A Prayer Book in Latin, written by the scribe Girolamo Bordoni, produced in Genoa

MS 5650/102

A Prayer Book in Latin, written by the scribe Girolamo Bordoni, produced in Genoa

1606

The Prayer-book has thirty-five leaves (the first is blank), complete, with alphabetical quire signatures B-I (A is not shown). Offsets on the first blank folio show that it was once bound at the end. Most folios are twelve lines within a double-ruled frame, written in dark brown ink in a very fine calligraphic sloping Italic hand. Headings and small initials are in red. There are thirteen large illuminated initials, three lines high, in gold with leafy and floral surrounds in coloured penwork within double-ruled frames. In Folio 2 the initial is slightly smudged; there is other minor wear. The Prayer-book is in an early nineteenth-century mottled calf binding with gilt bands on the spine, and with marbled endleaves and gilt edges.

The Prayer-book is signed at the end, on the verso of Folio 35, by the well-known scribe Girolamo Bordoni, of Sermoneta, and is dated 1606 in the 69th year of his life, "Hieronymus Bordonius Sermonetanus Genuæ scribebat anno salutis M.DCVI ætatis suæ an. LXIX".

It is very similar to a prayer-book sold at Sotheby's on 6 July 2000, lot 59, signed by Bordoni in Genoa in 1601 in the 64th year of his life. Bordoni copied three luxurious manuscripts for Pope Gregory XIII (pope 1572-85), now Bologna, Bibl. Univ. mss. 615 and 626 (Studi italiani di filologia classica, XVI, pp.313-6), and Books of Hours dated 1566 (sold at Sotheby's, 7 July 1913, lot 331) and 1568 (Schiff sale at Sotheby's, 8 December 1938, lot 2068). Bordoni was evidently born c.1537. His script resembles that of the calligraphy master Marco Antonio Rossi, Giardino de scrittori, 1592. He may have been the father of the early seventeenth-century Milanese printer of the same name.

The text comprises prayers to the Trinity, prayers for use at confession and before and after Mass, the Obsecro te (for male use), the Litany of the Virgin, a prayer said to be inscribed in the chapel of the Virgin in Jerusalem where Christ was scourged, a prayer of Thomas Aquinas, and a prayer for use in affliction.

Folios from 2 recto to 21 recto have at some time been numbered as 1 to 39 in the outside upper edge.

Script

The script is a form of Humanist Italic. It has a slight forward slope - with the care taken by the scribe this was almost certainly intentional. Both red and black inks are used. The text is set in rectangular double-lined straight border frames. The double-lined border is drawn with a brown outer line and a red inner line.

Letters

(a) Minuscule letters

The range of letters is: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, t, u/v, x, y, and the diphthongs æ and œ. There are no letters 'k' or 'z' and, as to be expected, no letters 'j' or 'w'.

In letters with ascenders the total height of the letter generally, apart from one case of 's' (mentioned below) is about twice the x-height, although the height can vary slightly. In letters with descenders the total height of the letter is generally slightly less than twice the x-height.

The letter 'o' is oval and varies slightly in width.

With the letters 'a', 'd' and 'q' the bowl is generally narrower than that of 'o' and slopes more to the right, leaning against the already leaning vertical stroke to its right. With the letters 'b' and 'p' the vertical stroke precedes the oval which takes on the same shape and slope as the letter 'o'.

Letters 'c' and 'e' are based on a narrow form of 'o'. Many words ending in 'e' have the bar extended to form an upward flourish.

If 'u' appears as the first letter of a word, such as 'ubi', then it takes the 'v' form. If 'v' appears in the middle of a word then it takes the 'u' form.

The letter 'r', when at the end of a word sometimes has an upward curling flourish.

The letter 's' occurs in two forms. The short form occurs only at the end of a word and sometimes has an upward curling flourish. Elsewhere the long form is used.

Generally 'f' and long 's' do not have a descender. However there are a few instances of a long 's' having a descender curling to the left, for example in 'est' in Line 8 of the recto side of Folio 22.

The letter 'g' is based on an oval, smaller than 'o', and placed slightly above the base line and has a curly tail and a short horizontal line from the top of the oval.

The letters 'b', 'd', 'l' and 'h' all have bifurcation in their ascender.

The base of 'f', long 's' and the descenders of 'p' and 'q' have a horizontal serif in both directions. Unusually the curved line of 'h' has a horizontal serif to the right.

The base of the letter 'i' has a serif curving upwards to the right. The letter invariably has a dot carefully placed above the main stem and at about the height of letters which have an ascender. Where 'ii' occurs the first 'i' is short and the second 'i' has a descender which terminates in a horizontal serif in both directions.

