effect it produces in having no breaks between words. It had raw austere beauty, and signalled authority, and quickly became the script of fundamental texts, especially the Bible (see also examples of Coptic Uncial and Armenian Uncial used to copy the Bible, below in lots 11 and 16). Published: G. Ucciardello in R. Pintaudi, Papyri Graecae Schøyen, 2005, no. 2, pp. 5-6.
Lot 7
‡ Short quotations from Isocrates, Ad Demonicum, 9, and Menander, Sententia, in Attic Greek, in Greek cursive and capitals, manuscript on large polished wooden tablet doubtless produced as part of a scribal teaching exercise[Egypt, late fourth or early fifth century] Rectangular wooden tablet, used lengthways, with single column of 5 long lines plus a single word on a sixth line in a clear and sloping Greek cursive on one side and a further 2 lines in large Greek capitals on the reverse, one hole at head of board in middle (perhaps for suspension), wood with slight scuffing in places and one small loss of a section at its foot (without affect to text), 140 by 138 by 10mm.; in blue cloth covered folding case A remarkably rare ephemeral witness to the practical teaching of novice scribes in Graeco-Roman Egypt, on wood, a material of such value in Egypt that few survive Provenance:1. Prof. Dr. Pieter Johannes Sijpestein (1934-1996) of Baarn, near Amsterdam; his collection known as the Moen collection (his wife's maiden name), and almost certainly acquired by him in the European and American trade in the 1960s to early 1980s. Much of his collection passing after his death to the University of Austin, Texas, as well as Syracuse University, New York. This his inventory no. 78, and published in Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik in 1983 (see below).2. Bonhams, 29 April 1991, lot 77, to Sam Fogg.3. Schøyen Collection, London and Oslo, their MS 1359, acquired June 1991. Text and script:This is a 'wooden leaf tablet' employed in Antiquity as a writing master's template for scribal teaching in an important and wealthy scriptorium. Cribiore comprehensively discusses their use from pharaonic Egypt onwards (pp. 65-72), and the value of the raw material - as Egypt produced little wood. Here we have the refined master-scribe's hand copying out the quotation from Isocrates (436-338 BC.; here "... and he exposed his spirit to dangers. Nor did he display an ill-timed craving for wealth, but he enjoyed the good things present like one who was going to die, yet cared for his property as if he was immortal"), the father of rhetorical Greek and founder of the Athenian academy in the Lyceum, on one side in cursive, for students to copy onto papyrus. The pierced hole at the top of the board allowed it to be strung together with other such templates, and handed around the class for copying time and time again. To this, a student has added on its reverse the extract from the Greek dramatist Menander (c. 342/41-c. 290 BC.) in slightly clumsy capitals with a few erasures, finishing this with his initials. The format of such teaching aids has remained relatively unchanged in the region from the Ancient World until the last century (see the 'cricket bat' shaped writing tablet produced in Morocco in the early twentieth century, offered as lot 46 in our 31 March Islamic sale this year [auction moved to 12 June]). As noted by Sijpestein and Agosti (the latter in Pintaudi, p. 38) the combination of Isocrates and Menander here is also found in a poem of Dioscorus of Aphrodito (d. sixth century) and their use together in teaching may well have been ingrained in Ptolemaic Egypt and the Byzantine world. Sijpestein in 1983 dated this piece to the seventh century, and that date was followed by Cribiore in her survey, but it has been recently and convincingly redated to "la fine del IV o addirittura l'inizio del V seculo" by G. Agosti (in Pintaudi, no. 11). This accords well with other surviving examples which appear to cluster in those centuries (see Cribiore, nos. 83, 146 and 317, with slightly earlier examples in 292, 296 and 333). Published:P.J. Sijpestein, 'Isokrates, Ad Demonicum 9 und Ein Monostichon Menandri auf Einer Holztafel', Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 52 (1983), pp. 291-92.R. Cribiore, Writing, Teachers, and Students in Graeco-Roman Egypt, 1996, no. 229.R. Pintaudi, Papyri Graecae Schøyen, 2005, no. 11, pp. 37-40.C. Pernigotti, Menandri Sententiae, 2008, p. 48 and no. 895.P. Pruneti and M. Menchelli, Corpus dei papyri filosofici, 1.2.2, 2008, pp. 922-24.L. Maurice, The Teacher in Ancient Rome: The Magister and His World, 2013, p. 102.C. Pernigotti, Corpus dei papiri filosofici, 2.2, 2015, pp. 244-46. The present artefact is Mertens-Pack 2736.2, and is published online as TM 61405 and LDAB 2549.
Lot 338
Dictionarium Botanicum: Or, A Botanical Dictionary for The Use of the Curious in Husbandry and Gardening containing The Names of the Known Plants in Latin, English &c Their Description, Their Culture or Management rendered easy and familiar, whether Domestick or Exotick; so that the Name of a Plant being known the proper Direction for its Improvement in the Garden is to be found in the same Article, A Work never before attempted, by R. Bradley printed for T. Woodward 1728 in 2 volumes first edition with engraved folding frontispiece in volume 1. Blind stamped calf re-backed in leather with raised bands and gilt lettered leather labels (2)
Lot 512
Eight albums of cigarette and similar cards to include association footballers, footballers 1929, cricketers of 1928, 1930 and 1934, Player's famous beauties, straight line caricatures, military head dress, decorations and medals, dogs, arms and armour, Ty-phoo tea cards, Brooke Bond tea, Rover footballers, Wills life in the treetops, British butterflies, R&J Hill Canadian views of interest, Wills English period costumes, animals and their furs, British Castles, Old Silver, Old Inns, the King's art treasures, dogs, pond and aquarium, Rothman's Punch jokes, Carreras amusing tricks and how to do them and notable M.P.s
Lot 249
A George V Lincolnshire Regiment silver cigarette box, of rectangular twin division form, the hinged lid bearing the crest and banner of The Lincolnshire Regiment, box engraved "Presented to Lieut; H R Greenwood, by The Officers of The Forth Battn. The Lincolnshire Regt. On The Occasion Of His Marriage April 25th 1923.", Birmingham 1923, 6cm H, 19cm W, 9cm D.
Lot 489
Vinyl Records - 7" singles including The Beatles - Love Me Do (20th Anniversary Picture Disc) RP 4949; Twist and Shout - GEP 8882; I Feel Fine - R 5200; Help - R 5305; John Lennon - Woman; Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody - EMI 2375; Somebody To Love - EMI 2565; The Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones - DFE 8560; Fool To Cry; Donovan - Donovan Vol 1 - NEP 24239; Edward Woodward - It Had To Be You (Promotional Copy) - DJS 249; The Who - Substitute; Others including Alice Cooper; The Kinks; Fleetwood Mac; Joan Baez; Leo Sayer; Procol Harum; Robert Palmer; Stevie Wonder; 10cc; Cat Stevens; Eagles; etc (Qty)
Lot 490
Vinyl Records - 7" singles including Shani Wallis - Sixteen Reasons - PB.1019; The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour - MMT-1 (With Original Blue 28-page Book); I Feel Fine - R 5200; A Hard Day's Night - R 5160; Ticket to Ride - R 5265; Help! - R 5305; All You Need Is Love - R 5620; Lady Madonna - R 5675; We Can Work It Out - R 5389; Paperback Writer - R 5452; Hello, Goodbye - R 5655; Strawberry Fields Forever - R 5570; Hey Jude - R 5722; Can't Buy Me Love - R 5114; George Harrison - My Sweet Lord - R 5884; The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Voodoo Chile - 2095-001; Sam Cooke - Twisting The Night Away - 45-RCA 1277; Wizzard - Are You Ready To Rock - K 16497; Others Including The New Seekers; The Monkees; The Bee Gees; Chris Andrews; Elton John; etc (Qty)
Lot 491
Vinyl Records - 45rpm 7 inch singles - Funk, Soul, Motown, Northern Soul, R&B, etc Bill Haley and his Comets, Green Tree Boogie, The Trumphs, I'm Coming to your Rescue (Demo), Fred Hughes, Baby Boy, The Dramatics, Dean Parrish, Frankie Valley & the Four Seasons, The Night, George Clinton, Lada Edmund Jr, Wally Cox, Tobi Legend, Gloria Jones, Bobby Freeman, Ronnie Walker, George Carrow, Joy Lovejoy, etc qty
Lot 197
Scottish. 26th Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers Victorian OR’s shako plate circa 1859-61.Good very scarce short-lived die-stamped blackened brass coiled bugle bearing ‘26’ to wire gauze voided centre.LoopsVGCFormed 14th December 1859 at R. Napier & Sons, Govan; becoming ‘A’ Company 25th LRVC in April 1861.
Lot 229
Scottish. Queen’s Rifle Volunteer Brigade Victorian OR’s Royal Scots glengarry badge circa 1888-1901.Good die-stamped blackened brass example. The letter ‘Q’ inscribed ‘R’ ‘S’; crowned ‘RVB’ to voided centre. Black leather backing.LoopsGC1st Queen’s City of Edinburgh Rifle Volunteer Brigade redesignated Queen’s Rifle Volunteer Brigade in 1888.
Lot 231
Scottish. Queen’s Rifle Volunteer Brigade Victorian OR’s Royal Scots glengarry badge circa 1888-1901.Good die-stamped blackened brass example. The letter ‘Q’ inscribed ‘R’ ‘S’; crowned ‘RVB’ to voided centre.LoopsVGC1st Queen’s City of Edinburgh Rifle Volunteer Brigade redesignated Queen’s Rifle Volunteer Brigade in 1888.
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