MANUSCRIPTS (by location)
[Berlin (formerly), Staatsbibliothek Preuß. Kulturbesitz, theol. lat. qu. 11]
Tropi carminum / Liber hymnorum Notkeri Balbuli. Farbmikrofiche-Edition der Handschrift Berlin, Ehem. Preussische Staatsbibliothek, Ms.theol.lat.qu.11 (z.Zt. Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, Depositum). Musikhistorische Einführung von Karlheinz Schlager. Einführung zur Textüberlieferung von Andreas Haug.
Codices Illuminati Medii Aevi, 20. Munich: Edition Helga Lengenfelder, 1993. 17 x 25 cm, 58 pp, 8 fiches (x60).

This magnificent ms, with gold-framed initials, double-paged decorations and gold writing on a purple base, is believed to have been copied in St. Gall c.1025. The first part contains tropes with neumes for the feasts of the calendar. The second part begins with a portrait of Notker and follows with sequences with musical notation in the borders as in other St. Gall hymnbooks. Linen. €350 [3-89219-020-8]  (more info... )

[Bologna, Museo Internazionale e Biblioteca della Musica, Cod. Q15]
Bologna Q15: The Making and Remaking of a Musical Manuscript. Introductory Study and Facsimile Edition by Margaret Bent. Volume I: Introductory Study. Volume II: Facsimile.
Ars Nova, Nuova Seria, 2. Lucca: LIM Editrice, 2008. 24.5 x 32.5 cm. 2 vols, 400, 686 pp.

This manuscript is the largest international anthology of polyphonic music of the early 15th century. It was compiled in Padua in the early 1420s (stage I) and Vicenza in the early 1430s (stages II-III), all copied by a single scribe. The three illuminations are an unusual luxury for a musical manuscript at this period. It was acquired by Padre Martini in 1757 and is a major treasure of his library in Bologna. About half of its 323 compositions are unique; some others are shared with and complemented by the slightly younger Veneto manuscripts Bologna, Biblioteca Universitaria 2216 and Oxford, Canon. misc. 213. It is the most important source for the works of Zacara and Ciconia and for the early works of Guillaume Du Fay (with 78 works, many of them unica). About 50 composers are represented, including native Italians, and composers from the north who were sought after and made their careers in Italy. It is primarily a collection of mass movements (mostly Glorias and Credos, and a few cycles) and motets. Du Fay's Missa Sancti Jacobi was assembled as a cycle only here, and can now be linked with the humanist circle around the Venetian patrician bishop Pietro Emiliani of Vicenza, in which Q15 was compiled. The 109 motets include compositions in honour of doges, bishops and noblemen. 19 French songs were added at the end of stage I, and 11 laude at stage III. Other late additions are the cycle of 24 hymns (most by Du Fay), 9 Magnificats and 3 sequences. For the first time, the complex codicological history of this manuscript is unravelled and the importance of its many revisions examined. The first compilation was originally much larger; the manuscript now embodies two overlapping, superimposed anthologies. Margaret Bent tells this story in her extensive introductory study, which also includes comprehensive indexes and catalogues. She spells out some of the conclusions to be drawn from the partial destruction of the manuscript by its own creator, a unique and extraordinary testimony to changing taste and contemporary reception. Deluxe limited edition, supplied with slipcase. €1000 978-88-7096-513-1  (more info... )

[Brussels, Bibl. Royale Albert I, 9085]
Les basses danses de Marguerite d’Autriche (Bruxelles, Bibliothèque Royale Albert Ier, Ms. 9085).
Codices Selecti, LXXXVII (= Musica Manuscripta, V). Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 1987. Oblong, 21 x 13 cm, 2 vols, 56, 76 pp.

Beautiful 4- and 5-color facsimile in the original format of a ms once belonging to Marguerite of Austria. This unusual ms, transmitting mostly basses danses from the Dufay-Binchois period, features black pages with notes and decorations in gold and silver. Separate historical commentary in Fr-Eng by Claude Thiry, Victor Gavenda & Claudine Lemaire. Limited edition of 500 numbered copies. Luxurious binding in quarter leather and wooden coverboards. Handsome clamshell case in vellum paper. €780 [3-201-01383-8]  (more info... )

[Brussels, Bibl. Royale Albert I, iv 90]
Cancionero de Juana I de Castilla. Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique, Bruselas. Siglo XVI. [title of commentary:] Cancionero de Juana la Loca. La música en la corte de Felipe el Hermoso y Juana i de Castilla / Song Book of Joan the Mad / Das Liederbuch Johannas der Wahnsinnigen.
Valencia: Patrimonio Ediciones, 2006. Oblong, 11 x 9 cm, 60, 359 pp, 1 audio CD.

This lovely Burgundian chansonnier, one of the smallest complete collections of the time, created around 1511, consists of 56 pages of polyphonic music with Latin, French and Flemish texts by leading Netherlandish composers. Its 54 miniatures, made up of delightful little dramatic scenes, botanical designs, or emblema in the style of the Ghent-Bruges school of book illumination, have been linked to the atelier of the prestigious artist Alexander Bening (father of Simon Bening). The book lacks an heraldic device but this in no way rules out an almost certain noble connection as its illuminations belong to a group of books of hours that include the Hours of Joanna of Castile (London, BL, add. 18852). Although the songbook was originally comprised of 4 separate partbooks—superius, alto, tenor, bassus—the bassus partbook is now lost, and the altus (=Bibl. Royal Albert I, ms. iv 1274 ) and tenor (=Bibl. Tournai, ms. 94) are incomplete and less well preserved. The surviving superius part, reproduced for this deluxe facsimile edition, still has its early 16th-c. leather binding decorated with animal figures and vines; it is the work of Lodovicus Bloc, a master bookbinder active in Bruges 1484-1529, credited with binding numerous books for Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. Contents: 22 songs without attributions; concordances allow us positive identification of most of the composers—Compère (4), Josquin (4), Obrecht, Ockeghem, de la Rue, Agricola, Barbireau, Busnois, Japart, Pipelare, Hayne van Ghizighem (2), Ninot le Petit, and Isaac. Musicological commentary by Honey Meconi, modern transcriptions by Miguel Ángel Picó, and an essay on the making of a codex by José Aspas Romano (texts in Sp-Eng-Ger). Limited edition of 999 copies, bound in full leather with gold, tooling, and leather ties, after the original. Please call for special OMI price. €2800    (more info... )

