Generally attributed to Thomas à Kempis; formerly attributed to St Bernard, St Bonaventure, Pope Innocent III, Henry of Kalkar, John à Kempis, Walter Hilton, and Jean Gerson.
Italian translation attributed to Lorenzo Giustiniani, who is mentioned in the opening rubric.
Collation: i-vii¹⁰, viii⁶.
Modern foliation added in pencil.
Horizontal catchwords, middle lower margin.
Ruled in ink and lead, with pricking visible on some leaves.
Bound in modern pastiche binding in the style of 15th-century humanistic bindings; signed by Roger Devauchelle. Blind-tooled brown leather over wooden boards; spine with three raised bands, and vellum label. Upper and lower covers with four small brass bosses, with fastenings made from waxed twine. Boards slightly warped.
Leaves [1] to [48r] written in a very small running gothico-antiqua script; leaves [48v] to [66v] displays cursive elements; leaves [67r] to [73] in humanist script.
Written by at least three hands in Italian; in black ink with ornamental initials in gold, red, and blue; eight pages contain illuminated borders and initials.
Two fine illuminated initials with borders on leaves [1r] and [16v]
Majuscules stroked with red, red rubrics and numbers within the chapter lists; alternately red and blue paragraph marks; two-line alternately red and blue initials with contrasting violet or red pen decoration on leaves [1] to [20v], with red pen decorations thereafter.
Drolleries on leaves [21v], [30r], and [31v].
Two five-line blue initials on leaves [25v] and [57r] with polished gold frames, following the shape of the initial, infilled with red pen decoration.
Occasional nota marks and marginal corrections on leaves [11r], [28v], and [30r]; text stricken through on leaf [16v].
"In comenza la espositione del pater noster ne la quale se contiene li 7 doni de lo spirito sancto contra li 7 peccati mortali": leaves [71v] to [73].
Easter table added in Latin on leaf [75v]. Inscription erased at end of Easter table.
Purchase; Les Enluminures, 16 May 2013; MS.13.035.
Previously belonged to Acton Griscom (b. 1891) of High Point, New Jersey, who acquired it from Gilhofer and Ranschburg (Cat. 218, c. 1930, no. 246). Subsequently owned by Joost R. Ritman, who acquired it from Sotheby's (29 Nov. 1990, lot 114).
