![\"Opening](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Wagner-Image-2-Opening-of-Macabees-300x259.jpg\")
Opening of the Book of Maccabees in Otto Ege MS 19. Private Collection.<\/p><\/div>\n
Continuing to explore the tracks of manuscripts dispersed by Otto F. Ege<\/a> (1888\u20131951), we gain access to the Sotheby’s catalogue for the auction in 1936 from which the manuscript mostly known as ‘Ege Manuscript 19’ came to him.\u00a0 For the name, see\u00a0 Scott Gwara, Handlist<\/em><\/a>, Number 19 (page 124).<\/p>\n For access to the elusive catalogue, we thank Stephen Massey, Bruce McKinney, and our Associate, Eric White, for help with the quest while libraries remain closed through months in 2020.<\/p>\n We began to study the manuscript when the owner of one of its leaves, J. S. Wagner, contacted us on account of our blog, which reported discoveries for some other Ege manuscripts.\u00a0 For example,<\/p>\n Our discoveries for Ege MS 19 are reported here:<\/p>\n Now we examine the written record for the Provenance and the state of the volume before Ege.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The first post on fragments of the manuscript could mention the known provenance of the volume thus, and we quote:<\/p>\n Ege acquired this folio Bible manuscript while it was still intact.\u00a0 It was sold at Sotheby’s, London, on 20 July 1936, as lot 20 [sic; recte 24<\/em>].\u00a0 It appears in the Catalogue of valuable printed books, illuminated and other manuscripts, autograph letters, Persian and Indian miniatures, et<\/em>c. . . . which will be sold by auction . . . on Monday, 20th of July, 1936, and two following days<\/em> (London:\u00a0 Sotheby & Co., 1936), lot 20.<\/p>\n (I have yet to see that auction catalogue.\u00a0 My research on this manuscript had reached the stage of seeking to examine this catalogue entry in early March 2020, when the institutional library holding it, the Grolier Club<\/a>, had to close its doors for visits by researchers and for the work of staff onsite.)<\/p>\n Until that entry becomes accessible to view, it is possible to identify some relevant points.\u00a0 The book came from the collection of Sir Joseph Lacaita<\/a> (1813\u20131895) \u2014 lawyer, politician, scholar, bibliographer, and authority on Dante<\/a> \u2014 which his son Charles Carmichael Lacaita<\/a> (1853\u20131933) had inherited, and from whose estate in turn came this Bible.\u00a0 Given Sir Joseph’s origins, travels, and sojourns in various countries, including Italy, and his wide range of connections, the time, place, and source for his acquisition of this Bible appear to remain open.<\/p>\n The manuscript does not appear in the 1937 Census<\/em> report of a “selection” of manuscripts in Ege’s collection, then housed at 1888 South Compton Road, Cleveland, Ohio. The Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada<\/a>, by Seymour de Ricci with the assistance of W. J. Wilson (New York, 3 vols., 1935\u20131940), Volume II (1937), pages 1937\u20131948, lists 71 manuscripts, and alludes to more.\u00a0 The Census<\/em> does include a manuscript which Ege acquired in 1935, the year before the sale of Lacaita’s Bible:\u00a0 Handlist<\/em> 82 (a 15th-century Antiphonal from Flanders) = Census<\/em> number 68 (at page 1947).<\/p>\n And now, we report:<\/p>\n The Cover for the Auction Catalogue for Sotheby & Co., of 34 & 35, New Bond Street, London W. (1), declares the offerings by genre and by collector.<\/p>\n CATALOGUE OF VALUABLE PRINTED BOOKS, ILLUMINATED AND OTHER MANUSCRIPTS, AUTOGRAPH LETTERS, PERSIAN AND INDIAN MINIATURES, ETC., COMPRISING The Property of the late CHARLES CARMICHAEL LACAITA, ESQ; The Property of MRS. ALYMER DIGBY; The Property of COL. J. M. FLEMING; [et al.]<\/p>\n The “Illustrated Catalogue”, with “15 plates”, had the price of “5\/-“.\u00a0 Among the 3 “Days of Sale”, the “FIRST DAY” of “Monday, July 20th” covered “Lots 1 to 235”.<\/p>\n The entry of interest to us for ‘Ege Manuscript 19’ is Lot 20 (with no plate).\u00a0 It states in full:<\/p>\n BIBLE.\u00a0 LATIN.\u00a0 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM, BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN IN A VERY NEAT GOTHIC SCRIPT, double columns<\/em>, 48 lines to a page<\/em>, 498 ll.<\/em>, NINETY-FIVE LARGE AND SMALL ILLUMINATED INITIALS, finely designed and coloured and heightened with gold, many with marginal continuations; the Interpretation of the Hebrew names on<\/em> 32 ll. at end; a few small wormholes through a few leaves at beginning and end<\/em>.