Substantial fragment from a Book of Hours, Use of Rome, by a named scribe: Johannes Augustini of Sarnano, and probably the only record of his name and work, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum

Book of Hours, Use of Rome [Italy (probably central, perhaps Tuscany), mid-fifteenth century]

138 leaves (plus single modern paper endleaves at front and back), wanting a few quires from front of volume (including Calendar, and opening of Hours of the Virgin) and a number of single leaves throughout (these perhaps once with illuminated initials), catchwords showing text mostly continuous without major breaks, collation: i7 (i wanting), ii8, iii6 (wants 2 leaves, including first), iv6 (probably wanting 2 leaves), v6 (wants 2 leaves), vi7 (wants v), vii-viii8, ix9 (ending Hours of Virgin with scribal colophon, followed by a blank leaf), x7 (i wanting), xi-xiv8, xv9 (including a blank leaf, and last a singleton added to complete text), xvi7 (i wanting), xvii8, xviii10, written in 14 lines of a small Italian gothic bookhand, rubrics in red, initials in red or blue (the larger with penwork in opposing colour), two illuminated initials on blue grounds, its compartments enclosing green and pink foliage (another in cruder form probably a later addition), slight darkening to leaves at each end, a few spots, stains and scuffs, else in good condition, 115 by 85mm.; in plain card over pasteboard binding, perhaps nineteenth century, becoming loose at back, in fitted blue card box speckled with coloured flecks.

Provenance:
1. Most probably written and illuminated in the vicinity of Florence, indicated by the style of the illuminated initials and the presence of St. Reparata in the Litany, whose cult flourished in that city. The presence of SS. Francis of Assisi and perhaps also Catherine of Siena, might indicate that the original owner was a Franciscan friar or nun. At the end of the Hours of the Virgin, the scribe (whose hand is professional and handsome) announces himself as Johannes Augustini of Sarnano in Macerata, to the south east of Florence (“Johannes Sir Augustini de Sarnano scripsit”). The use of the title sir/ser as an abbreviation of messere is more commonly found in Italian vernacular records as well as charters, and denotes a non-noble upper bourgeois family background. The scribe is unrecorded by the Benedictins du Boveret in their vast catalogue of colophons or by O. Kristeller in his Iter Italicum, and this may be the sole surviving example of his work.

2. The front pastedown once with a large red leather ex libris (now removed and visible only as stains on front pastedown).

3. From a northern European collection, and most probably with them since 17 August 1956 (this date pencilled at head of back pastedown).

Text:
The volume opens partway into the Hours of the Virgin, with these interspersed with various readings for Masses, and ending with the red “Explicit officium beate virginis marie secundem consuetudinem Ro[mane] curie. Amen” and the scribal colophon; followed by the Office of the Dead (wanting opening); the Hours of the Cross (wanting opening); the Seven Penitential Psalms (wanting opening), followed by a Litany of Saints and attendant prayers; and ending with various prayers and an indulgence (described as a “magne indulgentie”. A near-contemporary hand then added the ‘Te Deum’ prayer to space left on the last two leaves.