Beinecke MS 42                                                         Italy, s. XV^^2
Gradual

     1. ff. 1r-3r    Rubrics for the mass, under the heading Incipit ordo
     Graduale secundum consuetudinem romane curie.

     2. ff. 3r-97v    Graduale from Andrew to Clement, including full
     offices for Agatha (f. 18r), Zenobius (f. 39r), John the Baptist (f.
     42v), Felicitas (f. 52v) and Lawrence (ff. 63v and 72v).

     3. ff. 97v-215r    Commune sanctorum.

     4. f. 215r-v    Office for Ansanus.

     5. ff. 215v-219v    Dedication of a Church.

     6. ff. 219v-224v    Office of the Dead. Ends imperfectly: Requiem
     eternam dona eis domine et lux perpetua luceat// Catchword: eis.

     7. first flyleaf at back:    Index in a later hand, titled "Repertorium
     rerum omnium quae in hoc libro continentur dispositum a Fratre Elia
     Pinelli." Arranged alphabetically under the headings Introitus,
     Graduales, Alleluia, Tractus, Offertoria, and Communiones.

          Parchment, ff. i (cardboard) + i (slightly later parchment) + 226
     (foliated by original scribe with red Roman numerals, beginning with i
     on f. 1 verso and including 98 bis; modern foliation in pencil, used
     above, includes 59 bis) + i (slightly later parchment) + i (cardboard),
     645 x 438 (425 x 270) mm. Written in long lines, 6 staves with 6 lines
     of text; ruled in lead, double vertical bounding lines full across.
          I-V^^10, VI^^10 (-3, after f. 52, cut out; traces of off-set color
     from a full border remain on f. 52v), VII-XXII^^10, XXIII^^6. Catchwords
     to right of the inner bounding lines, perpendicular to text, surrounded
     by flourishes with yellow wash or three dots.
          Written by one scribe in large round gothic bookhand. Index added
     later by Frater Elia Pinelli, in humanistic script.
          Three historiated initials; that on f. 3r (Sts. Peter and Andrew),
     the Calling of Sts. Peter and Andrew, is of high quality and close in
     style to work of Francesco di Lorenzo Roselli; purple: with white
     floral highlights; ornate purple, blue and green fruit and floral
     border, inner margin, with candelabra, hairspray and gold dots. The two
     other historiated initials are of inferior quality: f. 78v (Holy Cross)
     Cross with Arma Christi and f. 220r (Mass of the Dead) two roundels:
     skull and cross-bones against a landscape and skeleton with scythe
     against a black ground. Very fine penwork 3- and 2-line initials
     comparable to, but more ornate than initials by Guinifortus de
     Vicomercato (cf. Indiana University, Lilly Library MS Ricketts 240, in
     Two Thousand Years of Calligraphy, exhib. cat., [Baltimore, 1965] pp.
     54 and 59, no. 38; Oxford, Bod. Lib. Canon. Pat. Lat. 177, in Paecht
     and Alexander, v. 2, no. 253; and Vatican, Lat. Ottob. 183); done in
     red or blue (one on f. 57r in gold), decorated with white bands and
     jewels, with blue and red penwork, large illusionistic jewel studs and
     simple fruit and floral borders, painted in purple, blue, green, and
     yellow or in pen, red, blue with some black and yellow; initial on f.
     189r with two seraphim. Some 2-line initials incorporate ivy or fruit
     swags. 1-line initials, red or blue, divided, with blue or red penwork,
     jewel studs, circles and lozenges, in green, yellow and tan. Square
     musical notation on 4-line red staves. Rubrics throughout.
          Binding: s. xvii-xviii. Original sewing on 6 double cords, each
     covered with brown leather and probably nailed to inside of boards. Red
     and gold wound endbands. Heavy boards are covered with thick leather
     [cowskin?] and the spine is covered separately with leather nailed to
     the edge of each board. There are four brass corner pieces and a large
     central boss on each board, bosses protruding from the three outer
     edges, and a strap and pin fastening, the pin on the lower board.

          Written in Italy in the second half of the 15th century; the
     offset on f. 53v of an elaborately decorated border for the opening
     leaf of the office of St. Felicitas suggests that the codex was
     originally produced for an institution associated with this saint.
     Given in 1679 to a church of Sta. Lucia by R. P. Jo. Ant. Disdotti of
     Bergamo; inscription on verso of second front flyleaf, reads: "D. O.
     M.
     R. P. Jo. Ant. Disdotti Bergomensis Ecclesiae Chori Sacristi atque
     Conuenti huius Procurator, nec non et assiduus Benefactor, Qui dum
     operabatur pro sacris paramentis reficiendis, et ex nouis ornando
     Sacristiam, In vigilia S. Andreae Apostoli Anni Domini MDCLXXIX ad
     Chori decus istum Librum transmisit, et omnia in honorem eiusdem Dei,
     atque Beatae Virginis Mariae, ac Sanctae Luciae Virginis et Martyris
     huius Ecclesiae Titularis quo eius solemni die primo Liber apertus fuit
     ad cantandum." On verso of end flyleaf, crude arms done in pen and ink
     (s. xviii?) of the Convent at Prato and Santa Maria Novella of
     Florence. Obtained in Florence in 1903 by Addison van Name. Gift of
     Victor O. Freeburg in 1953.

     Bibliography: De Ricci, v. 1, p. 170, no. 42.

     Barbara A. Shailor