A Splendid Gathering

Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts from the Reed Collection

Case 3

Single leaf from a Bible in Latin. Southern Netherlands, late thirteenth century. Reed MSF11.

Single leaf from a Bible in Latin. Southern Netherlands, late thirteenth century. Reed MSF11.

Slowly, the Gothic or ‘Textura’ form emerged, and remained the main script for book production into the fifteenth century. Many books of this period were written in more than one column per page. The pages were ruled so the text matched the column dimensions and number of lines on each side of a page. Where possible, a regular left and right margin were maintained, often resulting in words being split between lines.

This leaf is from the first volume of a large lectern Bible, probably from the Benedictine Abbey of St Martin in Tournai. The text, written in a large formal Gothic liturgical hand, is from the book of Numbers.

Single leaf from a Bible in Latin. Southern Netherlands, late thirteenth century. Reed MSF11.

Single leaf from a Bible in Latin. Southern Netherlands, late thirteenth century. Reed MSF11.
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Single leaf from a Missal in Latin. Germany, fourteenth or fifteenth century. Reed MSF12.

Single leaf from a Missal in Latin. Germany, fourteenth or fifteenth century. Reed MSF12.

The text of this missal is in two sizes: the large size is the full texts of the biblical lessons recited by the priest; the smaller texts are versicles and antiphons, said or sung by the priest and choir. The words in red are instructions (often abbreviated) or headings. A short, horizontal line over a word indicates that letters have been omitted to save space.

The text, written in a Gothic liturgical hand, is part of the Masses for the tenth and eleventh weeks after Trinity. This fragment has been recovered from a bookbinding and is glue-stained.

Single leaf from a Missal in Latin. Germany, fourteenth or fifteenth century. Reed MSF12.

Single leaf from a Missal in Latin. Germany, fourteenth or fifteenth century. Reed MSF12.
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Cases