[Burgos, Monast. de las Huelgas, without signatur (olim No. IX), “Hu”]
Códice musical de las Huelgas Reales de Burgos. [Códice de canto polifonico].
Colección Scriptorium, 9. Madrid: Testimonio, 1997-2005 18 x 26 cm, 2 vols, 340, 205 pp + 2 CDs.

Codex Las Huelgas is a magnificent "Notre Dame" motet source copied between 1300 and 1325, and preserved in the Cistercian convent of Las Huelgas founded by Alfonso VIII, in Burgos, Spain. This MS is regarded as one of the most important sources of medieval music and a unique witness in cultural history, as it is thought to have been written for, and possibly used by, nuns. Although archival evidence shows that professional musicians from Paris performed for the nuns, a portion of the repertory, especially the pieces of local character, may have been sung by the nuns themselves, who were known to be highly cultivated. The MS contains 45 monophonic sequences, conductus, Benedicamus tropes, and 145 polyphonic conductus, motets, tropes and sequences, written in Franconian or quasi Franconian notation. More than half of the pieces in Codex Las Huelgas are unica. Limited edition of 980 copies, bound in leather and tooled in a 13-15th c. Moorish-Gothic style. Commentary by Nicolas Bell. €2900 [84-88829-40-X]  (more info... )

[Burgos, Monasterio de Cistercienses Calatravas de San Felices]
Vita adelelmi (Vida de San Lesmes).
Madrid: Siloé, Arte y Bibliofilia, 2004. 28 x 37 cm, 158, 236 pp.

Deluxe full-color facsimile of a codex containing the Vita adelelmi and the official liturgy and music chants for San Lesmes, patron Saint of Burgos. As Burgos is one of the stops of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, this work nicely dovetails with Codex Calixtinus (transmitting the equivalent rite for Saint James). Commentary by Ángeles García de la Borbolla García de Paredes, Víctor Márquez Paillo, Rafael Sánchez Domingo, Clemente Serna González, & Miguel C. Vivancos Gómez. Limited edition of 230 copies bound in full leather with generous tooling and linen covered slipcase. (first added to OMI’s offerings in 2012) €2586    (more info... )

[Darmstadt, Hessische Landes- & Hochschulbibliothek, 1946]
Echternachter Sakramentar und Antiphonar (Hessische Landes-und Hochschulbibliothek Darmstadt, Hs. 1946).
Codices Selecti, LXXIV. Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 1982. 17 x 24 cm, 278 pp.

Deluxe full-color facsimile of complete ms, copied and illuminated in Echternach, 1030. St. Gall-type music notation. Commentary by K. H. Staub, P. Ulveling & F. Unterkircher. Limited edition of 500 numbered copies. Full leather, with slipcase. €1580 [3-201-01166-5] 

[Einsiedeln, Benediktinerkloster, Bibliothek, 121]
Codex 121 Einsiedeln: Graduale und Sequenzen Notker von St. Gallen.
Weinheim: VCH Verlagsgesellschaft, 1991. 12 x 17 cm, 2 vols, 600, 240 pp.

Full-color halftone in the original format. Regarded as the oldest complete manuscript of Gregorian chant missal propers. One of the best examples of “lettres romaniennes”–literally thousands of them–added in different stages to the neumatic notation. Separate commentary volume with codicological notes by Anton von Euw, inventory and liturgical notes by Odo Lang, and musicological commentary by Rupert Fischer, Godehard Joppich, and Andreas Haug. Linen. €1348  [3-05-003956-6]  (more info... )

[Einsiedeln, Benediktinerkloster, Bibliothek, 121]
Codex 121 Einsiedeln: Graduale und Sequenzen Notker von St. Gallen.
Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1996. 12 x 17 cm, 2 vols, 600, 240 pp.

Same as above but special edition with paper boards. €408  [3-05-002888-2]  (more info... )

[El Escorial, Bibl. del Monasterio, T.j.1 “E2”]
Cantigas de Alfonso X El Sabio, deluxe facsimile.
Colección Scriptorium. Madrid: Testimonio, 2010. 35 x 50 cm, 3 vols, 512; 473, 697 pp

El Escorial Ms. T.j.I ("E2")—also known as "Códice Rico"—is the third of four surviving manuscripts that preserve the Cantigas repertoire, settings in a narrative format relating to Marian miracles and festivities. Although incomplete "E2" is considered the most important from the point of view of the miniatures. It is made up of 256 folios of parchment in the elegant French script of 13th-c. codices. Originally it contained 200 cantigas, but the loss of some folios has reduced the count to 196. This codex was lavishly illustrated with 1,257 miniatures on 210 of its folios and depicts a vast array of human typology in Spain during the 13th c. Deluxe, totally new, full-color facsimile in the original format, limited to 980 copies, bound in full leather with tooling. €8000   (more info... )

[Escorial, Biblioteca del Monasterio, T.j.1 “E2”]
Cantigas de Santa María [de] Alfonso X el Sabio. Edición facsímil del códice T.I.1 de la Biblioteca de San Lorenzo el Real de El Escorial, siglo XIII.
Madrid: EDILAN, 1979. 35 x 50 cm, 512 pp.

