Beinecke MS 475               s. XX [?]
Modern Illumination

Portion of a single leaf intended to represent a fragment of a large
noted service book. On the recto, historiated initial
and beginning of a hymn:  Spiritus domini desecnditim [sic] sic anna** et
hoc quod continet omnium[?]//  Verso blank. The fragment is an imitation of a
15th-century antiphonal [?]:  each word is a unit, not stretched to fit the
rhythm of the chant; the colors are inaccurate and unmodulated; the gold is
applied in too high relief; the insect in the margin is an anachronistic
insertion; there is no text on the verso; and the parchment has been
varnished.

     Parchment, part of a leaf, now measuring 276 x 199 mm. Ruled in pale black
ink, with double vertical bounding lines at left end of each line and
guide-lines for bottom and top of minims.
     Written in round liturgical gothic; both the letters and the notes (square,
on 4-line red staves) appear to have been written first in pale black ink or lead,
then traced in opaque black ink.
     One initial, a poor imitation of the type found in Tuscan antiphonals of the
early fifteenth century; Pentecost, with orange, blue, green and pink acanthus
against gold, thickly edged in black, hair-spray, gold dots and one insect in
margin.

Presented to Yale in 1941 by Robert Lehman, Yale 1913.  Deposited in the library
of the Art School, 1945; no record of transfer to the Beinecke Library.

Barbara A. Shailor