The 4 parchment leaves in the beginning and 3 at the end are probably old flyleaves. They are of a much thicker and rougher quality than the leaves of the textblock. The first flyleaf at the end has been foliated f. 610.
Edges trimmed, resulting in partial loss of running titles.
Layout
2
42–46
80 ×
55 mm
Script
Textblock
Hand 1
Late pregothic or early gothic textualis.
Additions
Binding/Endleaves
(LCI)
Top left corner, in black ink by a modern hand: A 168; upper parf of page in black ink by a modern hand: ‘Aflemnad från Rikz Arkivet 8 Juni 1883. 609 blad underbart fint pergmanet med underbart fin stil. Bibeltexten upptar 1117 sidor (blad 4v-562) Hieronymi epistola: blad 1-4r. Register: blad 563-609. Nya testementet börjar 452v. Initialer med menniskor och djur = 90 (60 i gamla 30 i nya testam.) Ungefär lika många utan bilder. Flera hundra små endast röda eller blå’. Bottom left corner, in pencil by a modern hand: measurements of the manuscript (smudged).
(f. SL4r)
Centre page, in ink by a modern/early modern hand: ‘Biblia Latine cum prologo S. Hieronymi’.
(f. 610r)
Brown ink by a medieval hand: list of books in the Old testament from Genesis to Job.
(RCI)
Bottom left corner, in ink by a modern hand: ‘S. W: 1954’.
Textblock
(ff. 1r–609v)
Occasional marks (nota marks?) and short additions by a later hand in the margins.
(f. 13v)
Bottom margin, addition with signe-de-renvoi by the scribe.
Decorations
Textblock
Main text in brown in, rubrics in red, capitals touched in red.
Each indivdual book is introduced by a historiated inital over 5 lines. The intials are outlined in black, painted in a pinkish brown with white highlights. They are placed on a background of blue with black outlines. The counterspace contains the historiated image related to the Bible book it introduces. Parts of the letter or the background often extend into the margin and may contain animal, knotwork or other geometric shapes, e.g. (f. 43vb) and (f. 175va).
Besides the begining of each new book the opening prologue also features a historiated intial. The Psalms contain 8 historiated intial.
(f. 4va): opening intial I, extending along the entire page.
(f. 453ra): Historiated inital L over 23 lines introducing the New Testament.
The prologues are introduced by a decorated initials over 5 lines, which feature animal and vegetative ornaments. The prologue to Proverb on (f. 276ra) contains the largest and most advanced form of this type of intial.
Individual paragraphs are introduced by a plain initials over 2 lines in alternating blue and red with flourishing in the contrasting colour. The initials and their flourishing often extend along the margin to create a boarder, e.g. (f. 454r).
Fore-edge, in ink: ‘26.28’.
Binding
Later medieval or early modern binding. Dark brown leather over wooded boards. 5 double raised bands and endbands. 2 straps with decorated hooked clasps, decorated studs on catchplates strap attachment. Spine, Stamped in gold: ‘BIBLIA LATINA’ and ‘A 168’.
125 ×
85 ×
60 mm
Blind tooled decoration consisting of panels and complex knot work.
Spine renovated with new leather. One strap missing. LCO and RCO, close to the outer edge, one hole above the upper clasp and three holes between the claps (perhaps attachement points). The clasps and studs are possibly later additions.
Origin and early provenance unknown. In the late 16th century the manuscript belonged to Paul Petau. It was then acquired from his collection by Queen Christina in 1650 (thus not included in Vossius's catalogue of 1649). Later the manuscript ended up in the National Archives.
It is believed that the numbers ‘26.28’ on f. SL7v and the Fore-edge refers to the Petau library.
According to a former librarian's note the manuscript may be related (same scribe or school) to MS A 167.