\u00a0 ON THE WHOLE IN VERY GOOD AND CLEAN CONDITION WITH WIDE MARGINS, calf gilt, g. e<\/em>.<\/p>\n 4to<\/em> (9 1\/2in. by<\/em> 6 3\/4 in.; 235 mm. by<\/em> 173 mm<\/em>.)<\/p>\n PROBABLY ITALIAN, XIV Century<\/p>\n The entry gives something to go with.<\/p>\n From these few details, we can know or surmise the former components, whose traces might be detected in dispersed pieces which have been identified in various places.<\/p>\n To whit:<\/p>\n The merits of the assessment of the manuscript as “probably Italian” and “XIV Century” deserve consideration.\u00a0 It is unknown whether the assessment derives from some form of identification on or in the book itself, or pertains mainly to the expertise or awareness of the cataloguer.\u00a0 Unless other information appeared within the volume, the style of script and illuminated initials would have governed the attribution \u2014 as it still does.<\/p>\n A sample page from within the Catholic Epistles in the New Testament, with illuminated initials for the openings of Books and smaller penwork initials for the openings of their Prologues:<\/p>\n UNCG University Libraries, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Leaf from Ege MS 14, original verso. Image Public Domain.<\/p><\/div>\n Whereabouts unknown.\u00a0 Perhaps its parts still reside somewhere among the remnants of Ege’s collection, like the parts of Ege MS 51 and Ege MS 14 now at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University.\u00a0 See<\/p>\n Otto Ege Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Ege Manuscript 51, Volume II, Front Cover. Photograph Mildred Budny.<\/p><\/div>\n Any gilt edges and the stitching patterns in the gutters of dispersed leaves could be the sole surviving tangible traces of that former binding.<\/p>\n A preliminary, virtual reconstruction of known leaves from this book unfolds in our blog:<\/p>\n A specimen page from the Old Testament:<\/p>\n J. S. Wagner Collection. Leaf from Ege Manuscript 19, verso.<\/p><\/div>\n A specimen page from the New Testament<\/p>\n New Haven, Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Otto Ege Collection, Family Portfolio of Fifty Original Leaves (“FOL”) of Medieval Western Manuscripts, Leaf 19, recto. Photography by Mildred Budny.<\/p><\/div>\n The Sotheby’s catalogue informs us of the former presence of the Interpretatio Nominorum Hebraeorum<\/em> or “Interpretation of Hebrew Names” (“INH” or “IHN”) \u2014 a customary study-aid for the Vulgate Bible. Without an indication of how this glossary-like text began, it is uncertain \u2014 until leaves from it surface into view \u2014 to which version (among many) that text belonged.<\/p>\n We learn that it occupied 32 leaves and stood at the end of the manuscript.\u00a0 Perhaps its layout conformed with the double columns and number of lines of the Biblical Books?\u00a0 It is not uncommon to find a different layout, say in 3 columns, for the INH<\/em> within a medieval Vulgate Bible manuscript that would present the Bible and Prologues in double columns as standard practice.<\/p>\n An example examined in our blog pertains to A New Leaf from \u2018Otto Ege Manuscript 14\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n The layout for its Bible texts:<\/p>\n Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Otto Ege Collection, MS 14, Bifolium in 3 Esdras opened to 2:16 – 5:19. Photograph Mildred Budny.<\/p><\/div>\n The layout for its IHN:<\/p>\n Private Collection, Leaf from Ege MS 14, with part of the A-Group of the ‘Interpretation of Hebrew Names’. Photograph by Mildred Budny.<\/p><\/div>\n For Ege Manuscript 14, so far I know only of 3 leaves, from 2 of its letter groups:\u00a0 the A<\/em>-Group and the I<\/em>-Group.\u00a0 As we see, they are laid out in triple columns, unlike the double-column format of the Bible text.<\/p>\n For Ege Manuscript 19, so far, no parts of the IHN<\/em> have come into view.\u00a0 Unless, say, its initials and decoration pertain to the recognizable style of the Bible leaves, or they belong to some residue left over after Ege’s pickings for dispersal, or \u2014 like the “New Leaf” from Ege Manuscript 14 \u2014 they carry Ege’s identifying inscription in pencil in a lower margin, they may be difficult to identify as such.