Bidspirit auction | [HISTORY] - Greek Gospel Lectionary.

[HISTORY] - Greek Gospel Lectionary. - Manuscript on parchment. Eastern Mediterranean, possibly Hodegon monastery in Constantinople, mid-XIII century. 300x230 mm. 184 extant leaves, wanting some, especially at the beginning and end. The first 13 leaves are relics of the original first nine quires; the original 14th quire, the two leaves each after current ff. 21 and 25 and the one after f. 170 are missing. Collation: I2 (central bifolium only), Z26 (of 8, lacking I and VIII of the original 7th quire), M4 (of 8, lacking central bifolium of the original 8th quire), IV8, V4 (of 8, lacking I-II, VII-VIII of the original 11th quire), VI-XXIII8, XXIV1 (of 8, lacking the second leaf), XXV8. Signature at the end of each choir. Ff. 43-48 and 68-71 (later paginated in pencil as 53-64 and 103-110) are fourteenth-century replacements. Erratic pencil foliation. Text on double column, 25 lines, writing area 215x160mm. Written in black ink by a large and neat hand of the mid-thirteenth century, adopting the distinctively elegant style developed at the Hodegon monastery in Constantinople during the Palaeologan Renaissance. At the beginning of each of extant readings (ca. 270), one can find rubricated headings and exquisite penwork initials in red with decoration extending along the left margin. Towards the end of the volume, some decorative headings and tablets, as well as several text lines, were penned in red. In a nearly contemporary Byzantine binding, in thick wooden boards covered with tanned leather and purple textile, spine covered with hessian and ends formerly raised, worn and wanting spine, but unsophisticated. Fragments inside front cover from a leaf of an earlier liturgical manuscript, probably dating to the late twelfth century, elegantly written and retaining musical notation in red. In a box in brown calf, elaborately blind-tooled. The text contains selections from the New Testament read mainly during Saturdays and Sundays, mostly drawing from the Gospels of Mark and Luke. This kind of lectionary shows how the liturgical year developed over time, sheds light on early interpretations of specific feasts, and often preserves unique or little-known variants of biblical texts. A mesmerising large-size Greek lectionary with the Gospel readings for the liturgical year, exquisitely decorated throughout. The codex appeared to have lost its first quires shortly after its completion, as the early binding perfectly fits the text block. One can surmise that the book was bound at the same time as the integration of a few missing leaves by a skilled fourteenth-century scribe. The binder employed scratches from two earlier music liturgical manuscripts: the one described above in the front inner cover, and the other, closer in time to the main text block, was cut into pieces to serve as stubs in some central quires. As such, the volume – already rare as an early evangeliary – features small yet highly significant fragments of early Byzantine music. This lectionary was used in this form for centuries, as the occasional Greek marginalia and the few rudimentary repairs added in the sixteenth and later centuries indicate. This charming book thus constitutes a rare and multifaceted witness to the liveliness of the spiritual life and religious musical practices in the Byzantine and post-Byzantine world.