A LEAF FROM A TWELFTH-CENTURY CISTERCIAN MISSAL, in Latin, [southern Germany or Austria, possibly Linz, second half 12th century]

A beautiful leaf from a 12th-century Cistercian Missal once owned by Otto Ege (1888-1951), controversial self-proclaimed biblioclast. While the use of multi-coloured initials was banned by Cistercian statutes, the ban was widely ignored, and the punctus flexus punctuation found here is typical of books written for the Order.

The leaf opens with the antiphon for Easter Sunday 'Resurrexi et adhuc tecum sum'.

Provenance:
- Ege himself took this manuscript to be Spanish, but the Missal is now thought to be either south German or, more probably, Austrian. The parent manuscript included on f.105v an added Mass for St Robert of Molesmes, co-founder of Cîteaux, canonised in 1222.
- The parent manuscript (with 173 leaves and 13 large initials) was no 17 in the c.1928 auction catalogue of EMIL HIRSCH (1866-1954). Peter Kidd points out that Hirsch also owned two other manuscripts now at the British Library, both from Cistercian houses in southern Germany or Austria, one of which may have been written in 1191 for the Abbey of Wilhering, west of Linz.
- ARNOLD METTLER (1867-1945) of St Gallen: his sale, 30 November 1948, lot 317.
- OTTO EGE (1888-1951) of Cleveland, Ohio, who broke it up for inclusion in his portfolios of Fifty Original Leaves from Medieval Manuscripts, Western Europe, XII-XVI Century [c.1950]. Leaves of this manuscript from thirteen Ege portfolios are listed and reproduced on the Denison University website, and a group of 26 leaves was sold from the Ege estate at Sotheby's, 26 November 1985, lot 44. Three leaves were sold at Christie’s, 9 July 2001, lot 2; one 20 November 2002, lot 1; another 20 November, 2013, lot 21; and another was Sam Fogg, Catalogue 16, 1995, no 25.

Measurements:
345 x 240 mm. 24 lines written in a fine formal angular gothic bookhand in brown ink.

Bibliography:
P. Kidd, ‘A 12th-century Cistercian Missal Formerly Owned by Otto Ege’, in Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, [18 August 2015].
M. Manion, V. Vines & C. de Hamel, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in New Zealand collections, 1989, no 113.

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