Prague notation
Two leaves from a Hymnal, in Latin, manuscript on paper [Czech Republic, late 15th century (after 1481)].
Two leaves from a Czech hymnal, with later Prague notation.

290 x 210mm, 2 consecutive leaves, foliated 15 and 16 in pencil, and three small fragments (likely used as guards), 27 lines written in black ink in a cursive Gothic bookhand, later Prague notation on a 4-line staff in brown with C- and F-clefs, initials alternately in red or blue (edges a little frayed, some marginal thumbing).

Provenance:
(1) The leaves were ff.15-16, bound with 16 others (see Schøyen Collection MS 88) at the end of an incunable Psalter in a rare binding associated with Blasius Orger of Prague, printed at Magdeburg by Bartholomaeus Ghotan in 1481 (Proctor 2753) and sold at Sotheby's New York, Incunables from the Schøyen Collection, 12 December 1991, lot 36. The incunable, with the leaves still bound inside, contained a purchase inscription of 'Adamus Derogarius, decanus' dated 1592. A hymn for the Feast of St John the Baptist, 'O nimis felix' has been added in a 16th-century hand on the verso of the first of the two leaves offered here. The incunable was sold by:

(2) Björck & Börjesson, Stockholm, One Hundred interesting books on various subjects, cat. 520 (1987), no 128, and subsequently:

(3) H.P. Kraus, New York, acquired in 1988 by:

(4) Schøyen Collection, where these leaves became MS 87.

Text and music:
The leaves were described in both the Björck & Börjesson and Kraus catalogues as containing metrical hymns. Likely from a Hymnal, the hymns included here are from the Feasts of Corpus Christi, beginning on f.15: 'In mortem a discipulo suis tradendus emulis', followed on the verso by the vespers hymn for the Feast of St John the Baptist: 'Ut queant laxis resonare fibris', and on f.16v 'Aurea luce et decore roseo' from the Feast of Sts Peter and Paul, here ending: 'Ianitor celi doctor orbis pariter iudices [saecli vera mundi lumina]'. The later Prague notation, where the notes are represented by rhombuses is comparable, for example, to that found in a Gradual from Hradec Králové (CZ-HK 40 [II A 2]).