218J Two Bifolia written in a minuscule from late 11th or early 12th century proto gothic book hand.(early form of Gothic script of the 11th and 12th centuries)
¶One bifolum. measures 340 x 234 mm and consists of 32 lines on both sides . ¶ Bifolum two measurse 330 x223mm and consists of 28 and 28 1/2
These two bifolia at one time were the paste down and end pages for a 13th century brevary, they have been expertly removed from the binding ard are very legable. These leves are from the library of Herbert Bloch, Pope Professor of the Latin Language and Literature, at Harvard from 1941 to 1983 He served as President of Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America (1990–93). He was the author of The Atina Dossier of Peter the Deacon of Monte Cassino. A Hagiographical Romance of the Twelfth Century published in the series Studi e Testi 346 (1998).
The second Bifolium…
What I can say about identification:
The script is easy to read as the letters conform to the type of the Caroline minuscule predecessor, except that the letters have-not become angular but DO have developed feet. The individual letters are well separated and there are no incomprehensible rows of minims. Letters such as h, b and l have wedged ascenders . The letter s is tall and t is short sometimes . There is no j, k, y or z in the example, but the letter w DOEs Not appear. The ST ligature appears, as found in some very formal Caroline minuscule text.
The vellum is swarthy and is with easily visible guide incisions.
The wonder fold!
The binder who (had to?) use these leaves as scrap was thinking of use, waste and time. On the first (larger) Bifolia, He decided to fold rather than trim the text!
Yes bad picture but a reverse “Z” fold.
folded
unfolded!
and The Binder watched the margins!
CLaMM (Classification of Latin Medieval Manuscripts) corpus, which is the basis for the Competitions on the Classification of Medieval Handwritings in Latin Script, jointly organized by Computer Scientists and Humanists (paleographers) at ICFHR2016 and ICDAR2017.
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