United Kingdom - England; Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt (ADEVA)

The Bestiary MS Ashmole 1511 of the Bodleian Library, Oxford Offered is the complete facsimile edition of the famous Oxford bestiary MS Ashmole 1511, published in 1982 by the Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt (ADEVA) in Graz as Volume LXXVI of the Codices Selecti series. The medieval original is today housed in the Bodleian Library in Oxford and was produced at the beginning of the 13th century in England. It is regarded as one of the most important illuminated bestiaries of the Middle Ages. The manuscript combines depictions of real and fantastical animals with religious and moral interpretations. The Bodleian Library dates the original to the early 13th century. The complete color facsimile comprises 244 pages in the original format of approximately 28 × 18 cm and contains around 130 miniatures, many of them on richly gold-ground backgrounds. The individual leaves were trimmed in accordance with the form of the original. Special numbering K39 The offered copy bears the number K39. The ADEVA print run consisted of 980 numbered copies. Of these, 100 copies (I–C) were reserved for a special edition with hand-applied gold foil; the remaining 880 copies carry the conventional gold reproduction. From these 880 copies, 270 copies were specifically reserved for the KASI Vertriebs GmbH and numbered separately from K1 to K270. The copy offered here carries the number K39. This special KASI subedition is also bibliographically or antiquarianly documented. Included with the facsimile is the scholarly commentary volume by Franz Unterkircher, with transcription of the Latin text and a German translation. The facsimile features a luxurious blind-embossed full leather binding. Its design is inspired by a Romanesque binding from the holdings of the Austrian National Library in Vienna. Contents: Facsimile of MS Ashmole 1511, exemplar K39; commentary volume by Franz Unterkircher; decorative original case/coffer. Important note on the appearance of the pages The discolorations, stains, signs of use, historical entries, and irregularities visible on the photographed manuscript pages are part of the faithful facsimile reproduction of the medieval manuscript and are not to be equated with corresponding storage or usage damage to this exemplar. The facsimile edition was explicitly designed as a complete reproduction of the original; even the folio shape was reproduced according to the original. A particularly vivid example are the early leaves with historical entries and the building drawing that I photographed. The Bodleian Library documents these later additions exactly on fol. 1r–3v of the original, including the ex-libris Peter Manwood’s and the pencil drawing of a building. Condition: The offered exemplar has been stored carefully and dry. The facsimile, binding, commentary volume, and case are all in very good condition. The photographs are part of the condition description.

Estimate:$504.19

View all items fromCatawikiorBooks, Maps & Manuscripts