Prague notation
A fragment from a Choirbook, in Czech, manuscript on paper [Bohemia, late 15th century]
An exceptionally rare example of a 15th-century manuscript in the Czech vernacular.

c.300 x 220mm, 6 surviving lines written in brown ink in a formal Gothic bookhand, 7 lines in Prague notation (see previous lot) on a 5-line red staff with C-clef, initials in red (ink-erosion affecting the text, rubbed and faded). Sealed between perspex sheets and bound in limp vellum.

Provenance:
(1) Dr Friederich Georg Zeileis, of Linz, Austria.

(2) Jörn Günther, Hamburg, acquired in 1992 by:

(3) Schøyen Collection, MS 1572.

Text:
The hymns do not appear to be the database of Czech hymns, Hymnorum Thesaurus Bohemicus. The legible portion of the first line of the recto begins: '[...] by hodnay vcžinili vžitek' (in modern Czech transliteration this would be 'by hodný učinili užitek', 'so that they make good use'); the last line of the verso reads: 'kterauž gsy wykaupil swau' (or 'kterouž jsi vykoupil svou [...]', 'which you redeemed your [...]').