Manuscript: Collection of religious fragments

Beschrijving

[Late 16th century]

Without titlepage, date or author. The book counts about 879 pages. They were numbered later on with an occassional error. The handwritten texts in Latin alternate with sections of blank pages, or sections in a smaller size. There are a few comtemporary loose notes in between some pages. All texts are in Latin and of religious nature and they seem to be in various hands. In a few places a date pops up: 1596 (cf. pp. 188, 189, 401), so the book seems to date back to the late 16th century. For now it is unclear if it concerns personal notes and insights or copied texts, or a little bit of both.

On one of the endpapers there are some modern notes in pencil giving some insight in the whereabouts of this book and of some restoration work. These notes state for instance that some parchment strips with medieval handwriting on it (In Dutch: ‘maculatuur’) from the original binding had been preserved and indeed they are present in the back of the book. These notes also state that the book is from the collection of Jelle Kaspersma and Alie Vinke (2010).

Full parchment binding with embossed emblem on the front and back, some traces of goldtooling on the spine, uncut edges, no headbands, part of the closure ribbons remain. The cover is too small for this bookblock. Either is was not originally made for this book and made to fit, or it has shrunk considerably. Stained parchment. The bookblock has some waterstains and other smudges, but the pages are mostly clean with clear handwriting.