Biblia Vulgata. Latin.

In-8° manuscript on very fine vellum (c. 16 x 105 cm) : [iii]+ccccix (= 409, old pen foliation)+[xliv] ff. (= 456 ff.), expertly written in black/brown ink in a tiny hand, 2 columns of 50 ll. (writing area c. 10,5 x 7,4 cm). In very good condition (occasional light toning, soiling and thumbing, bottom margin of f. 1 cut off with loss of ms. ownership entry and underlaid, a few small marginal tears).

Modern binding : blind-stamped gray gold goatskin, covers with blind ornamental border, blind decorated spine on 5 raised bands, blind decorated inside border, yellow edges, marbled endpapers, silk marker.

Contents : f. [i]r "Tabula huius biblie"; ff. [i]v-[iii]r blank; f. [iii]v numbered list of biblical books; ff. 1r-408r Bible (incl. Prologue); ff. 408r-409v + [35v-37v] index (in a different, personal, hand); ff. [1r-35v] Index of names "Interpretaciones Bibliothecae" (written in the style of the Bible text); ff. [38r-41v] survey of biblical readings for sundays and saints’ days; ff. [42r-44v] personal notes (?). Decoration : usual red and blue headlines, initials and marginal penwork throughout; over 40 4-line initials; over 60 6/8-line initials with decorative penwork along the column’s margin; f. 1r nice historiated inital (St Jerome, or a copyist?, writing); on f. 3v a marginal decorative strip with 7 scenes from the Life of Christ (added from a later manuscript ?); on f. 202 a similar narrower strip; some 40 coloured marginal decorations on ff. 247v, 267r, 295v, 298v, 299r, 301v, 302r, 303v, 304r, 304v, 305r, 309r, 309v, 320r, 327r, 337v, 344r, 344v, 355v, 364r, 368r, 372r, 374v, 376r, 377v, 378v, 379v, 380r, 380v, 381r, 382r, 382v, 383r, 383v, 386v, 398r, 398v, 399v, 401v, 402r, 403r, 403v, 404r. Provenance : (1). at top of f. [42]r “Ista biblia fuit dominj Henrici de monte | p(rae)positi Fulien(sis) adam quam dedit huic mon(aster)io | [...]" (crossed out), perhaps from the Abbatia Fuliensis = the Cistercian Feuillant Abbey at Labastide-Clermont (Haute-Garonne).-- (2). small armorial stamp at bottom of f. 2r (unidentified).-- (3). 19th-c. etched bookplate by Félix Dupont (1848-1897) of Achille Kühnholtz-Lordat, Montpellier journalist and collector (1820-1893).-- (4). [Georges Petit].