[MANUSCRIT]. Bible - Old Testament. - Lot 59

[MANUSCRIT]. Bible - Old Testament. Bifeuillet extracted from a Bible. In Latin, ornate manuscript on parchment. Northern France, 14th century [circa 1300-1350]. Dimensions : 495 x 365 mm. The first leaf is slightly missing, with no damage to the text, and there are a few stains. Bifeuillet, Gothic script in dark brown ink, text in two columns, 33 lines per column, running titles in red and blue (upper margins), parchment ruled in graphite, biblical chapters in red and blue, large initials in blue (2 to 5 lines high) painted in blue with blue and red filigree decoration, marking biblical chapter changes, initials with vertical extensions in the form of "bands of I" painted alternately red then blue. A fine example of a bifeuillet extracted from a large monastic bible, a form that was maintained in the 14th century despite the appearance and development of small-format "portable" bibles, designed within preaching communities. In the case of our copy, it must be the outer leaf of a dismembered quire, hence the offset of the text. It contains four passages from Exodus: 31: 9-18; 32: 1-22; 39: 24-43; 40: 1-34. On the verso of the second leaf, the running title reads "LEV", for Leviticus, since the following leaves contained the end of book 40 of Exodus and the very first book of Leviticus. It is highly probable that this Bible was dismembered quite early on. Other leaves can be found in public collections: Roanoke (Virginia), Hollin University, Manuscript Leaf HU 16 (provenance Virginia Webb, class of 1933), Joshua 17-18; Dunedin (New Zealand), Reed Rare Books Collection, Fragment 11. Vellum a little faded, colors still very vivid.