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The Arcana Collection: Exceptional Illuminated Manuscripts and Incunabola, Part I, Christie’s, London, Wednesday 7 July 2010. Viewing: 3-7 July.

Rich illumination, noble provenance, precious gold, luxurious vellum, profuse illustration are united in intimate art works. These are all characteristics of the exceptional illuminated manuscripts and incunabula in The Arcana Collection, making them some of the very finest still in private hands. They range in date from the 13th to the 16th century, have origins across Europe, treat of literary, scientific and religious subjects, and were commissioned by royalty, nobility and other discerning patrons. From the 18th century onward great collectors have sought and prized illuminated manuscripts and incunabula, as enthusiastically as they have sought paintings and sculpture. The passage of many of the Arcana books and manuscripts can be traced through celebrated collections, those of Jean Grolier, Major J.R. Abbey, William Waldolf Astor and C.W. Dyson-Perrins amongst them, adding further prestige to these unique works of art.

The following entries are of particular interest: N. 18 - PLINIUS SECUNDUS, Gaius (23-79). Historia naturalis. Translated by Cristoforo Landino (1424-1492). Venice: Nicolaus Jensen, 1476. Illuminated by a contemporary artist for Candido Bollani; N. 20 - ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST, historiated initial V on a leaf from an ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT CHOIRBOOK ON VELLUM (northern Italy, probably Venice, late 13th century); N. 21 - ST DOMINIC RECEIVING THE RULE, historiated initial I on a leaf from a Choirbook, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM (Umbria or southern Italy, late 13th century); N. 26 - ST ANDREW, historiated initial D and FRANCISCAN SAINTS in a full border on a leaf, the FRONTISPIECE OF THE BELLUNO GRADUAL, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT CHOIRBOOK ON VELLUM (Cremona, 1489, signed by the illuminator Ludovico Gadio); N. 28 - THE ABBEY BIBLE, with Prologus attributed to St Jerome, the Interpretation of Hebrew names and Calendar, in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM (Bologna, 1260s); N. 33 - BOOK OF HOURS, use of Rome, in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM (Lombardy, probably Milan, mid- 15th-century); N. 39 - THE ELISABETA PEIXO HOURS,  use of Rome, in Latin and Catalan, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM (Naples c. 1480s and c. 1505, illuminated by Cristoforo Majorana).

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Western Manuscripts and Miniatures, Sotheby’s (34-35 New Bond Street, London W1A 2AA), Tuesday, 8 December 2009. Exhibition: 4-7 December.

This sale includes some of the oldest manuscripts and certainly one of the largest miniatures ever offered for sale. Dates range from the seventh century B.C. to the early twentieth century A.D. (although the latter, two miniatures by the Spanish Forger, are painted on fifteenth-century fragments). Most surviving pieces of writing from the ancient world are scraps of administrative records. However, this sale includes a number of papyri fragments of major literary texts. These are items of rarity beyond comprehension, including Herodotus, the oldest Greek historian (lot 37); the earliest witness to the Margites, a lost classical text (lot 35); and a piece of an unknown classical Greek play on the history of wine attributed to Aristophanes (lot 38). From the Middle Ages come a remarkable series of charters, including some which have passed by direct descent since the twelfth century (lots 19 and 20). Textually, the Psalter translation of Richard Rolle is extraordinarily precious (lot 48), both as a translation of part of the Bible into the English language a generation before Wycliffe, and as an example of Middle English from a period when little survives. As libraries prepare for the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible in 2011, it is a timely reminder that the Bible in English goes back far beyond the Protestant Reformation. Above all, and exceeding all others in scale, complexity and subject matter, is the great Kuttenberg (Kutná Hora) silver mining miniature, painted in Bohemia, probably in Prague, around 1490 (lot 18). It shows the entire process of the medieval silver industry there, from the mining of the ore to the minting of the silver into coins, and is as elaborate as a painting by Brueghel.

