113. A LARGE LEAF FROM AN EARLY GOSPEL LECTIONARY. WITH TEXT FROM THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN. (Italy, ca. 1150) 13 x 9 1/4". Single column, 22 lines, in an extremely fine late Carolingian hand. WITH A HANDSOME SIX-LINE DIVIDED INITIAL "I" in blue and red with a trailing penwork extension along the lower two-thirds of the leaf. Matted.
Just a hint of marginal soiling, but IN VERY FINE CONDITION, THE LOVELY SCRIPT PERFECTLY CLEAR, and the vellum bright and generally quite preserved.
This 12th century lectionary leaf contains readings from the New Testament Gospel of John. On one side we have all but the first few words of the story of the woman taken in adultery from John 8. The selection ends on the top of the reverse with the words "Go and sin no more," and continues with a reading from john 6 (the scribe has written the rubric incorrectly as John xl instead of vi), recounting the multiplication of the loaves. According to a pencilled note on the mat, our leaf was previously the property of Otto Ege, whose sets of single leaves, used to demonstrate the history of writing and printing, are well known.
Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books and Manuscripts. “113. A LARGE LEAF FROM AN EARLY GOSPEL LECTIONARY. WITH TEXT FROM THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN.” Phillip J. Pirages Catalogue 47, 1992.
