Beschreibung:

Details
Ekkehard of Aura (d.1126)
Two leaves from the Chronicon universale, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Germany, 12th century].
Two leaves from an early Carolingian witness, composed in the same century as the author’s death, to Ekkehard of Aura’s ‘World Chronicle’, the chief source for the history of Germany at the turn of the 12th century.
Each leaf c.330×230mm. 2 columns of 40 lines, in a protogothic script, with an illuminated initial, pricking visible along inner edge, with the text of one leaf comprising part of the chronicle describing the life of Charlemagne, quoted entirely from Einhard’s Vita Karoli Magni (‘Omnium bellorum […] exortum hum[ana]’), and the second leaf comprising Ekehard’s annals for 782-788 (‘qui campos inter […] omniu[m] ore capit[ali]’) (large ?adhesive stain to f.2, gold rubbed on ground of the illuminated initial, text faded throughout).
Provenance:
(1) Philip Bliss (1787–1857), Under-Librarian of the Bodleian Library from 1822-1828, Registrar of Oxford University from 1824-1853, Keeper of the University Archives from 1826-1857 and Principal of St Mary Hall from 1848-1857. His collection of leaves was sold at Sotheby’s, 21 August 1858, lots 100 and 119, where acquired by:
(2) Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792–1872), English antiquary and book collector who amassed the largest collection of manuscript material in the 19th century. Bliss’s collection of leaves became at least partially MS 18133 in the Phillipps library. Sold at Sotheby’s, 24 April 1911, lot 390, where acquired by:
(3) Edmund Hunt Dring (1863–1928), the first managing director of Bernard Quaritch Ltd.
(4) Edmund Maxwell 'Ted' Dring (1906–1990), senior director of Bernard Quaritch.
(5) Bernard Quaritch, Catalogue 1036: Medieval Manuscript Leaves, Principally from a Collection Formed in the 19th Century: Bookhands of the Middle Ages [I] (London, 1984), no. 3. A note in pencil in 20th-century hand misattributed the text as ‘Chronicle of Charles of Anjou, King of Naples, 1265-1285.’
(6) Colker MS 395; acquired in 1987-88 from Quaritch.
Special notice
This lot is offered without reserve.
This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.
Please note this lot is the property of a consumer. See H1 of the Conditions of Sale.