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Lot 59
12.07.2023 00:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
£ 5 292
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 993168
Lot 59 | Anonymous
Estimate value
£ 4 000 – 6 000
Anonymous

Perpetual Calendar, in Latin and Italian, decorated manuscript on vellum [Italy, c.1500]

The quintessential medieval perpetual calendar, used to calculate the phases of the moon and the 'golden number' needed to calculate the date of Easter.



168 x 110mm. 12 leaves, large initials and headings in red, capitals touched in red, 3 diagrams (some light marginal staining, else in good condition). Contemporary vellum.



Provenance:

(1) The dates 1500, 1501, 1520 and 1534 appear in the manuscript.



(2) The Counts Florio of Udine, most likely Daniele (1710-1789) and Francesco (1705-1792), bibliophiles and men of letters who set up the renowned Florio Library which was gifted in 2013 to the Università degli Studi di Udine. Erased inscriptions in an 18th-century Italian hand on f.2, only partially legible under UV light.



(2) Andrea Tessier (1819-1896), bibliophile and bibliographer of Venice. Likely his inscription in Italian on f.1 where he details how he obtained this manuscript from the Counts Florio in exchange for some other books, in spite of the jealousy with which they were accustomed to hold onto their manuscripts ('[...] e cio' malgrado la somma gelosia con cui i detti nobili proprietarii conservano le loro raccolte [...]'. Sold at the Tessier Library sale by Jacques Rosenthal, Katalog eines grossen Theils der Bibliotheken des verstorbenen Cavaliere Andrea Tessier und des Marchese de ***, Munich, 21, 22 and 23 May 1900, no 18.



(3) Breslauer and Meyer, Ein Katalog seltener Bücher und Manuscripte zur fünfhundersten Wiederkehr des Geburtstages Johann Gutenbergs, 24 June 1900, no 444, priced at 120 Deutschmarks. A catalogue clipping with the same price (but no 511) is pasted inside the upper cover.



Content:

Months of the year with lunar phases ff.3-8v; circular diagram with letters corresponding to the 19 Julian years of the Metonic cycle followed by instructions on how to calculate the phases of the moon in the preceding calendar ff.9-9v; 'Questo rota te dimostra la aureo numero' and 'Questa rota te dimostra ogni anno la lettera domenicale': circular diagrams with which to calculate the 'golden numbers' and 'dominical letters', which aided determining which weekday a date would fall on in a given year f.10; table for moveable feasts and instructions ff.10v-11v; table of dominical letters and how to calculate Easter ff.12-12v.





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Place of origin:Italy, Europe
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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12.07.2023 – 12.07.2023
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