A manuscript leaf from 15th Century, Germany. The manuscript leaf is laid out with two (2) columns and scribed in late Gothic script. There are musical neums on 4-line staff (by the 16th-century the 5-line staff became more standardized) Breviary. The manuscript leaf was created on vellum parchment and used both red, blue, and black gall ink for the script. The leaf is labelled as page twenty-one (21).

A leaf from a volume on the lives of saints from Italy, perhaps Lombardy, ca. 1100. Attenuated Caroline minuscule. Rubric in red majuscules. 16 line initial "P" with curling foliate infill. With the inscription of "D. Thomasio de Belmont" (perhaps Belmont-sur-Lausanne) and the date 1681 in one margin. Begins with an account of the life of Saint Cyprian.

15th-century Italian manuscript leaf. Displays very large-format Psalter containing Psalms 134 et seq. The text opens with, "Ecce nunc venedicte Dominum, omnes servi Domini.."

13th-century German manuscript leaf. Double column, transitional Caroline/gothic hand. Text from a Lectionary(Matthew 13:15 - 13:21, in which Christ explains to his disciples why he speaks in parables). Written by an accomplished scribe, with capitals, ampersands, ligatures, and fishtail-like terminations at the top of ascenders indicate that the script is transitional, from the late Caroline to the early gothic. Recovered from a bound book.

This 12th-century Italian manuscript recovered from a binding, displays a double column, rounded Italian gothic hand, and a series of tiny pinpricks at edges where binding hardware had been attached. Text here contains parts of the homilies from Johannes Chrysostomus' work on the priesthood, "De Dignitate Sacerdotali," and from Saint Gergory's "Homiliae in Evangelia."

14th-century leaf from a book of prayer including chants estimated to originate from England, ca. 1360. Text displayed in a single column, gothic script, the Prayer for the Departed ("Oratio. Debitum humani corporis sepelieudi officium fidelium more complentes"). Followed by the chant "Clementissime domine qui pro nostra miseria ab imporium magnibus mortis supplicium pertulisti" with numes on a 4-line staff.

A leaf for the month of April from a Liturgical calendar from a Book of Hours. Text displayed in single column, bâtarde hand. Three-line "KL" in brushed gold on a maroon ground, five one-line Domical letters in similar style, saints' days in red or blue (one major feast day in gold), each side with a panel border in the rinceau style, with swirling hairline stems bearing numerous burnished gold ivy leaves and berries and red and blue blossoms, the panel on the recto with a roundel showing the labor of the month of April (gathering flowers), and a roundel on the verso showing Taurus the bull. The painter of the roundels seems to have been influenced by the so-called Maître François.

Leaf form a small prayer book from the 15th century in Old Dutch with text displayed in single column, late gothic script. The leaf in this item contains prayers to Christ who as "gheboren vander maget Marien" and also the prayer beginning "So wie dit gebet spreket heuet benedictus die xii."

(France? 15th-century). Text displayed in single column, gothic script, initials alternating blue and burnished gold, the formers with black filigree and the latter with red. From a Book of Hours, in Latin. Lauds / Office of the Dead. Includes prayers beginning with "Generacio mea ablata est et conuoluta est a me quasi tabernaculum pastorum."

Leaf from a miniature prayer book in Old Dutch (The Netherlands, 15th-century). Text appears in a single column, late gothic script. The present leaf contains prayers for the "Heilige Jonc frauwen" Saint Gertrude and Saint Margaret. Note the scribe misspelled the girl's name as "Gertgtruyt" to which he/she/they made an unobtrusive correction. This item is unique in its collection, of the 37 leaves from this acquisition made in 2018, this is the only one on paper.

Leaf from an unadorned miniature Book of Hours, in Latin, with specific prayers for Lauds which take place in the early morning hours. Text is displayed in a single column of late gothic script. Prayers invoke the Virgin Mary.

Manuscript leaf from 15th century France. Calligraphy text appears in a single column, gothic script, with single-line initials, embellished with burnished gold. Breviary [Matins] beginning: ["Sicut adipe et pinguedine repleatur anima mea:] et labiis exultationis laudabit os meum."

Manuscript leaf from a breviary (France, 15th-century). Text displayed in 2 columns, gothic script of a sermon on 2 Luke and "Incipit Letania" containing ca. 60 names of Saints; identification of unusual or uncommon names can assist in localizing the MS to a specific region.