Deluxe full-color facsimile in the original format. Known as “Códice Rico”–the “rich codex”, the most sumptuous of the four surviving cantigas. Limited edition of 2000 copies, bound in full leather with tooling. [84-85197-13-5] 

[Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, med. pal. 87]
Il codice Squarcialupi. Ms. Mediceo Palatino 87, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana di Firenze. Studi raccolti di F. Alberto Gallo.
Ars Nova. Lucca & Florence: Libreria Musicale Italiana/Giunti, 1992. 29 x 41 cm, 2 vols, 442, 287 pp.

This is the most magnificent and extensive of the Italian trecento sources. The codex, a “retrospective” anthology compiled c.1410-20 under Antonio Squarcialupi’s supervision, contains richly painted miniatures and portraits of 14 composers presented in roughly chronological order. It includes 353 settings of Italian lyric poetry (madrigals, ballate, cacce, etc), half of them unique. Recent iconographic research confirms that the miniatures and splendid illuminations had their origins in the Florentine scriptorium of Santa Maria degli Angeli between 1410 and 1415. The accompanying commentary volume, authored by a team of international scholars, include John Nádas, Kurt von Fischer, Luciano Bellosi, Margherita Ferro Luraghi, Nino Pirrotta, Giuseppe Tavani, Giulio Cattin, & Agostino Ziino. Deluxe clamshell case in half leather. €2400 [16164-N]  (more info... )

[Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, plut. 29.1]
Antiphonarium seu Magnus liber organi de gradali et antiphonario. Color Microfiche Edition of the Manuscript Firenze, Bibliotheca Medicea Laurenziana, Pluteus 29.1. Introduction to the “Notre-Dame Manuscript” F by Edward H. Roesner.
Codices Illuminati Medii Aevi, 45. Munich: Edition Helga Lengenfelder, 1996. 17 x 25 cm, 42 pp, 15 fiches.

Paris, c.1245-1255(?); vellum, 441 (of originally 477?) fols.; littera textualis; the music script is a "square" modal notation, staff lines in red ink. The miniature on the first page illustrates the divisions of music invented by Boethius. The 13 other paintings form historiated initials, depicting biblical scenes. The collection of nearly 1,000 compositions (organum, conductus, motet) is the most comprehensive and important source for the repertoire of Notre Dame de Paris and of crucial importance for the history of European music. The Parisian tradition constitutes a matrix where a musical language emerged—rhythmic, harmonic, contrapuntal—and a system of notation for communicating that language in writing. In this repertory, also, we see for the first time distinct, differentiated polyphonic styles and idioms, and clearly delineated genres in which they are employed. For at least the earlier layers of the repertory, this is primarily music to embellish the celebration of the Mass and Office on the major festivals of the Parisian liturgical calendar. The codex was intended probably for a French high-rank ecclesiastic. Since 1456 the codex belonged to the library of Piero de'Medici, the father of Lorenzo the Magnificent. Linen. €490 [3-89219-045-3]  (more info... )

[Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Banco Rari 20 (formerly II,I,213)]
Las cantigas de Santa María de Alfonso El Sabio. Edición facsímil del códice II,I,213 de la Biblioteca Nazionale, Florencia.
Madrid: EDILAN, 1989-1991. 32 x 46 cm, 2 vols, 262, 205 pp; audio recording.

Superb 8-color halftone. This MS was intended as a continuation of El Escorial Ms T.j.1, adding music and more than 500 miniatures which depict a vast array of human typology in Spain during the 13th c. It is a fascinating “work in progress”: containing 113 poems, room was carefully set aside for the the music and all staff lines drawn, but none of the music was copied. While most of the miniatures are complete, there are many intriguing examples of incomplete faces and detail—almost random in nature—providing a wonderful glimpse into manuscript production. It seems likely that the volume was copied after 1279-1280, and perhaps after the king’s death in 1284. According to Montoya Martínez the cantigas in the Florentine MS tend to be located in northern Spain and southern France. There are only four concordances, all with the Toledo MS (Bibl. Nacional, 10,069). Limited edition of 2000 copies, bound in full leather. [84-85197-37-6] 

[Florence, Museo di San Marco, ms 558]
Il messale del Beato Angelico.
Florence: Vallecchi, 2005. 43 x 59 cm, 208 pp.

Il Messale del Beato Angelico (The San Domenico Missal), preserved in the Dominican Monastery of San Marco in Florence, is an early 15th-c. Missal embellished by a selection of works by Fra Angelico and other masters of the Florentine milieu. This is the only volume in which extensive work can safely be attributed to Fra Angelico (c.1387-1466), whose frescos adorn the same walls of the convent of San Marco. In regard to provenance there are many reasons to think that the MS came out of the church of San Domenico di Fiesoli where the painter was active. It is certain that it belongs to a young period, the third decade of the Quattrocento, a period that coincides with Fra Angelico’s constant presence at the convent. This fine bibliophile edition reproduces 51 illuminated panels in full size and full color, with gold decorations. An excellent commentary, edited by Magnolia Scudieri, is provided by Maria Grazia Ciardi Dupré Dal Poggetto (history of 15th-c. Florentine miniatures), Sara Giacomelli (codicological analysis), and Maria Paola Masini (miniature technique). The volume represents a just tribute to one of the greatest artists of Florence. Limited edition of 600 copies printed on special paper produced by the Fedrigoni papermill of Verona, bound in tooled leather with brass bosses and a center rosette, after the binding of Ms. 515 in the same collection, which, for typology and chronology, is closest to the original. Please call for special OMI offer. €6900  [88-8427-022-7]  (more info... )

[Graz, Universitätsbibliothek, 211]
Codex Albensis. Ein Antiphonar aus dem 12. Jahrhundert von Z. Falvy–L. Mezey.
Monumenta Hungariae Musica, 1. Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 1963. 19 x 28 cm, 175, 321 pp.

