One cutting and two leaves, comprising: (1) Leaf from a noted Missal, with double column of 30 lines of a rounded German early-gothic bookhand, written above topline and with occasional biting curves, music in neumes on an early 4-line stave, rubrics in red (with instructions for rubricator surviving in one margin), initials in red (including a distinctive 'S' formed from two interlocking half circles with the oval at their midpoint filled in to create a bulging centre), 320 by 220mm, Germany, last decades of the twelfth century; (2) Cutting from a single column from a Biblical manuscript (with Deuteronomy 32:21-30) in an angular early-gothic bookhand, written below topline, 26 lines remaining here, small initials in red or blue, France, 260 by 140mm, second quarter of the thirteenth century (after c. 1230); (3) Leaf from a Bible (II Kings), with double column of 34 remaining lines, remains of one large initial in blue with red penwork, 38 by 25mm, probably Italy, thirteenth century; all recovered from reuse in later bookbindings and with concomitant torn edges, folds, small holes, spots and stains
Item (1) has a fascinating feature, in that its decorator began in the middle of first column of the verso to create a large initial 'D', painting the lefthand strokes of the initial first, including the distinctive double 'horns' of a 'D' stretching into the margin. However, this decorator then appears to have realised that he misread his guide-letter or had 'eye-skip' for the 'D' in the adjacent column, and corrected the rest of the letter to a 'C', leaving his reader with a paleographical chimera
