A complete gathering of Vincent de Beauvais’ Speculum Historiale from the libraries of Guillaume Libri and Thomas Phillipps

Vincent of Beauvais (OP, c.1184-c.1264), Speculum historiale, universal history, in Latin, 8 leaves (a complete gathering, still stitched), 2 columns, 47 lines, red and blue initials with decorative penwork, on vellum, 362 x 260mm., France (Paris), c. 1400 or very early fifteenth century, perfect condition, in a brown cloth folder.

From book XXIX (here called ‘XXX’), caps. xxix-xlvii, events for the years 1172-88 in the reign of the emperor Frederick Barbarossa, including the life of Peter Monoculus, abbot of Clairvaux (d. 1186), progress in the Crusades, Joachim of Fiore, the dangers of astrology, wars between France and England, and the loss of the True Cross in 1187: cf. Speculum Historiale ab eximio doctore Vincentio almeque belvacensis, Venice, 1494, fols. 386v-389r.

From an important manuscript which belonged successively to

1. Guglielmo Libri (1803-1869, Sotheby’s, 1 June 1864, lot 71, to Boone),
2. Sir Thomas Philllipps (1792-1872, his MS 24654, Sotheby’s, 24 June 1935, lot 74), bought then by
3. R. Creswick (1902-1988), who removed several loose quires, including this one, before having the manuscript rebound.
4. The bound book itself is now in the Schoenberg Collection at the University of Pennsylvania, LJS 16. The decoration of the Schoenberg volume includes the cascading borders of red and blue half fleurs-de-lys, characteristic of manuscripts made for the French royal family, including the Duc de Berry.

A single bifolium from the manuscript was Bloomsbury, 4 December 2018, lot 19 (£1900, hammer).  A further two bifolia were sold at the Marvin Colker sale at Christie’s, Lot111, 12 Dec. 2022.