CARMELITE BREVIARY.

£27,500 · Offered by Sokol Books

Provenance: Written and decorated for use by a Carmelite friar in the fifteenth century, main text opening “Incipit breviarium secundum ordinem fratrum gloriose virginis marie de monte carmelli” and entries in the Calendar specific to that Order. In March for the saint-doctors “ordinis Camelitarum”; St. Albert of Jerusalem on 7 August as “ordis car” (introduced in 1411); St. Martial of Limoges on 7 July, whose feast was introduced by the Carmelites; St. Blaise on his distinctively Carmelite feast on 23 January, “montis carmelli”; St. Cyril of Constantinople an early prior of the Order, “ordinis camelitarum” on 6 March; among others. Due to the movement of Carmelite friars over large distances, their books often reflect influences from a number of places; here the script and most of the decoration is Italian, while a single initial, bicoloured grounds with very French looking spiky seed pods, points towards France. The Calendar reflects the geographical distribution of the Order (see below) with predominantly Italian, southern and central French saints, and very occasional Englishmen such as St. Richard of Chichester. The book was most probably carried by its original owner from Italy to southern France, and then survived the following centuries in a French convent until the secularisation of religious houses around 1800, and the spilling of the libraries of religious institutions onto the open market. Most probably owned by Amans Alexis Monteil (1769-1850)

• Binding: Hardcover

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