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BREVIARY, in Glagolitic – Breviarium Romanum Glagoiticum. Venice: Andreas Torresanus, de Asula, 13 March 1493.
Rediscovered copy of the third Glagotic incunable, one of only 6 known copies, from the Renaissance library of Hieronymous Paumgärtner of Nuremberg.
Glagolitic has played an important role in the cultural identity of the Slavs since its invention by SS Cyril and Methodius in the 9th century. The brothers were sent by the Byzantine Emperor Michael III to what is today the Czech-Slovakia border to bring the teachings of the Church to the Slavs; their mission was also politically motivated to counter the spread of Frankish influence. Soon after the death of Methodius, however, the Franks expelled the Slavic mission to Macedonia, Croatia and elsewhere and Glagolitic became a symbol of especially Croatian national identity. In the 13th century the Croatian clergy were granted a papal privilege to celebrate the Roman liturgy in their vernacular language of Church Slavonic written in Glagolitic characters.
The 1493 Glagolitic Breviary is the first production of Blaz Baromic, who established the first press in Croatia the following year. A priest, scribe of at least one Glagolitic Breviary (1460), canon and jurist at Senj, Baromic may have been sent to Venice specifically to learn the art of printing. The type used here was cut specifically for this work and shows the split-letter ligatures (elements are cast as separate pieces of type) which characterise the Glagolitic types used by Baromic. The type was used again in 1528 for a Glagolitic Missal printed at the Bindoni-Pasini press. The 1493 Breviary was preceded into print by a 1483 Missal and a Breviary of c.1491-2, each printed at a different anonymous shop. Its text is based on Franciscan use collated from various sources and has no identical predecessor.
No other copy has been on the market since 1895, when one was offered by Ludwig Rosenthal Antiquariat in catalogue 1007. The other five known copies are at Munich, Sibiu, Milan and Zagreb (2 copies) and all are imperfect. The calendar in the present copy has been supplied in early manuscript. The hand is nearly an exact replica of the type, and the text is close but not identical to the printed calendar.
Printed for the Croatian community, the present copy shows many signs of having been in contemporary Croatian hands. Its binding shows Italian and Germanic influences without being wholly typical of either, and with its pastedowns from earlier Glagolitic manuscripts, it is highly likely that the binding is indeed Croatian. By the end of the 16th century it was at Nuremberg in the ownership of Hieronymous Paumgärtner the Younger. Christine Sauer (In Einbandforschung 22, April 2008) notes that books with his gilt supralibros and initials were considered part of the Nuremberg City Library rather than the Paumgärtner private library. The volume is recorded by Murr in his 18th-century catalogue of the Nuremberg library and was presumably among the many books taken by the French at the end of the Napoleonic wars. Christie’s is grateful to Randall Herz and Karen Limper-Herz for their assistance on the binding and provenance. H *3833; GW 5171; IGI 2142; BSB-Ink B-903; Bohatta (LB) 214; see B. Grabar, Slovo 34 (1984), pp. 159-80.
Chancery octavo (135 x 98mm). Collation: p8 (calendar); a-h8 (Psalter); i-z & ? [orum] aa-ii8 (Proprium de tempore); ll-z && ?? 2[orum] aaa-eee8 fff4 (Proprium de Sanctis); ggg-mmm8 (Commune Sanctorum, mmm8r colophon, mmm8v printer’s device); [1]12 [2]8 [3]4 [5]8 (Offices for the Sacraments, etc). 505 leaves (of 544, lacking the first quire, a2.7, bb4.5, ggg8, quire k, and the last 22 leaves; the calendar and fos. a2.7, bb4.5 and ggg8 supplied in contemporary manuscript). 32-33 lines. Type: 9*:92G, 13*:63 glagolitic; 23:80G. Printed in red and black, woodcut initials. (Fo. E3 torn without loss, two lvs. torn with loss of a few words, gg7 defective with loss replaced in ms., some soiling and staining, a few headlines shaved.) Contemporary ?Croatian calf over wooden boards tooled in blind, sides with a pinecone and rosette border, central panel with 3 chequered lozenges, gilt supralibros and initials of Hieronymous Paumgärtner of Nuremberg, spine tooled with zig-zag fillets, two fore-edge clasps, one tooled with VE, ms. fragments from two 14th-century Glagolitic manuscripts (one clasp missing, remains of paper spine labels, slightly worn). Provenance: Hieronymus Paumgärtner the Younger (d. 1602; binding; given to:) – Nuremberg Stadtbibliothek (armorial supralibros, paper label incorporating arms of of Lukas Friedrich Behaim von Schwarzbach, 1587-1648, Kirchenpfleger).
