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MS. Canon. Liturg. 379

Summary Catalogue no.: 19462

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
iv + 164 + ii leaves
Musical Notation:

Notation on staves (see van Dijk 1957).

Binding

18th century, after 1722, Italian, either an archaizing binding all of that date, or a major resewing and rebind incorporating elements from an earlier binding; each of the two parts (from the church of S. Miniato fra le Torri, Florence) had lost leaves at its end before this binding’s resewing. Wood boards, outside edges rounded; brown leather, blind-tooled with multiple lines and a thin roll to form an empty central panel; spine plain except for quadruple lines around the five cords, no label; no clear signs of clasps; traces of 4+1 large circular bosses on each cover, all lost; endleaf watermarks dated 1722; edges stained yellow. 367–368 × 234–237 × c. 63 mm. (book closed).

MS. Canon. Liturg. 379 – Part 1 (fols. 1-20)

Contents

1. fols. 1–20
Office Lectionary
Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Dimensions (leaf): 348 × 225 mm.

Layout

2 cols., c. 45-63 lines or a variable number of lines of script and staves of music; column space 260 × 70-90 mm.

Fols. 1-6: 1 col., c. 30 lines, c. 195 × 160 mm.

Hand(s)

Written in 1452 by Leonardo Francisci de Orto, rector of the church of San Miniato fra le Torri, fol. 16v, as an addition to an earlier Breviary.

Decoration

Related to the style of Zanobi Strozzi. Pächt and Alexander ii. 261, pl. XXIV:

Fine borders.

Fine historiated initials.

History

Origin: 1452 ; Italian, Florence

Provenance

Fol. 1, at top: '20. nouebr' 1452. Leonardus.' Fol. 16: 'Incipit lectionarium . . . scriptum per leonardum francisci de orto. d.d. rectorem ecclesie sancti miniatis inter turres de florentia [San Miniato fra le Torri, Florence] pro ipsa ecclesia. et quia alter liber eiusdem ecclesie erat prolixius huiusmodi ordinis solum conscriptus. quantum potuj In isto uolumine breuius mea propria manu scripsi. anno dominj .1452. mensis decembris die .nona nona [sic] . . .' In the early foliation, fols. 21-42 of this scribe's work are missing from the book, of which the remainder is a breviary of c.1300.

The arms in the illuminated border on fol. 13 are those of Strozzi.

The unidentified arms in the coloured border on fol. 9 are azure an eagle's (or lion's) claw argent unguled gules.

Church of S. Miniato tra le torri, Florence: fol. 21: 'Liber iste est sancti miniatis (in)ter turres de froretia [sic]' (s.xv).

MS. Canon. Liturg. 379 – Part 2

Contents

2. fols. 21–164
Breviary
Language(s): Latin

History

Origin: c. 1300 ; Italian

Additional Information

Record Sources

Summary description abbreviated from the Summary Catalogue (1897). Decoration, localization and date follow Pächt and Alexander (1970), with additional reference to published literature as cited in the description. Binding: B. C. Barker-Benfield, Bookbindings of Canonici manuscripts : a survey of early and non-standard bindings, mostly Italian, in the Canonici collection of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford (Oxford, privately printed, 2020).
Summary Catalogue, vol. 4, p. 395

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (1 image from 35mm slides)

Bibliography

    Printed descriptions:

    A. Watson, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts in Oxford Libraries (1984), no. 281 (fols. 1-20)
    S. J. P. van Dijk, Latin Liturgical Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, vol. 2: Office Books (typescript, 1957), p. 234
    S. J. P. van Dijk, Latin Liturgical Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, vol. 6: Fragments - Office Books, Rituals, Directories (typescript, 1957), p. 151

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2020-08-20: Binding description added.