\u00a0 As a clue, Ege’s identifying inscription for Ege Manuscript 19 takes such a form:<\/p>\n New Haven, Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Otto Ege Collection, Family Portfolio of Fifty Original Leaves (“FOL”) of Medieval Western Manuscripts, Detail of Mat for Leaf 19. Photography by Mildred Budny.<\/p><\/div>\n The Sotheby’s reported total of 498 leaves for the manuscript and 32 leaves for its Interpretation of Hebrew Names<\/em> at the end yields a total of 466 leaves for the Old and New Testament, Prologues included. Who knows if the count included any endleaves which stood outside all those texts?<\/p>\n Some leaves retain folio numbers in ink, in full or in part.\u00a0 Many of the numbers have been trimmed away at the top, presumably for rebinding at some stage.\u00a0 .<\/p>\n UNCG University Libraries, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Leaf from Ege MS 14, original recto, upper half. Image Public Domain.<\/p><\/div>\n Most probably that trimming occurred by other hands than Ege’s, because his workshop practices in dismembering manuscripts seem to have focused upon cutting the leaves away from the stitching of the binding by a slice down the length of the gutter or inner fold in the bifolia.\u00a0 Trimming the margins would been redundant \u2014 and unnecessary \u2014 because any cropping of the pages would be accomplished by the windowed mats behind which the presented specimen leaves would stand.<\/p>\n As at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library:<\/p>\n New Haven, Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Otto Ege Collection, Family Portfolio of Fifty Original Leaves (“FOL”) of Medieval Western Manuscripts, Leaf 19, Photography by Mildred Budny.<\/p><\/div>\n Therefore, unless someone other than Ege purchased Ege Manuscript 19 from Sotheby’s in 1936 and altered it in any ways before it came to Ege, we should expect that the trimming of the text-block of the manuscript occurred in a rebinding before it left the Lacaita Collection, or perhaps even before then.<\/p>\n Without most of the internal evidence which the full manuscript would have contained, it is hard to guess which travels the manuscript underwent during the centuries between its production, use, and transfer between collections until it surfaced in London and moved to the United States.\u00a0 The stages of its transformation into pieces and their dispersal from Ege’s collection to many different collections in several countries have a different pattern of transmission.<\/p>\n Tracking any or all of them requires detective work on multiple levels.<\/p>\n Set 1 of Otto Ege’s FOL Portfolio, Leaf 19 recto top.<\/p><\/div>\n Ege’s printed label for MS 19 accompanies its selected Specimens.\u00a0 As with the leaf in the J. S. Wagner Collection (albeit with alterations in pencil to the number):<\/p>\n J. S. Wagner Collection. Otto Ege’s printed Label for his Specimens of Leaf 19 in the Portfolio of Fifty Original Leaves from Medieval Manuscripts. Western Europe, XII-XVI Century.<\/p><\/div>\n Another Sotheby’s auction catalogue, some 50 years after the sale of the manuscript, gave an updated pronouncement about the style.\u00a0 A group of 18 leaves evidently from this manuscript joined a sale at Sotheby’s of 54 lots (lots 39\u201392) of \u201cManuscripts from the Collection of Otto F. Ege\u201d.\u00a0 The catalogue of Western Manuscripts and Miniatures<\/em> sold in London on Tuesday 26th November 1985 includes no plate, but it describes lot 60 thus:<\/p>\n EIGHTEEN LEAVES FROM A LATIN BIBLE, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [ITALY, C. 1300]<\/p>\n 18 leaves, mostly detached (one bifolium), double column, 48 lines, written-space 152mm. by 105mm., chapter initials throughout in red or blue with good contrasting penwork, NINE LARGE ILLUMINATED INITIALS in designs of flowers and dragons in colour and burnished gold, foliation in ink in a post-medieval Italian hand (now slightly cropped), generally in fine condition (235mm. by 170mm.)<\/p>\n A finely written Bible probably illuminated in northern Europe, perhaps in Paris where stationers evidently decorated Bolognese manuscripts for resale.<\/p>\n By this time, a distinction had come to be drawn between the script of the manuscript (Italy, circa 1300, “finely written”) and the illuminated decoration (“northern Europe, perhaps in Paris . . . “).\u00a0 Such a view, sometimes with variations, can be seen in sales catalogues for some other leaves from the book.