TEXT IN LATIN

Northeastern France or Rhineland, early 14th century. 345 x 239 mm. (13 1/2 x 9 3/8"). Single column, nine lines of music and text in a gothic hand.
Rubrics and staves in red, calligraphic initials in black, one-line initials in red or blue (some with contrasting penwork), each leaf with one or more large initials (measuring a line of text plus a full stave) in blue or red with blue and red penwork, often extending several lines above or below. Later ink foliation in upper right corners; some leaves with marginal notations in later hand; one specimen with older manuscript fragment enforcing the gutter. See: de Hamel, Christopher. "Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts from the Library of Sir Sydney Cockerell," British Library Journal 13 (1987). Trimmed a little close at the top (occasionally cutting into penwork decoration), moderate soiling to vellum, with noticeable (albeit mostly marginal) condition issues, including wormholes, large repairs to margins, and stains.

From a manuscript fragment that once passed through the hands of Sir Sydney Cockerell, the leaves in this group appear to come from a rarely seen liturgical text called a Sequentiary. Consisting of sung hymns called "sequences" performed between the Alleluia and Gospel readings during Mass, a Sequentiary could be either a standalone volume, or part of a longer work such as a Gradual or Missal. The script here is a neat and legible gothic book hand with simple but attractive lettering in blue and red with contrasting penwork; there are also some interesting calligraphic initials in black--some with little spikes or other flourishes--that might warrant further study. These leaves were previously bound into a later (perhaps 18th century) limp vellum binding, the pastedown of which contained a tipped-on handwritten note from Cockerell (1867-1962), who was William Morris' private secretary and the director of the Fitzwilliam Museum for nearly 30 years. Cockerell attributed this manuscript to Northern France and suggested a date of ca. 1280 (we believe it dates a little later), noting that it was probably made for Dominican use, based on the presence of the sequences for St. Peter Martyr and St. Dominic. It is unclear whether Cockerell actually owned this manuscript at one point, or served as a consultant for a dealer or a private collector, as he was known to do: in the words of de Hamel, Cockerell became "the arbiter of quality before whom generations of collectors and scholars brought their acquisitions and attributions for judgement. . . . Dyson Perrins, Yates Thompson, Chester Beatty, Pierpont Morgan, St John Hornby, Lord Kennet, Francis Wormald, Eric Millar, J. R. Abbey, and many others never felt that a manuscript acquisition was truly made until Sydney Cockerell had seen and approved it." De Hamel also notes that Cockerell "gave away, sold, or exchanged manuscripts on many occasions during his life of collecting," making it difficult to know exactly how this manuscript may have crossed his path, or for how long it was in his possession. His appraisal does, however, suggest that this manuscript was in a defective state from at least the 1920s, and probably a good deal earlier than that. Most of the choir book leaves that we offer for sale come from 15th and early 16th century manuscripts, typically Italian or Spanish in origin; the present leaves offer an uncommon opportunity to purchase earlier specimens of musical notation from an unusual liturgical text, with distinguished (if uncertain) ownership history, and at an attainable price. (The price given here is for a single leaf; for additional leaves from this same manuscript, please see our website.)..