The following items are of particular interest: lot 9 - Three historiated initials on cuttings from an illuminated choirbook on vellum (Italy, probably Veneto, c. 1470); lot 10 - Christ blessing, historiated initial cut from illuminated manuscript on vellum (Italy, probably Bologna, c. 1320); lot 11 - The Tomb of St. Dominic (d. 1221), large historiated initial on a cutting from an illuminated manuscript choirbook, on vellum (northern Italy, Bologna, c. 1320, probably immediately after 1323); lot 12 - The Apostles preaching, large historiated initial on a cutting from an illuminated manuscript choirbook, on vellum (northern Italy, Bologna, c. 1320, probably immediately after 1323); lot 13 - The martyrdom of St. Agatha, large historiated initial on a cutting from an illuminated manuscript choirbook, on vellum (northern Italy, Bologna, c. 1320, probably immediately after 1323); lot 16 - Miniature on a cutting, enclosing  the Virgin seated and reading from an open book, the Christ child on her lap lifting up one hand to support a sceptre, perhaps from a historiated initial, illuminated manuscript on vellum (Italy, perhaps Venice, sixteenth century); and lot 47 - St. Jerome, Epistolae, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum (central Italy, probably Rome, third quarter of the fifteenth century).

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Valuable Manuscripts and Printed Books, Christie’s, London, Tuesday 24 November 2009. Viewing: 20-23 November.

The following entries are of particular interest: N. 2 - Notabili et Sententie di Quattro Doctori, brief extract from selected writings of the Doctors of the Church, followed by selections from Books of the Old Testament, in Latin with parallel translation in Italian, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT  ON VELLUM (probably Florence) dated 1456-1457; N. 5 - PETRARCH (1304-1374), Il Canzoniere and I Trionfi; LEONARDO BRUNI (1369-1444), Vita di Petrarca; PETRARCH, Nota de Laura, in Italian, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM (Pavia or Milan, c. 1465-1470, illiminated by the Master of the Birago Hours);  NOS 8-14 - SIX CHOIRBOOKS FOR THE USE OF THE LATERAN CANONS FOLLOWING THE ORDER OF ST AUGUSTINE IN THE DIOCESE OF BOLOGNA, in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS ON VELLUM (Bologna, 1480s); Andreas the German’ Totinicus’ and ‘Alemannus’, is named as scribe in the colophons of these volumes (lots 9 and 11), deaccessioned by order of Trustees of the Hispanic Society of America for the benefit of the Acquisitions Fund., the initials are in three different styles:  N. 9 - ANTIPHONAL, from the First Sunday in Advent to Septuagesima Sunday, the feast of St Andrew to the Purification of the Virgin (Bologna, writing finished 15 September 1484); N. 10 - ANTIPHONAL, from Septuagesima Sunday to Holy Saturday, from the Purification to the Annunciation of the Virgin (Bologna, 1480s); N. 11 - ANTIPHONAL, from Easter to Advent, from All Saints to St Clement (Bologna, 1480s); N. 12 - ANTIPHONAL, from the Annunciation of the Virgin to St Michael Archangel and Office of the Dead (Bologna, 1480s); N. 13 - GRADUAL, from Holy Saturday to the 24th Sunday after Pentecost (Bologna ? 1470s to 1480s); N. 14 - GRADUAL, from the Octave of St Stephen to Holy Saturday (Bologna, 1480s); N. 17 - Autograph letter signed by Isabella d’Este to Ludovico il Moro (Mantua, 16 June 1498); and N. 44 - BARTOLOMMEO DALLI SONETTI, Isolario (Venice: Guilelmus Anima Mia, Tridinensis, ca. 1485/1486).

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Fine Printed Books, Manuscripts, Traditional Sports, Christie’s, London (South Kensigton), Monday 23 November 2009. Viewing: 20-23 November.

The following entries are of particular interest: N. 119, ST LAWRENCE in an initial C by PACINO DI BONAGUIDA, cutting from an illuminated Gradual on vellum (Florence, second quarter 14th century); and N. 120, SAINTS PETER AND PAUL in an initial N, cutting from an illuminated Gradual on vellum (Florence, second half 15th century).

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