Interesting dated monastic manuscript of Saint Bernard’s most important work. Although existing in a large number of manuscripts and early printed editions, Bernard’s mystically evocative text is nonetheless relatively rare on the market in the last century and is found in surprisingly few North American libraries. This copy bears many codicological features that would be revealing for a further study of its production and use.

Of distinct interest for the increasing use of vernacular in the late-medieval Church, this manuscript comprises two sections. The first is a fifteenth-century vernacular Breviary from a House of Franciscan Nuns. It is very uncommon to find a Breviary from the fifteenth-century written in the vernacular rather than Latin. The second part of the manuscript, which is slightly later, includes a series of vernacular prayers; the opening prayers to be said while visiting Churches in the area are of particular interest.

An accomplished humanist scribe copied this small scientific manuscript that includes a calendar with information for calculating Easter and a complete record of the time of sunrise and the length of the day, together with the prologue to the classic work of astronomy, Ptolemy’s Almagest, in the Latin translation by Gerard of Cremona. The contents point to its ownership by a Renaissance scholar with an interest in practical astronomy.

Interesting compilation of Protestant and secular hymns and motets by some of the most renowned German and Flemish composers of the late sixteenth century, including Jakob Regnart, Philippe de Monte, Antonio Scandellus (Kapellmeister in Dresden from 1568 until his death in 1580), and Orlando de Lassus. Many are unpublished, most are rare in manuscript form.