A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany, Volume Three by Thomas Frognall Dibdin
page 25 of 382 (06%)
page 25 of 382 (06%)
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Emperor Conrad, son of the Emperor Frederick II: the greater part of it
being composed after the chronicle of Geoffrey de Viterbe." To specify the illuminations would be an endless task. At the end of the MS. are the following colophonic verses: _Uf den fridag was sts Brictius Do nam diz buch ende alsus Nach godis geburten dusint jar Dar su ccc dni vnx achtzig als eyn har_. the "_ccc_" are interlined, in red ink: but the whole inscription implies that the book was finished in 1381, on Friday, the day of St. Brictius. It follows therefore that it could not have been written during the life-time of Conrad IV. who was elected Emperor in 1250. This interesting MS. is in a most desirable condition. There are two or three _Missals_ deserving only of brief notice. One, of the XIVth century, is executed in large gothic letter; having an exceedingly vivid and fresh illumination of a crucifixion, but in bad taste, opposite the well-known passage of "Te igitur clementissime," &c. It is bound in red satin. Two missals of the xvth century--of which one presents only a few interesting prints connected with art. It is ornamented in a sort of bistre outline, preparatory to colouring--of which numerous examples may be seen in the Breviary of the Duke of Bedford in the Royal Library at Paris.[13] I examined half a dozen more Missals, which the kind activity of M. Le Bret had placed before me, and among them found nothing deserving of particular observation,--except a thick, short, octavo volume, in the German language, with characteristic and rather clever embellishments; especially in the borders. |
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