¶ Justinian I — Novellae constitutiones (c. 1250)

Justinian [Justinianus] I, Emperor of the East. Novellae constitutiones in novem collationes, libri X–XII codicis: institutiones.

Illuminated manuscript. Northern France, c. 1250. 186 leaves.

Note on flyleaf: “Bought at Beauvais, May, 1894.”

Provenance: Morris (purchased May 1894). — Richard Bennett. — Sotheby 1898, lot 736 (sold to Henry Wellcome for £14 14s.). — Henry Wellcome. — Wellcome Library [deaccessioned]. — Raphael King catalogue, 1948, no. 11. — Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale University (Rare Flat 11-0030).

References: Ellis valuation, fol. 4, no. 54 (£15). — Faye and Bond, p. 52, no. 11. — Schoenberg (SDBM_MS_11485).

---

Sotheby 1898:

¶ Bible (c. 1250) [MS]

Bible.

Illuminated manuscript. Northern French, c. 1250. 480 leaves

Provenance: Percy Smythe, Lord Strangford. — Smythe sale, Sotheby, 12 August 1831, lot 460. — Edward Hailstone. — Hailstone sale, Sotheby, 23 April 1891, lot 343. — Morris. — Richard Bennett. — Sotheby 1898, lot 86 (sold to Pickering for £91). — Laurence W. Hodson. — Hodson sale, Sotheby, 3 December 1906, lot 46 (sold to Quaritch for £235). — Quaritch catalogue 259, November 1907, no. 2. — C. W. Dyson Perrins. — Dyson Perrins sale, Sotheby, 1 December 1959, lot 60. — John Roland Abbey. — Abbey sale, Sotheby, 1 December 1970, lot 2866. — Quaritch catalogue 933, 11 June 1973, no. 26 (£14,000). — Van Gendt, 20 March 1978, lot 1730. — Sotheby, 1 December 1987, lot 28 (sold for £170, 595). — Eric Korner. — Korner sale, Sotheby, 19 June 1990, lot 81. — Jörn Günther Rare Books, 1997, lot 2. — Unlocated.

Reference: Schoenberg (SDBM_MS_430).

---

Sotheby 1898:

¶ Psalter (c. 1250) [MS]

Psalter

Illuminated manuscript. Reading, England, c. 1250. 169 leaves.

Occasionally referred to as the Nottingham psalter (where it was once thought to have been created). Sydney Cockerell, while cataloguing Morris’s library, commented in his diary, 14 February 1894, on “the beautiful ‘Nottingham’ Psalter.” The following day he noted, “Stayed at K.H. [Kelmscott House] till 7.30 absorbed in the wonderful 13th century Psalters.”

Provenance: Benedictine Abbey of Reading. — Mareschal family. — Various other early owners (see list in Morgan catalogue). — Thomas Bateman. — William Bateman. — Bateman sale, Sotheby, 25 May 1893, lot 1412 (sold to Quaritch). — Morris (purchased by early 1894). — Richard Bennett. — J. Pierpont Morgan. — Morgan Library (MS M.103).

References: Additional bibliography (Morgan Library). — Curatorial description (Morgan Library). — de Ricci, 2:1385, no. 103. — Ellis valuation, fol. 5, no. 69 (£7). — Morgan Catalogue 4, no. 17. — Schoenberg (SDBM_MS_10741).

Images: Morgan Library.

Morgan Library

---

Morgan Catalogue 4: