James, M.R

The Canterbury Psalter

      Printed and published for the Friends of Canterbury Cathedral, by Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., Ltd, London, first edition, 1935. Limited edition of 450 copies, of which this is one of the 425 numbered copies. Cloth, top edge gilt, gilt cover device, 4to, 34 cm,. Copy No. 300. Most of lower half of rear board rubbed and discoloured from old dampstaining, also affecting rear free endpaper, faint yellowing to prelims and rear endpapers, edges slightly spotted, otherwise near Very Good. xv, 59, [1] pp, 286 leaves of plates ( 4 colour, others monochrome). A full facsimile of the most richly illuminated twelfth-century English book ( Trinity College, Cambridge, R. 17.1) one of England's greatest works of art. From the introduction: "The primary object of the present introduction is to furnish an explanation of the pictures in this famous manuscript. With the written text I am not so nearly concerned, though much of it is of the highest interest, and, naturally, enough will have to be said about it to give the reader his bearings..[The manuscript] was written at Christ Church, Canterbury, about the middle of the twelfth century by a scribe named Eadwine, a monk of the house..." Contents: The Canterbury Psalter: its externals: history: contents; The Kalendar; The text of the Psalter: the three versions: the glosses; The illustrations: the source, the Utrecht Psalter, its origin and history; Description of the illustrations of Ps. i-cl; Other copies of the Utrecht Psalter, Harley 603, Paris Lat. 8846; Structure of the Canterbury Psalter; Numbering of the Psalms; Other methods of illustrating the Psalter; Extracts from the Kalendar; Description of the illustrations of the Canticles, etc.; The plan of the waterworks of the monastery of Christ Church; Index of Subjects represented.