Horologion and Menologion (Greek Orthodox liturgical book), 1528

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Binding note:

Byzantine style, 18th century; dark red morocco gilt, over wooden boards (poplar), upper cover stamped with oval plaque of a Crucifixion scene, including St. John the Evangelist, the Virgin Mary, and two other figures at the foot of the cross; corner-pieces with the symbols of the Evangelists; lower cover stamped with God enthroned wearing a Greek miter with saints either side, corner-pieces of cherubim; brass clasps and catch plates, string bookmark attached to metal ring sewn on spine, edges gilt and gauffered; endbands with secondary sewing (upper, blue and white; lower, red and white).

Provenance:

Fol. 357v has the scribal colophon of Georgios of Naupaktos, completed on 2 April 1528. Perhaps made for a certain Gregorius, mentioned in a prayer (f.357v). There is an ownership inscription of a priest Nymphos of the monastery called Viresi (Vrisi?), 1650-51 (fol. 201v). The manuscriopt was later owned by Baroness Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts (1814-1905), who had inherited the Coutts family banking fortune through her step-grandmother the Duchess of St Albans. This was her MS.II.1 (shelfmark on front flyleaf. It was one of a group of 27 Greek manuscripts, purchased in Janina, Albania (now Ioannina, Greece) in 1870-71, and later presented to Highgate School (Sir Roger Cholmeley's School at Highgate, London). Deposited at the British Museum in 1938. Sold as the property of Highgate School, at Sotheby's London, 23 June 1987, lot 57. The private collector who purchased it at the 1987 sale consigned it to Sotheby's London in 2016. The Princeton University Library purchased it on 6 December 2016, lot 38.

Source acquisition:

Purchase: Acquired with matching funds provided by the Program in Hellenic Studies with the support of the Stanley J. Seeger Hellenic Fund. 2016 AM 2017-103.

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