\u00a0 Some of those catalogues are listed for Scott Gwara’s\u00a0Handlist of Manuscripts and Fragments Collected or Sold by Otto F. Ege<\/em><\/a> (2013), number 19 (page 124).\u00a0 For that item, Gwara contrasted the descriptions:<\/p>\n “Ege Description” [that is, on Ege’s printed label for MS 19, as shown above here]<\/p>\n ITALY, Early XIVth Century.\u00a0 Latin Text, Transitional Rotunda Script.\u00a0 Vulgate Bible (Biblia Sacra Latina, Versio Vulgata<\/em>).<\/p>\n “Gwara Description”<\/p>\n Italy (possibly Bologna, with Paris illuminations), ca. 1275: 235 \u00d7 170 mm (written area 153 \u00d7 107 mm),\u00a0\u00a0 Double column, 48 lines.<\/p>\n For now, we set aside the question of stylistic attribution for further exploration at another stage.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, we note the Comment offered for our first blogpost.\u00a0 Sabrina Zanno remarked:<\/p>\n Very interesting! I\u2019m curious to know you think it was made in Paris. The decorations do not seem Parisian to me. I\u2019d suggest that you take into consideration another possible provenance from Southern France instead.<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n Do you know of more leaves from this book, or by its same hands?<\/p>\n Please let us know your suggestions and feedback.\u00a0 Add your Comments here, Contact Us<\/a>, and visit our Facebook Page<\/a>.<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n UNCG University Libraries, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Leaf from Ege MS 14, original verso, lower half. Image Public Domain.<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Glimpse of ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 19’ While It Was Still Intact Portable Quarto Bible in the Latin Vulgate Version Italy, circa 1275, with Illuminations made apparently in Paris Double columns in 48 lines circa 235 \u00d7 170 mm <written area circa 153 \u00d7 107 mm> [Posted on 12 August 2020] Continuing to explore the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[678,1],"tags":[1815,1814,1813,812,1817,1816,1554,1777,7,251,652,1552],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14236"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14236"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15515,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14236\/revisions\/15515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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Provenance<\/h2>\n
Ege’s Source for the Manuscript When Intact:
\nThe (or A) Lacaita Vultage Bible<\/h3>\nThe Bible According to Sotheby’s in July 1936<\/h2>\n
Components<\/h2>\n
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\n[Date of binding unspecified]<\/li>\nAttribution by Style<\/h2>\n
![\"UNCG](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/UNCG-Ege-MS-19-recte-verso-Page_019a_front-747x1024.jpg\")
Binding<\/h2>\n
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![\"Otto](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/IMG_1559-Beinecke-Ege-MS-51-Vol-II-front-cover-cropped-1024x1003.jpg\")
Some Known Leaves<\/h2>\n
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![\"J.](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Wagner-Image-2-Ege-19-verso-768x1024.jpg\")
![\"New](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/IMG_5750-Ege-19-in-Family-FOL-recto-cropped-755x1024.jpg\")
The “Interpretation of Hebrew Names” as Companion<\/h2>\n
![\"Beinecke](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/IMG_1782-Ege-MS-14-bifolium-opened-3-Esdras-2-16-to-5-19-cropped-1-1024x776.jpg\")
![\"Private](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/DSC_1637-big-leaf-glossary-recto-branded-745x1024.png\")
![\"New](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/IMG_5749-Beinecke-FOL-19-pencil-inscription-cropped-1024x119.jpg\")
The Numbers Game<\/h2>\n
![\"UNCG](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/UNCG-Ege-MS-19-recte-recto-Page_019b_back-upper-half-with-fol-no-456-1024x616.jpg\")
![\"New](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/IMG_5744-2-Ege-19-in-Family-FOL-matt-view-880x1024.jpg\")
![\"Set](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/New-FOL-19a-top-Deut-1.jpg\")
A Question of Style<\/h2>\n
![\"J.](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Wagner-Image-4-Ege-Title-FOL-19-lightened-1024x544.jpg\")
![\"UNCG](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/UNCG-Ege-MS-19-recte-verso-Page_019a_front-lower-half-1024x872.jpg\")