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Single Column Latin Bible (England) | MS 1738

SINGLE-COLUMN LATIN BIBLE (ENGLAND)

MS 1738
MS Short Title THE DOVER BIBLE WITH EPISTLE TO THE LAODICEANS
Text BIBLE WITH ST. HIERONYMUS PROLOGUES AND HEBREW NAMES, AND EPISTLE TO LAODICEANS BETWEEN HEBREWS AND ACTS
Description MS in Latin on vellum, England, 1st half of 13th c., 349 ff. (complete), 23x16 cm, single column, 2 columns (1st prologue only), (15x11 cm), 50-53 lines in a very small Gothic book script with contemporary and early marginal glosses, chapter numbers, running titles, and versal initials in red, larger initials in alternate red and blue with red or blue penwork decorations.
Binding England, 16th c., blindstamped calf over wooden boards, sewn on 5 bands, brass clasps, endleaf and pastedown from a 15th c. London Court Roll, a record of cases from the Court of Common Pleas, and a 16th c. indenture in English of George Jackson.
Provenance 1. Thomas, Prior of Augustinian Priory of St. Martin, Dover, Kent (14th c.); 2. Augustinian Priory of St. Martin, Dover, Kent (until 1534); 3. Thomas Bailey, bookseller, Holborn, London (1629); 4. Rev. Smith, London (1812); 5. Christie's 24.11.1993:14.
Commentary A highly unusual Bible. Virtually the only example known from this period in England that is written in a single column. Colossians 4:16 refers to a lost Epistle of St Paul to the Laodiceans. This Bible has this Epistle, but being mostly a compilation of texts taken from other of St Paul's epistles, it is unlikely the lost Epistle, unless St. Paul was in a hurry when he sent it with no time to write an entirely new letter.
Exhibited The Church Congress Exhibition, England, ca. 1880.
Place of origin England
Dates 1st half of 13c AD