Beautiful 2-color facsimile of the oldest antiphonary from Hungary, copied c.1125. 8 pages in 4 colors. Historical introduction, inventory and critical commentary in Ger, summary in Eng. Handsome binding in quarter leather with linen boards (last copies). $295 [3-201-07755-2] 

[Heidelberg, Universitätsbibliothek, cpg 329]
Hugo von Montfort. Gedichte und Lieder. Faksimile des Codex Palatinus Germanicus 329 der Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, illuminiert von Heinrich Aurhaym, österreichisch, nach 1414.
Facsimilia Heidelbergensia, 5. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 1989. 21 x 31 cm, 108, 147 pp.

Luxurious Ms of Austrian provenance, copied c.1414. One of the major sources for this important poet-musician. Exquisite illuminations by Heinrich Aurhaym. 17 pages of music. Separate commentary vol. with essays on provenance, illumination, the use of color and gold, the melodies, and a complete translation of the texts into modern German. Limited numbered edition of 600 copies, bound in half leather with matching slipcase. €1250 [3-88226-378-4] 

[Heidelberg, Universitätsbibliothek, cpg 357]
Die kleine Heidelberger Liederhandschrift. Codex Palatinus Germanicus 357 der Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg.
Facsimilia Heidelbergensis, 2. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 1972. 14 x 19 cm, 90, 200 pp.

Introduction by Walter Blank. Limited edition of 830 copies. €298 [3-920153-10-3] 

[Innsbruck, Universitäts-Bibliothek, ohne Signatur]
Oswald von Wolkenstein. Liederhandschrift B. Farbmikrofiche-Edition der Handschrift Innsbruck, Universitätsbibliothek, o. Sign. Einführung und kodikologische Beschreibung von Walter Neuhauser.
Codices Illuminati Medii Aevi, 8. Munich: Edition Helga Lengenfelder, 1987. 17 x 25 cm, 41 pp, 2 fiches.

Vellum MS consisting of 50 fols., from Neustift (?), 1432, with additions of 1436 and 1438. Calligraphic cursive bastarda, with musical notation. The extraordinary decoration of the MS consists of the well-known portrait of the poet. The entire codex, its script and decoration, is uniform in style. It contains the most comprehensive collection of Oswald’s known poems and was corrected by the poet himself. It is therefore of great importance for the history of art, literature, and secular medieval music. Linen. 230 [3-89219-008-9]  (more info... )

[Karlsruhe, Badische Landesbibl., Aug. perg. 60]
Antiphonarium. Karlsruhe, Badische Landesbibliothek, Aug. perg. 60. Farbmikrofiche-Edition. Musik- und liturgiegeschichtliche Einführung und Beschreibung der Handschrift von Hartmut Möller. Anhang: Verzeichnis der Gesangsinitien.
Codices Illuminati Medii Aevi, 37. Munich: Edition Helga Lengenfelder, 1995. 17 x 25 cm, 87 pp, 10 fiches (=552 pp).

A Benedictine antiphonary, possibly from the monastery in Zweifalten or Hirsau, c.1165-1175. The 276 folio codex, with additions from Reichenau from the 13th to the 17th c., transmits a full repertoire of chants in diastematic notation. Famous for its 20 large pen-and-ink drawings plus 38 floriated initials, which on stylistic grounds point to a cloister of the Hirsau reform. The MS, an interesting palimpsest, was once in the possession of the Reichenau cloister. Full inventory. Linen. €385 [3-89219-037-2]  (more info... )

[London, British Library, Add. 14761]
The Barcelona Haggadah.
London: Facsimile Editions, 1992. 19 x 26 cm, 322 pp + commentary.

The Barcelona Haggadah, created around 1350 and named after the heraldic shield it bears resembling the arms of Barcelona, is recognized as one of the finest illuminated Hebrew MSS in the British Library. When it was created the Jews of Aragon and Catalonia formed one of the largest communities in Europe, and Barcelona was home to a flourishing center of book illumination linked to the Court and influenced by Italian and French styles. Of all categories of Jewish prayer book the Passover Haggadah tends to be the most extensively and richly decorated. The narrative itself, the Rabbinic elaboration, the family meal, the symbolic foods and the fact that the story is told to children, provide added incentives for colorful elaboration. Even the size of the MS lends itself to be used and enjoyed at the Passover table on the eve of the festival for the family gathering known as the Seder. This Haggadah is outstanding for its rich decorative and representational art scattered throughout the text. 128 of its 322 pages are richly ornamented with fanciful figures and pictorial scenes that provide fascinating insights into Jewish life in medieval Spain. For instance, music and culture in general flourished in Barcelona and its environs, and the Jewish community was proud to be fully involved. Indeed, until the forced conversion of the Jewish population of Barcelona in 1401, Jewish musicians played a vital role in drawing the Jews and Christians closer together. It is not surprising, therefore, that a lively interest in music is clearly displayed throughout the MS: in all, twenty-eight different instruments appear in the illustrations. More intimate details, such as the pictures of the meal, take us straight into a Jewish home of the period, while the synagogue scene reflects 14th-c. conditions and traditions. The illustrations of the five rabbis of Bnei Brak, the four sons, the story of Abraham breaking the idols, and the Exodus (which is shown taking place on horseback in medieval costume), are of great historical value. The unrestrained humor of the artist is clear from the dogs and rabbits that romp through the pages of the MS. Commentary by Jeremy Schonfield, Raphael Loewe, David Goldstein, & Malachi Beit-Arie. Limited edition of 500 copies, bound in leather. $4810  [0-948223-081] 

[London, British Library, Royal 7 c.xii, fols.4-218]
Ælfric’s First Series of Catholic Homilies. British Museum, Royal 7 c.xii, fols.4-218. Edited by Norman Eliason and Peter Clemoes.
Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile, 13. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger, 1965. 28 x 36 cm, 38, 430 pp.

