Cincinnati Public Library Leaf 29
This leaf is from a French Book of Hours made in the middle of the fifteenth century. It measures only 18 x 13.5 cm, and its broad margins help emphasize the often dramatic difference between the size of a text block and the overall size of a leaf. The text block is ruled in red; first letters are decorated with gold, blue, light plum, and white. The ivy leaves are gold, with flowers and buds in the ivy rendered in medium green and blue, and occasionally red and plum. Some leaves have the marginal ivy on both the recto and verso. See Denison University Leaf 29 for more information about this manuscript.
Text: Based on the leaves we have seen, this Book of Hours accords with the Use of Rome. This leaf contains text from the Office for the Dead at Lauds, mostly the Song of Ezechias from Isaiah 38.
Cincinnati Leaf 29 Recto
Cincinnati Public Library Leaf 29 Recto
Cincinnati Leaf 29 Recto Transcription
Deus deus meus adit. Ant. A porta inferi. Psalmus.
Ego dixi in dimidio dierum meorum: vadam ad portas inferi. Quaesivi residuum annorum meorum: dixi, non videbo Dominum Deum in terra viventium. Non aspiciam hominem ultra: et habitatorem quietis. Generatio mea ablata est: et convoluta est a me, quasi tabernaculum pastorum. Praecisa est velut a texente vita mea, dum adhuc ordirer, succidit me: De ma-
Cincinnati Leaf 29 Recto Translation
God, my God. Ant. From the gate of hell. Psalm.
[Isaiah 38] I have said in the midst of my days, shall I go to the gates of hell. I have sought the residue of my years: I have said, I shall not see our Lord God in the land of the living. I shall behold man no more: and the inhabiter of rest. My generation is taken away: and is wrapped up from me as the tents of shepherds. My life is cut off as by a weaver, while I yet began, he cut me off...
Cincinnati Leaf 29 Verso
Cincinnati Public Library Leaf 29 Verso
Cincinnati Leaf 29 Verso Transcription
-ne usque ad vesperam finies me. Sperabam usque ad mane: quasi leo sic contrivit omnia ossa mea. De mane usque ad vesperam finies me: sicut pullus hirundinis, sic clamabo, meditabor ut columba. Attenuati sunt oculi mei: suspicientes in excelsum. Domine vim patior, responde pro me: quid dicam, aut quid respondebit mihi, cum ipse fecerim? Recogitabo tibi omnes annos meos: in amaritudine animae meae. Domine si
Cincinnati Leaf 29 Verso Translation
[contines Isaiah 38] ...from morning unto night thou wilt make an end of me. I hope even until the morning: as a lion so hath he broken all my bones. From morning, until evening thou wilt make an end of me: as a young swallow, so will I cry, I will meditate as a dove. Mine eyes are weakened: looking up on high. Lord I suffer violence, answer for me: what shall I say or what shall he answer me, whereas myself have done it? I will recount all my years: in the bitterness...