Psalterium chorale fratrum S. Dominici cum versiculis, Responsorijs horarum, Annis nocturnalibus, Psalmis, Himnisque omnibus, cantu et litera, summo studio recognitum et emendatum: in hac parva forma ita redactum ut Novitii et Moniales dicti ordinis, commodius cantare, sine legere queant. Cui accessere versus Gloria patri Intonationes, et Invitatoria omnium tonorum : cum ceteris totius anni invitatoriis, nunque alibi excussa : Due omnia facile reperies in tabulis : altera in capite, altera in calce libri positis. Venice, in officina heredum Lucantonii Iunte, January 1551 (colophon). In-8°. [8], 296 ff. (in accordance with the signature register : +8, A-Z8, AA-OO8). Engraved vignette and red printer’s mark to title, 2 full-page woodcuts, historiated initials (including ff. 73 and 121), Gregorian chant in black on red 4-lines, text printed in gothic, in red and black, rubricated. Full havana sheepskin on wooden boards, 4-nerved spine decorated with small blind tools, trigram “YHS” in a circle in the center of 4 small tools as those on the back of the binding, in a large blind diamond-shaped wheel, the latter framed in the same way, with small tools in the spandrels and margins, guilloche gilt edges, leather fasteners, brass clasps and tenons. (Contemporary binding).
“Extremely scarce” say Puttick & Simpson, Catalogue of an extremely interesting collection of rare and important books.
Several small and medium-sized initials are mythological (ff. 200, 203, 206, 222, 229), while the 3 woodcuts depict St. Dominic, the same saint under the mantle of the Virgin protecting mankind, and the Virgin on her deathbed.
On the upper back cover is a handwritten draft of a Gregorian chant (1 1/2 lines and 4 musical staff of 4 blank lines), and on the verso of the last page, two Gregorian chants for the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, on 5 musical staffs of 4 lines each, are written in the same hand : « In prole mater in partu virgo gaude et laetare virgo mater domini » suivi de « Dignare me laudare te virgo sacrata da mihi virtutem contra hostes tuos ».
Handwritten bookplate of Daria Ruschi, from the Pippesch monastery, suggesting that the copy originated in Central Europe, may be in Poland.
Some soiling to the lower corner (page turn, showing that the psalter was heavily used), reinforcing strip to the tail of f. 217, old wax stains (f. 236); a few accidents to the binding: slits to the joints, skin missing from the front cover, tenons of the front cover missing (although the fasteners are held between the skin and the wooden boards), a few wormholes to the covers and cuts, covers rubbed, 2 old strips of leather reinforcing the tail and head of the spine, leveled caps, wear to the corners, the gilding on the edges can barely be made out.
Camerini, I, 1386, n° 560 ; A. Alès, Livres de liturgie. Bibliothèque de C.-L. de Bourbon, pp. 518-519, n° 330 ; BM, STC Italian, p. 98. ; Puttick & Simpson, Catalogue of an extremely interesting collection of rare and important books, n° 920.
A rare copy, complete in its original binding, enriched with Gregorian chants handwritten at the time.
3 800 €