Collotype. The first series of Catholic Homilies was Ælfric’s first published work. Of the four surviving MSS of the series as a whole the royal MS is both the earliest and the one closest to Ælfric. It shows an earlier state of the text than any other that has survived, probably the text as it was before it was put into general circulation, and the many alterations and corrections which it contains bear witness to the thorough going authentic revision which the homilies underwent at this early stage. Above all, some notes and alterations are entered in Ælfric’s own hand. Half-morocco binding (also available in wrappers for c.25% less). €910  

[London, British Library, Royal MS 11 E XI]
Music for King Henry. BL Royal MS 11 E XI. Commentary by Nicolas Bell. Performing Edition by David Skinner.
London: The Folio Society, 2009. 35 x 50 cm. 36, 120 pp, audio CD.

Of all the courtly arts practiced by King Henry VIII, music was undoubtedly his greatest passion. As well as being a talented harpist and composer, Henry was a great patron of the musical arts in Europe, and his reign heralded a golden age in English choral music. Henry employed 58 full-time court musicians, more than any other monarch before or since, including a chapel choir that was said to be “more divine than human”. Many of today’s great English musical institutions such as the choirs of Christ Church, Oxford and King’s College, Cambridge were founded during his reign. Several manuscripts survive to testify to Henry’s love of music, but the most important is the Royal Choirbook, now British Library Royal MS 11 E XI. This magnificent collection of motets was presented to the 27-year-old Henry and Catherine of Aragon in 1518. It is exceptional for the sheer size and luxury of its production, its exquisite and ingenious heraldic illuminations, and not least, its personal significance to Henry. The Royal Choirbook was commissioned and designed by Petrus de Opitiis, an Italian merchant, and his son Benedictus, a talented organist who hoped to gain a position at court. Together they created a magnificent large-format volume of 6 motets. Composed by Benedictus and a musician named Sampson, these motets were written to appeal to the king on the deepest possible level, reflecting both his royal status and his dearest wish: the birth of a male heir. The Choirbook opens with a sumptuous frontispiece, rich in symbolism carefully chosen to celebrate Henry’s lineage. It depicts a rose bush with 3 large blooms. One is the red rose of Lancaster, while the red-and-white rose depicts the union of the houses of York and Lancaster. The crowned rose represents King Henry himself. A pomegranate tree, shown blooming in the garden of England, is the symbol of Catherine of Aragon, while a daisy and a marigold represent Henry’s two sisters, Mary and Margaret. As well as being a breathtaking piece of heraldic art, the frontispiece ingeniously incorporates the texts of the first two motets, Salve radix and Psallite felices, with Henry’s name highlighted in gold leaf. Deluxe facsimile edition limited to 500 copies, in quarter buckram with vegetable parchment boards, with gold and colored foils, edge-gilding and slipcase. With CD recording by the “Alamire Consort” directed by Dr. David Skinner. $845  978 6000 0587 0  (more info... )

[London, Lambeth Palace Library, ms 1]
The Arundel Choirbook. A Facsimile & Introduction by David Skinner.
Huttersfield: Roxburghe Club, 2003. 31 x 41 cm, 230 pp.

3 English choirbooks have survived intact from the early Tudor period: the “Eton”, the “Caius” and “Lambeth” . While Eton is known to have originated from the great college of that name, the provenance of Caius and Lambeth has, until now, been a complete mystery. The man responsible for their production has long been held to be Edward Higgons, a prominent Tudor lawyer and multiple plurist who was a canon of St. Stephen's, Westminster, where Nicholas Ludford, a principal composer in both manuscripts, was employed from the early 1520s. On the last page of the Caius Choirbook is written the inscription “Ex dono et opere Edwardi Higgons cuius eccelsie canonicis”, which may be translated as “By the gift and work of Edward Higgons, canon of this church”. The “ecclesia” is now believed to be St. Stephen's, although the origins of the Lambeth Choirbooks have been much less well understood. It has, however, been generally accepted that it too was produced for one of the ecclesiastical institutions with which Higgons was associated. This is a story of one music manuscript of thousands that must have circulated in late medieval England; it is also a narrative of only one musical institution from the hundreds that were in existence before the onslaught of Henry VIII's Reformation. The bulk of this Roxburghe Club volume constitutes a full-color facsimile of London, Lambeth Palace Library, MS 1 (“The Arundel Choirbook”), providing a single but significant resource that richly illustrates England's early musical heritage. The manuscript contains 7 masses, 4 magnificat settings and 8 motets. Robert Fayrfax is represented by 8 works, followed by Ludford (2), Sturton (1) and Lambe (1). The Arundel Choirbook is one of just three major choirbooks that survive from c.1490 to 1530. The original size of the choirbook, in “elephant” folio, has been reduced 50%–to 12.5 x 16.5 inches–for this facsimile edition. All text printed in letterset; total edition of 300 copies. Quarter leather bound, wood boards. (few copies remaining). $795  [0-95450-900-5]  (more info... )

[Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, clm 2541/2542]
Graduale Alderspacense. Colour Microfiche Edition of the Manuscript München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 2541/2542. Introduction to the Gradual of Aldersbach and Cistercian Plainchant by David Hiley.
Codices Illuminati Medii Aevi, 61. Munich: Edition Helga Lengenfelder, 2001. 17 x 25 cm, 30 pp, 10 fiches.