The base of the 'l' is formed by a serif curving upwards to the right.

With each of the three letters 'n', 'm' and 'u' the first stroke is preceded by a curved serif from the left. The downstroke of 'n' and the first two downstrokes of 'm' go straight the base line and the last downstroke of each and that of 'u' have a serif curving upwards to the right. The letter 'm' has two forms, the upright form and the sideways form which is reminiscent of the figure '3', e.g.in 'tuum' in Line 3 of the verso of Folio 2. Words ending in a sideways 'm' have an upward curling flourish.

'y' is dotted at the x-height, as in 'Kyirie' in Line 5 of the recto of Folio 19.

(b) Majuscule letters

The range of letters is: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, T, U/V, Y and the diphthong Æ (Line 4 of the recto of Folio 31).

Generally the letters are based on Roman Capitals, and are generally taller than the x-height although sometimes, e.g. 'D' in 'Dixisti' (Line 1 of the recto of Folio 33) is only slightly taller. The letters frequently have serifs.

In a few instances including some letters 'A', 'D', 'F', 'Q', 'R', 'S' and 'V' the letter is enhanced by flourishing.

With 'A', especially in 'Amen', the two main strokes are also curved, and sometimes, as in Line 11 of the verso side of Folio 12 written in an elaborately flourished manner.

The letter 'I' in 'Iesu' or 'IESU' is frequently written in a curved flourished manner.

The 'V' form of 'U' is sometimes used as in 'IESVS' for 'IESUS' in Line 12 of the recto side of Folio 14.

Ligatures

There are three ligatures used - 'ct', 'st' and 'sp' (note 'spem' in line 11 of the recto of Folio 17). In each case the second letter is written with an ascender which curves to the right, and the joining stroke meets it at about a right angle. Also 'et' may also be considered to be a ligature.

Fusions

There are two fusions - 'æ' and 'œ'. With 'æ' the 'a' is on the base line and is only about half the x-height. The majuscule form 'Æ' also appears. The 'e caudata' ('e' with a tail) does not appear.

Elisions

There is only one elision - 'fi', e.g.in 'filium' in Line 3 of the verso of Folio 2.

Abbreviations

Generally there are few abbreviations but there are some standard common ones.

The ending 'us' as in 'dignus' is reduced to the superscript form of '9' as in Line 1 of the verso of Folio 3.

The 'er' in 'per' is shown as a curved bar crossing the descender of 'p' as in Line 6 of the recto of Folio 23.

The 'ui' in 'quia' is shown as a curved bar crossing the descender of 'q'.

The 'ue' as in 'atque' is shown as the subscript form of '3' as in Line 8 of the recto of Folio 16.

Missing letters are generally signified by a symbol in the shape of comma, with a tail curling to the right, above the word.

In Line 12 of the recto side of Folio 7 in the word 'Sacramentalem' the 'n' is absent and this is indicated by a flourished ligature between 'e' and 't'. Similar abbreviations occur in Line 8 of the verso side of Folio 16 in the word 'abundantia', and in Line 7 of the recto side of Folio 17 in the word 'præsentia'.

The upright 'r' is used in the abbreviation for the 'rum' ending which is given a flourish, as in 'tuorum' in Line 12 of the recto side of Folio 15.

Line fillers

A short pen drawn vertical squiggle occupying the space of one letter occurs at the end of lines in several places, e.g. in Line 3 of the verso side of Folio 27.

On the recto side of Folio 17, in Line 1, the cross bar of the final 't' in 'custodiat' is extended to fill the line.

Punctuation

The punctuation is similar in structure to modern punctuation. A small cross is used to represent a full stop; a pair of small crosses is used to represent a colon. The comma and semicolon are as used in the modern manner. The question mark is very similar to the modern version. Where a word is split over two lines a double dash is used to indicate that the word is continued on the next line.

Versal letters

There are thirteen three-line versal letters are based on Roman Capitals, are painted in gold edged with black or brown and set in rectangular double-lined straight border frames on a field of blue, purple, deep red, black and gold stylised floral arrangements. Generally the double-lined border is drawn with a brown outer line and a red inner line but with one versal, on the verso side of Folio 21 in the 'G' the colours are switched on the top part of the border. The versal letters are A, C, D, G, K, O and S.

MS 102

Latin

1 volume

Access restrictions apply, please contact Special Collections for more information.

Material: Vellum leaf; an early nineteenth-century mottled calf binding with gilt bands on the spine, and with marbled endleaves and gilt edges.