
Title: Two Leaves from Jacobus de Voragine’s Golden Legend, or Legenda Aurea, 14th Century. Germany. Latin Manuscript on Parchment. 44 Lines of Gothic Script
Author: Jacobus de Voragine
Condition: Very Good
Two 14th century leaves from a manuscript of de Voragine’s Legenda Aurea, also known more commonly as the Golden Legend of the Passion of the Saints, a famed collection of 153 hagiographies (biography or life of a saint or ecclesiastical figure), widely read in Europe during the Late Middle Ages. This manuscript was likely from Italy.
These leaves contain parts from the lives of Saints Ephigenia of Ethiopia, Cornelius, Eufemia and others.
These leaves are written in Latin, using a gothic textualis script, with red initials.
These leaves were once used as binder’s waste, saved from a bookbinding, and used as a cover, judging by the fold marks.
Material removed from bindings with corresponding heavy signs of use, one tiny hole with almost no loss of text, browned, stained, minor text abrasion. Provenance: 1964 William Salloch. The Marvin L. Colker Collection, London.
These leaves bear provenance of the Colker Collection, which was previously acquired from William Salloch in 1964.
Two leaves on parchment, 27.2 x 21.5 cm
These leaves are in very good shape, with old rubbing and staining to the parchment. Some of the text is faded to one side of each leaf.