A pair of beautiful Cistercian mss from the monastery of Aldersbach in Bavaria. These sources (a single document) are a valuable witness to the musical tradition of the Cistercian order, having been written less than a century from the founding of the order, and show extraordinary efforts to ensure their purity and correctness. The manuscript is richly provided with colored and decorated initials, in violet-red, vermilion, blue and bright green. The first chant of each Mass, the Introit, is given a larger colored initial. Nine masses have particularly large initials with foliage scrolls: the First Sunday of Advent, Christmas Day, Epiphany, Palm Sunday, Easter Day, Ascension, Whit Sunday, the Dedication of the Church, and the Requiem Mass. Although the plainchant of the Cistercians has been edited for modern worship, no manuscript gradual has until now been reproduced. This color microfiche edition of the Aldersbach Gradual is an important contribution to the materials available for studying the music and liturgy of the early Cistercians, elements central to the religious and spiritual life of the Order. Linen. €390 [3-89219-061-5]  (more info... )

[Munich, Universitätsbibliothek, 2˚ Cod. Ms. 731]
Die Lieder Reinmars und Walthers von der Vogelweide in der Würzburger Handschrift.
Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 1972. 28 x 37 cm, 25, 50 pp.

Preface by Gisela Kornrumpf. €178  [3-920153-12-X] 

[Santa Monica, J. Paul Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig V 1]
Das Sakramentar von Beauvais [standard edition].
Codices Selecti, CXVII. Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 2011. 17.8 x 23.2 cm, 20 pp + commentary.

The Sacramentary of Beauvais in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum is one of a pair of lavish liturgical manuscripts almost certainly produced in northern France by an Italian scribe, who also may have illuminated the volumes. Only ten leaves of the original book have survived, those leaves clearly preserved because of their beauty and the generous use of gold and—more remarkably—silver. Included among the surviving leaves are three pages of text written in gold on painted purple grounds, a stunning full-page Crucifixion scene and a nearly full-page initial in gold and silver, as well as smaller painted initials. The complete manuscript was known to the 17th-c. canons of Beauvais cathedral as the “Missal of Roger of Champagne,” and indeed, the sacramentary most probably was created at the behest of Roger of Champagne (d. 1016), the first count-bishop of Beauvais who was named in an inscription on an early binding. Roger was renowned for having endowed the cathedral with precious goods, including the sacramentary and two other sumptuous liturgical books. Limited edition of 444 copies with parchment cover; deluxe slipcase covered in leather. €1380  

[Santa Monica, J. Paul Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig V 1]
Das Sakramentar von Beauvais [deluxe edition].
Codices Selecti, CXVII. Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 2011. 17.8 x 23.2 cm, 20 pp + commentary.

(Same as above but special edition of 111 copies reproduced in 23k gold and silver) €2480  

[New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, M.711]
Hainricus Sacramentary (Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, MS. M711).
Codices Selecti, CX. Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 2005. 17.2 x 24.2 cm, 296 pp + commentary.

The "Hainricus Sacramentary"—consisting of calendar, gradual-antiphonary, sequentiary & sacramentary—was written and illuminated at the Abbey of Weingarten, a Benedictine house in Württemberg, Germany, ca. 1225-1250. Under Welf IV and his wife Judith, Weingarten became an imperial abbey. The manuscript was commissioned by Hainricus sacristan, a monk at Weingarten Abbey, who is represented on the cover and in 4 miniatures (it has been suggested that Hainricus may have been also the illuminator, but no documentary evidence has been found). Decoration: 5 full-page miniatures, 2 illuminated text pages, 24 calendar medallions, 35 historiated initials. Music: the gradual-antiphonary and sequentiary parts of the manuscript are notated with non-diastematic neumes; the rite accords with the Hirsau tradition. Limited edition of 280 copies bound in full leather with clamshell box. €10500 [3-201-01746-9]  (more info... )

[Paris, Bibl. Nationale, fr. 146]
Le roman de Fauvel in the Edition of Mesire Chaillou de Pesstain. A Reproduction in Facsimile of the Complete Manuscript Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Fonds français 146. Introduction by Edward H. Roesner, François Avril and Nancy Freeman Regalado.
New York: Broude Brothers Limited, 1991. 41 x 52 cm, 280 pp (incl. 205 B/W + 12 color reproductions).

Gervais de Bus’ great poetic narrative written between 1310 and 1314 with interpolations of over 150 monophonic songs and polyphonic motets, including some of the works of Phillipe de Vitry. The name Fauvel is derived from the first letters of Flaterie, Avarice, Vilanie, Variété, Envie, Lascheté. Men of all walks and conditions try to cleanse Fauvel. The Roman is a sharp attack on the failings of the medieval church and the political establishment. $575    (more info... )

[Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Rothschild 2973]
Le chansonnier Cordiforme de Jean de Montchenu.
Valencia: Vicent García Editores, 2007-2008. Heart shaped, 22 x 16 cm, 144 pp + commentary.