Rediscovered copy of the third Glagotic incunable, one of only 6 known copies, from the Renaissance library of Hieronymous Paumgärtner of Nuremberg.
Glagolitic has played an important role in the cultural identity of the Slavs since its invention by SS Cyril and Methodius in the 9th century. The brothers were sent by the Byzantine Emperor Michael III to what is today the Czech-Slovakia border to bring the teachings of the Church to the Slavs; their mission was also politically motivated to counter the spread of Frankish influence. Soon after the death of Methodius, however, the Franks expelled the Slavic mission to Macedonia, Croatia and elsewhere and Glagolitic became a symbol of especially Croatian national identity. In the 13th century the Croatian clergy were granted a papal privilege to celebrate the Roman liturgy in their vernacular language of Church Slavonic written in Glagolitic characters.
The 1493 Glagolitic Breviary is the first production of Blaz Baromic, who established the first press in Croatia the following year. A priest, scribe of at least one Glagolitic Breviary (1460), canon and jurist at Senj, Baromic may have been sent to Venice specifically to learn the art of printing. The type used here was cut specifically for this work and shows the split-letter ligatures (elements are cast as separate pieces of type) which characterise the Glagolitic types used by Baromic. The type was used again in 1528 for a Glagolitic Missal printed at the Bindoni-Pasini press. The 1493 Breviary was preceded into print by a 1483 Missal and a Breviary of c.1491-2, each printed at a different anonymous shop. Its text is based on Franciscan use collated from various sources and has no identical predecessor.
No other copy has been on the market since 1895, when one was offered by Ludwig Rosenthal Antiquariat in catalogue 1007. The other five known copies are at Munich, Sibiu, Milan and Zagreb (2 copies) and all are imperfect. The calendar in the present copy has been supplied in early manuscript. The hand is nearly an exact replica of the type, and the text is close but not identical to the printed calendar.
Printed for the Croatian community, the present copy shows many signs of having been in contemporary Croatian hands. Its binding shows Italian and Germanic influences without being wholly typical of either, and with its pastedowns from earlier Glagolitic manuscripts, it is highly likely that the binding is indeed Croatian. By the end of the 16th century it was at Nuremberg in the ownership of Hieronymous Paumgärtner the Younger. Christine Sauer (In Einbandforschung 22, April 2008) notes that books with his gilt supralibros and initials were considered part of the Nuremberg City Library rather than the Paumgärtner private library. The volume is recorded by Murr in his 18th-century catalogue of the Nuremberg library and was presumably among the many books taken by the French at the end of the Napoleonic wars. Christie’s is grateful to Randall Herz and Karen Limper-Herz for their assistance on the binding and provenance. H *3833; GW 5171; IGI 2142; BSB-Ink B-903; Bohatta (LB) 214; see B. Grabar, Slovo 34 (1984), pp. 159-80.
Chancery octavo (135 x 98mm). Collation: p8 (calendar); a-h8 (Psalter); i-z & ? [orum] aa-ii8 (Proprium de tempore); ll-z && ?? 2[orum] aaa-eee8 fff4 (Proprium de Sanctis); ggg-mmm8 (Commune Sanctorum, mmm8r colophon, mmm8v printer’s device); [1]12 [2]8 [3]4 [5]8 (Offices for the Sacraments, etc). 505 leaves (of 544, lacking the first quire, a2.7, bb4.5, ggg8, quire k, and the last 22 leaves; the calendar and fos. a2.7, bb4.5 and ggg8 supplied in contemporary manuscript). 32-33 lines. Type: 9*:92G, 13*:63 glagolitic; 23:80G. Printed in red and black, woodcut initials. (Fo. E3 torn without loss, two lvs. torn with loss of a few words, gg7 defective with loss replaced in ms., some soiling and staining, a few headlines shaved.) Contemporary ?Croatian calf over wooden boards tooled in blind, sides with a pinecone and rosette border, central panel with 3 chequered lozenges, gilt supralibros and initials of Hieronymous Paumgärtner of Nuremberg, spine tooled with zig-zag fillets, two fore-edge clasps, one tooled with VE, ms. fragments from two 14th-century Glagolitic manuscripts (one clasp missing, remains of paper spine labels, slightly worn). Provenance: Hieronymus Paumgärtner the Younger (d. 1602; binding; given to:) – Nuremberg Stadtbibliothek (armorial supralibros, paper label incorporating arms of of Lukas Friedrich Behaim von Schwarzbach, 1587-1648, Kirchenpfleger).
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