Notes: [1] The scribe probably began the manuscript in Prague but finished it at the castle of Lipnice. At the end of Revelation, on folio 393, it says, “Finished in the year of our Lord 1421.” The gold colophon below it adds, “(Here) the shield of faith ends, with which the sons of God fight; the eye of the just, the stumbling block of the non-believers. Matthias’s of Raudnitz.” This is apparently a reference to the Hussites, who had taken control of Prague. Lucie Doležalová (2021) pointed out that the use of the genitive case in the name Matthias indicates that he was the owner of the manuscript rather than the scribe, as had been previously thought. Another colophon appears on folio 420 after the index of Hebrew names, saying, “In the year of our Lord 1421, in the month of May, finished in Lipnice.” Lipnice is about 65 miles to the southeast of Prague, where the scribe probably started the manuscript.[2] His bookplate on the front pastedown, with a second one indicating this was manuscript number 125. Perrins, a noted British bibliophile, was the son of one of the creators of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce and ran the company after his father’s death. The date derives from the manuscript’s inclusion in the 1920 catalog of Perrins’s collection by Sir George Warner, which also said that it was purchased privately (https://archive.org/details/PerrinsManuscriptsText/page/n323/mode/2up) [3] Sotheby’s, London, November 29, 1960, Lot 118. After Perrins’s death, Sotheby’s auctioned off his collection of manuscripts in three separate auctions. [4] Sotheby’s, London, A Third Selection of Illuminated Manuscripts from the Tenth to the Sixteenth Century: The Property of Mr. J.R. Ritman Sold for the Benefit of the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, Amsterdam, June 17, 2003, Lot 15. The bookplate of Ritman’s Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica is on the front pastedown. [5] The dealer’s notes do not provide a date for Ritman’s re-acquisition of the manuscript, just that he did. [6] Newenza’s website says, “Recently one of our associated companies has been involved in the purchase of a rare collection of antique books, which are now being sold worldwide, customers range from private collectors, museums, Sotheby's and Christies” (http://www.newenza.com/international_trade.html). [7] The Green Collection purchased the manuscript through Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books AG in Stalden, Switzerland, where it was on consignment from Newenza.

Published References:

Lucie Doležalová and Karel Pacovský, eds., Lipnická bible. Štít víry v neklidných časech pozdního středověku (Lipnice Bible. Shield of Faith in the Turbulent Times of the Late Middle Ages) (Spolek Za záchranu rodného domu Jana Zrzavého: Okrouhlice, Czech Republic, 2021).

Lucie Doležalová, “Lipnická bible (Museum of the Bible, Oklahoma City, Green Collection MS 486) (The Bible of Lipnice),” Ubi este finis huius libri deus scit: Medieval Library of Augustinian Canons in Roudnice nad Labem, M. Dragoun, L. Doležalová, and A. Ebersonová eds. (Scriptorium: Prague, 2015), 262–267.

Gabriele Bartz, Marion Hanke, and Beatrix Zumbült, Pagina Sacra: Bibles and Biblical Texts, 1050–1511, Catalog 10 (Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books AG: Stalden, Switzerland, 2011).

George Warner, Descriptive Catalog of Illuminated Manuscripts in the Library of C. W. Dyson Perrins, D.C.L., F.S.A., v. 1 (University Press: Oxford, 1920).