Institutio Christianae Religionis, Johanne Calvino Authore. Quae ad superiores editiones hac postrema, omnium emendatissima locupletissimaque, recens addita sunt, statim post ipsius authoris Epistolam ad Regem Christianiss. Subjecta ad lectorem admonitio breuiter indicat. Genevae: Johannem le Preux, 1592, folio.
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The manuscript vellum binding contains parts of Luke 9:30-33 from St Jerome's Latin Vulgate put to musical notation (Jesus' Transfiguration). It is very large and thus was clearly produced for use in a monastery or large church. The manuscript binding is original to the book which is very interesting, particularly given its Roman Catholic nature. This binding was part of a discarded medieval manuscript put to new use following the reforms of the Council of Trent etc, especially since it's on Calvin's Institutio! The manuscript used for the binding dates from circa 1400-1450, most likely towards the later end of that range. This is most likely because of the square neumes and four line staff, as well as the Gothic textura script and red rubrication. This must have originated from a very large antiphonary, gradual, or missal from a monastic or ecclesiastical institution, and is quite possibly all that remains of that original very large manuscript.
The binding really is a fascinating historical juxtaposition demonstrative of the transition between the earlier Catholic tradition and the new Reformed Protestantism. It seems at least quite probable that the use of this manuscript binding was a conscious decision to bind a copy of Calvin's Institutio to convey that early Protestantism. It is worth noting that particularly because of the preservation of the manuscript binding where most have degraded and been rebound or are anachronistic, it is a fantastic historic artifact in its own right, beyond just a fine 16th century edition of Calvin's Institutio, it is an entirely unique book of particular interest to the history of Reformed theology.
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Size: 236 x 364 mm (approx.)
Condition:
[(2), *⁶, ¶⁶-¶¶⁶, †-††††⁶, (⁶), a-z⁶, A-Z⁶, 2A-2F⁶, (2)]
Contemporary (original) manuscript full vellum binding using an earlier, most likely 15th century manuscript. The vellum is a little discoloured in places but generally extremely well preserved, significantly better than typical manuscript bindings of the 16th century. There is a thin vertical break along the spine, no effect to page block, some minor losses to extremities of the backstrip, slightly raised with minor tears. The binding is secure, without restoration. Ownership inscription to head of front pastedown dated 1826 and a small shelf reference to the head of the blank verso. The book collates as complete including the original blanks according to the WorldCat copies; there are 54 and 312 fols, the first being unnumbered. The text block has some very minor occasional dampstaining, but is generally very well preserved indeed, generally free of marginalia - an extremely clean copy.
[OCLC 906850965].