This exceptional MS, closed, is shaped like a heart; it opens into the shape of a butterfly composed of the hearts of the two lovers who send love messages to one another in each one of the songs. When the word “heart” appears in the texts, it is represented by a pictogram. Two full-page illustrations appear in the codex. In the first, Cupid throws arrows at a young girl while at his side Fortune spins his wheel. In the other, two lovers approach one another lovingly. Throughout the MS the pentagrams, music and love poems are surrounded by borders made up of animals, birds, dogs, cats and all kinds of flowers and plants highlighted in abundant and delicate gold. The book gets its name from Jean de Montchenu, a nobleman, apostolic prothonotary, Bishop of Agen (1477) and later of Vivier (1478-1497) who commissioned the work. The music repertoire consists of French and Italian songs written by Dufay, Ockeghem, Busnois and their contemporaries. Limited edition of 1380 copies bound in red velet after the original; 2-part slipcase covered in green leather. €3480    (more info... )

[Parma, Biblioteca Palatina, 1870 (de Rossi 510)]
The Parma Psalter.
London: Facsimile Editions, 1995. 10 x 13.5 cm, 452 pp + commentary.

Among the nearly 1,650 Hebrew MSS housed in the Biblioteca Palatina in Parma that come down to us from the collection of the Christian Hebraist Giovanni Bernardo De Rossi (1742-1831 ), is MS 1870, a magnificent Psalter, written and decorated around 1280, possibly in Emilia in northern Italy. The work is one of the earliest and most important of all medieval Hebrew psalters. Its 452 pages contain the psalm texts in a clear, large vocalised Hebrew hand. Each chapter is illuminated and many are exquisitely illustrated with musical instruments or with scenes described in the text—extraordinary for a Hebrew manuscript of the period. Although its exact provenance is unknown it is clear that only a wealthy patron could have commissioned a MS so lavish and tasteful. Early copies of psalters with Abraham ibn Ezra's commentary on Psalms, as is the case here, are rare, and the Parma MS transmits interesting textual variants not found in the other versions. The illustrations in the MS—including numerous depictions of contemporary musical instruments—are particularly valuable for musicologists and art historians. In addition to the psalms one 8-page fascicle, added at a later date, contains the ceremonies for engagements, marriages, circumcisions and funerals, as well as for the end of a Sabbath followed by a Festival, times at which Psalms were especially recited. The rich decorations are characterized by the delicate use of harmonious colours; gold is used liberally but with sensitivity, the illuminator carefully balancing the Psalms and commentary with the images in the margin. Commentary, edited by Jeremy Schonfield, with contributions by Emmanuel Silver, Malachi Beit-Arié & Thérèse Metzger. Limited edition of 550 copies, bound in brown calfskin with gold stamping on the spine. $2700  [0-948223-111] 

[Piacenza, Biblioteca Capitolare, 65]
Il libro del Maestro - Piacenza, Biblioteca Capitolare, C.65.
Piacenza: Tipleco, 1997. 34 x 51 cm, 2 vols, 904, 273 pp.

Fine color halftone of a rare 12th-c. manuscript from the Cathedral of Piacenza. One of the first ”encyclopedias” of Western Europe, with great historic, paleographic, liturgical and artistic significance, touching the history of music, theater, miniature production, medicine, agriculture and the esoteric sciences. The codex consists of a calendar, psalter, divine office, gradual (with troper-sequentiary), antiphonary, and obiturary. With commentary by Brian Møller Jensen and congress proceeding edited by Pierre Racine. Deluxe binding in full leather, with tooling and brass bosses. $3995    (more info... )

[Salamanca, Archivo de la Catedral, ms 2631]
Codex Calixtinus de Salamanca.
Burgos: Siloé, Arte y Bibliofilia, 2012. 27 x 37 cm, 246 pp + commentary.

Students and scholars of the camino are now fortunate to have a second facsimile of Codex Calixtinus, based on the Salamanca copy. Known as Ms. S, and copied around 1325 in Santiago de Compostela, this counts as one of four complete (long) versions of the Jacobus compilation and at the same time one of four that are illustrated. According to M. Alison Stones the meagerness of Jacobus transmissions is a bit baffling—compared to about 200 sources for the Historia Turpini (Book IV), so the facsimile of the Salamanca source is all the more welcome. Telltale aspects of Ms. S show it has a slightly different lineage from Ms. C, and in that way the text and illustrations offer the historian new insights and challenges. Salamanca comes down to us without title page and the initial portrait of Pope Calixtus has been vandalized, however, other than this the manscript is beautifully executed and adorned with 5 stunning illuminations, 1 of them a whole page. Although Salamanca provides full texts for the chants for the office and mass of St. James, the compiler didn't get around to enter the pitches for the chant around the a single reference line (usually C or F). Limited edition of 898 copies. Artisan binding in full leather with gold decoration on spine, pasted etikette and buckram-leather covered slipcase. €2982    (more info... )

[Salzburg, Stift St. Peter, a IX.11]
Graduale – Sequentiar. Farbmikrofiche-Edition der Handschrift Salzburg, Bibliothek der Erzabtei St. Peter (OSB), Cod. a IX 11. Einführung zur liturgischen und musikhistorischen Bedeutung des Graduales der Petersfrauen von Stefan Engels.
Codices Illuminati Medii Aevi, 60. Munich: Edition Helga Lengenfelder, 2001. 17 x 25 cm, 50 pp, 8 fiches.

This codex from c.1190-1200 is one of the most important liturgical sources from Salzburg. Copied at the Benedictine Convent of Petersfrauen it is closely related to the Antiphonary of St. Peter (Vienna, ÖNB. ser.nov. 2700) and the Gradual-sequentiary of Nonnberg (Munich, BSB clm 11007). Beautiful gold decorations, historiated initials, miniatures and canonical tables. The music notation is of the St. Gall type. Linen. €360 [3-89219-060-7]  (more info... )

[Santiago de Compostela, Archivo de la Catedral]
Jacobus: Codex Calixtinus de la Catedral de Santiago de Compostela.
Madrid: Kaydeda Ediciones, 1993. 21 x 29.5 cm, 450+ transcription/translation pp.