A leaf from a Latin Bible (England or France, ca. 1225-1275). Text displayed in 2 columns, gothic script (texuais formata). A notable feature of this particular leaf is that the writing begins "below top line" which suggest the MS was written after 1230 (see: N.R. Ker, "From 'Above Top Line; to 'Below Top Line': A Change in Scribal Practice," Celtica, 5 [1960] 13-16). Note also that the chapter numbers were added later (standardization was begun in Paris ca. 1230). The text is James 1 et seq. (note that the chapter heading is "IA/COBI").

Manuscript leaf displaying a liturgical calendar (May) from early 15th century France. Text indicating so-called "Red Letter" days. Notable to this item is a handwritten genealogical inscription in French, by "Geryot" dated 1637. Source believed to be a Book of Hours.

A leaf from a book of sermons, (Germany, 15th century) on paper, with watermark just barely visible (type uncertain: possibly "Etoile" type of Briquet 6067-6071, dated variously from 1422 to 1477 (see: C.M. Briquet, Les Filigranes, 1907, reprinted 1967, vol. 3), or handwritten.

Manuscript leaf from England or France, ca. 1230-1260. Sourced from a Latin Bible with text 1 Peter 3-5 and 2 Peter 1 et seq. displayed in 2 columns, gothic script (texuais formata). A notable feature of this particular leaf is that the writing begins "below top line" which suggest the MS was written after 1230 (see: N.R. Ker, "From 'Above Top Line; to 'Below Top Line': A Change in Scribal Practice," Celtica, 5 [1960] 13-16). Note also that the chapter numbers were added later (standardization was begun in Paris ca. 1230).

A manuscript leaf from France? ca. 1220-1240 sourced from a Latin Bible with text including Zecheriah I. Text displayed in 2 columns, gothic script (texuais formata). Notably, no chapter numberings have been added to this particular Bible leaf.

A leaf from a Latin Bible (France, ca. 1200-1240), including text from Ecclesiastes 2-8. Text displayed in 2 columns, gothic script written "above top line", and chapter numbers in margins, indicating a date before ca. 1240. Notable in this item are the outer margin prickings used for the creation of horizontal justification lines and the hole in the vellum, around which text has been written.

An Italian manuscript leaf from the 14th century, estimated ca. 1350. The spread is laid out as 2 leaves sewn together, indicating recovery from a book that was bound. Notable is the presence of vellum strengthener along the gutter margin with a possible 11th-century inscription of Psalms 103 et seq.

A previously bound leaf approximately 12th-century.Text from a Lectionary (?) with text from the Life of Saint Gregory of Spoleto. The words Gregory and martyr appear in red ink. Late romanesque book hand. Seven line initial "T" in yellow on a blue background outlined in red, with a small winged dragon. Recovered from a bookbinding.

Opening page of a 17th century Spanish Baroque Carta executoria, providing geological evidence of aristocratic lineage with no trace of peasant, Jewish or Moorish blood. More than simply asserting one's high standing, such documents exempted the holder from civil suits and taxation. Carta executoria were often ostentatiously illuminated (as here), to suggest the wealth and taste of the grantee. Displays large intricate initial "D" (i.e. Don Carlos, King of Spain from 1665 - 1700) in the form of an ornate fountain incorporating fish, snakes, birds, and foliage.

15th-century Book of Hours originating from the Nothern Netherlands [Utrecht], ca. 1430s. Dutch text from the Long Hours of the Cross displayed in single column, 19 lines, gothic book hand. Rubrics in red, capitals struck with red, eight one-line initials in red or blue, verso with one three-line initial in burnished gold embellished with red penwork and extensions' full border composed of a vertical bar border of burnished gold and blue with white tracery, the bars with hairline stems emanating from each end and spreading across the top and bottom and along the fore-edge margin, these vines bearing burnished gold trefoils, delicate daisies, and pink and green buds, with the text opened by a 10-line initial "H" in highly burnished gold on a pink and blue ground with white tracery, in the center of the initial a draped flowering vine.

A leaf from a miniature Bible in Latin from France, ca. 1250-1275. Text organized in 2 columns, gothic script (texualis formata) and displays 1 Chronicles 23-25. A notable feature of this particular leaf is that the writing begins "below top line" which suggests the manuscript was written after 1230 (see: N.R. Ker, "From 'Above Top Line; to 'Below Top Line': A Change in Scribal Practice," Celtica, 5 [1960], 13-16). Note also that the chapter numbers were added later (standardization was begun in Paris ca. 1230).