Choir Book with Selected Texts for the Mass and Office; in Latin with some Italian, illuminated stenciled book on paper with musical notation, in original binding

ILLUMINATED CHOIR BOOK MADE BY STENCILS. In Latin with some Italian, illuminated stenciled book on paper with musical notation, Italy, late 18th-19th century. Dimensions 460 x 320 mm, 23 folios, complete, on very thick paper, prickings remain, seven lines of text and seven red four-line staves on each page, FIVE LARGE ILLUMINATED INITIALS, equivalent to one line of text and a musical stave in the medieval style. BINDING: 18th-century BINDING of gold-tooled leather with an ecclesiastical coat of arms, border on both covers, smooth spine, edges dyed red. TEXT: Books made by means of stencils occupy a fascinating mid-ground between manuscripts and printing with movable type. This is a particularly well-executed example, adorned with illuminated initials. It was certainly made for someone in or close to the rare Piarist Order (the "Order of the Pious Schools"). Bound in an 18th-century gold-tooled armorial binding, this handsome book was surely made as a special presentation copy. PROVENANCE: Made for someone of high rank close to, or within, the Piarist Order, perhaps an abbot; includes the Mass and Divine Office for St. Joseph Calasanctius (1556-1648), founder of the order, who was canonized in 1767; front flyleaf, of a small landscape surrounded by ornament against a striped background by Georg Leopold Hertel (printmaker) and Johann Georg Hertel I (publisher) in Augsburg, c. 1760. CONDITION: a few stains throughout, front hinge of binding broken, somewhat rubbed, but in overall excellent condition. Full description and images available [TM 994]