Deluxe full-color facsimile. This MS, compiled around 1160, also known as the Book of St. James, is a jewel in medieval bibliography and one of the richest sources for historians, geographers, musicologists, sociologists, ethnologists, art historians and linguists. Consists of five “books”: I) sermons, texts and homilies for the liturgy of St. James; II) Book of Miracles, a collection of 22 miracles credited to St. James; III) narration of the moving of St. James’ body from Palestine to Compostela; IV) history of Charlemagne and Roland; V) “Liber Peregrinationis” (Guide to the Pilgrim)–the oldest touristic guide of Europe. Musical settings include plainsong and polyphonic conducti, tropes, and organa. Limited edition of 845 copies, bound in full leather with matching slipcase.   (more info... )

[Sélestat, Bibliothèque Humaniste, ms 22]
Liber miraculorum Sanctae Fidis (XIe-XIVe siècles) conservé à la Bibliothèque Humaniste de Sélestat.
Sélestat: Bibliothèque Humaniste, 1994. 22 x 33 cm, 249 pp.

Beautiful 4-color reproduction of the Book of Miracles of Saint Foy, 11th c. (fols. 15-104), and other material relating to Saint Foy added as late as the 14th c. (two hymns, a passion, a translation of the reliquary, and the legend on the founding of the priory of St. Foy). Contains 98 remarkable historiated initials (cloisonné) and pieces for the Office of St. Foy in Aquitanian notation and square notation employing 17 staff lines. Issued on the occasion of the ninth centenary of the priory. $128    (more info... )

[Simanacas, Archivo General]
Siete piezas en cifra entre los papeles de Isabel de Valois. Original conservado en el Archivo General de Simancas. Transcripción por Antonio Baciero.
Colección el Mundo de Felipe, II, 2. Madrid: Testimonio, 1998. 21 x 31 cm, 6, 66 pp.

Deluxe full-color facsimile, in the original format, of a 16th c. ms in tablature notation found among the papers of Isabel de Valois. Suitable for vihuela (or keyboard instrument). The titles of the pieces are “Ribera berde umbrosa”, “Guárdame las vacas”, “Contrapunto sobre el Conde Claros”, “Pabanilla”, “Por unos ojuelos negros”, “Falsa m’es la’spiga”, “La moreta”. With CD recording played by Antonio Baciero on harpsichord. Edition of 980 numbered copies, with deluxe portfolio in silk. €300 [84-88829-59-0]  (more info... )

[Skara, Skara Stifts- och landsbibliotek]
Skaramissalet. Studier, edition, översättning och faksimil av handskriften i Skara. Christer Pahlmblad.
Skrifter utbivna av Stifts- och landsbiblioteket. Skara: Stiftelsen för utgivande av Skaramissalet, 2006. 24 x 32 cm, 450 pp.

Facsimile and text edition of a rare medieval missal from Scandinavia. Shares many characteristics with northern French and English sources. With translation of text (into Swedish) and 12 essays; summaries in English. $102 [91-859802-7-7]  (more info... )

Talamo, Emilia Anna.
Codices Cantorum. Miniature e disegni nei codici della Cappella Sistina.
Florence: Officine del Novecento, [1998]. 33 x 45 cm, xvii, 253 pp.

The first study that surveys all the important music MSS from the Cappella Sistina (c.60 mss under 18 different Popes). Includes 54 beautiful large format reproductions in full color & 198 B/W reproductions in reduced format, treated chronologically, from the 15th through the 19th centuries. Preface by Don Raffaele Farina, introduction by Giancarlo Rostirolla. With appendix & index. Limited bibliophile edition of 1999 copies with specially created paper, full leather binding, & matching slipcase. €2200    (more info... )

[Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica, Borg. lat. 425]
Weihnachtsmissale Alexanders VI. Borg. lat. 425.
Codices e Vaticanis Selecti, LXIII. Zürich: Belser Verlag, 1986. 33 x 46 cm, 2 vols, 138, 64 pp.

Glorious full-color facsimile of a festive Christmas Missal copied c.1493-94 (by “Luca”) at the beginning of the papacy of Alexander VI. One of the most beautiful mss of the Renaissance, with 136 initials and numerous miniatures, including 2 very large miniatures. Stupendous use of goldleaf. Handbound in full calf with contemporary tooling and stamped gold emblems. 2 shell-shaped hinges in handworked brass. Introduction by Adalbert Roth. Limited numbered edition of 600. [5009] 

[Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, ser.nov.2700]
Das Antiphonar von St. Peter (Codex vindobonensis S.N. 2700).
Codices Selecti, XXI. Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 1969-73. 31 x 43 cm, 304, 68; 848 pp.

This magnificient Codex was compiled c.1150 in Salzburg. 14 full-page and 2 half-page representations with initials in gold; 13 richly decorated calendar scenes, 50 half-page illuminations with dark violet lines on a green and blue background. More than 400 decorated initials. Many folios with musical notation of the St. Gall type. Separate commentary vol. Deluxe edition with heavy coverboards bound with pigskin. [3-201-00736-6] 

[Zürich, Alternierend Schweizerisches Landesmuseum & Museum des Kantons Thurgau, Frauenfeld, LM 26117]
Das Gradual von St. Katharinental um 1312. Wissenschaftliche bearbeitete Faksimile-Ausgabe.
Luzern: Faksimile-Verlag, 1979. 35 x 48 cm, 628 pp + commentary.

Deluxe full-color facsimile in the original format. From the same cultural environment as the “Manessiche Liederhandschrift”. 71 delicately painted miniatures and 13 magnificent ornamental initials, all richly embellished with gold leaf. A triumph of high Gothic art. Separate commentary volume. Limited numbered edition bound in full leather.