Original leaf from an English manuscript pocket Bible illuminated in the workshop of William de Brailes - one of the few 13th century English illuminators known by name! (De Brailes maintained an active workshop at Oxford c. 1238-52. He was illuminator of the Oxford Bible).
Written with brown ink in Latin gothic script on animal vellum. (185 x 135 mm - 7.4 x 5.4")
Rubricated chapter numbers, initials & marginalia in red & blue. 54 lines of text in double columns (10 lines per inch!). For sister leaf see Blackburn Collection, Cleveland Museum of Art, pl. 4.
Produced in Oxford, c. 1240 A.D.
This leaf begins Psalm 81 (King James 82) 3-8, and Psalms 82-87 (KJ 83-88) complete, and Psalm 88 (KJ 89)1-22: ''Iudicate egeno...'' Judge for the needy and fatherless: do justice to the humble and the poor...O God, who shall be like to thee...How lovely are thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts...Lord, thou hast blessed thy land: thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob...Incline thy ear, O Lord, and hear me...The foundations thereof are in the holy mountains...O Lord, the God of my salvation...The mercies of the Lord I will sing forever...).
Both sides contain scribal omissions added in the margins – these omissions are surrounded by a blue box indicating that the “transcription had been systematically checked for accuracy” (De Hamel, Scribes and Illuminators, p. 43).
Presented in an archival 14x11'' mat
