Homeliae in johannis evangelium, 1462

Style of binding suggests that it was bound in or for the Charterhouse of Saint Barbara, Cologne. Fols. 2-12 missing with no apparent loss of text

Paper support (watermarks similar to Briquet Huchet 7833; Briquet Ciseaux 3668).

Fifteenth-century German. Style of binding suggests that it was bound in or for the Charterhouse of St. Barbara, Cologne. Brown calf on boards, blind-stamped in a diamond pattern decorated with roses, fleur-de-lis, eagles. Center panels decorated with small medallions depicting the mother and child on the crescent moon. Two split brass fastenings on upper board with two corresponding shield-shaped fastenings on the lower board with traces of leather straps. Traces of five round bosses on each board. Metal corner pieces. Five bands on spine, title written on paper strip: "S. Johannes/ Chrysostomus/ Homeliae/ M.S. 1462." On three smaller paper strips: "35" (in ink), "630" (the 0 written in ink over a printed 2), and "312" (also printed).

248; 338 x 231 mm bound to 350 x 245 mm

Single column, thirty-eight lines with vertical bounding lines usually full length in brown ink, and rulings in hardpoint or lead; prickings visible in the four corners where the bounding lines intersect with the top and bottom ruled line; written area: 205 x 120 mm

Humanistic script, written by a single scribe

On f. 13r the text begins with an unusual, skillfully drawn 7-line blue and pink initial inside a black and red penwork rectangle. The initial is surrounded by acanthus leaves on a pink ground and infilled with two white acanthus leaves shaded with pink set inside two darker pink rondels. Two red and blue stylized, four-petal flowers, one in the upper margin, one in the lower, are connected to this initial by a red and blue baguette. A similar initial on f. 15v extending into the top margin is surrounded with white acanthus leaves on either side, one with black shading, the other with red; a red and blue baguette descends from the initial to a single flower in the lower margin. The remaining initials are simple 4-line, alternating blue and red. Headings, sentence, and paragraph markers in red. Running chapter numbers in black ink in center of outer margin near the edge of the paper, recto.

Contemporary foliation in ink, 1, 13-153, 155-260, upper right recto.