An exceptionally early survival from early fifteenth century Nuremberg, this diminutive, beautifully illuminated Prayerbook is signed and dated by the scribe.

v + 214 + v leaves, unfoliated, heavily cropped, lacking at least thirteen leaves with eight stubs before f. 1 (all with traces of writing or decoration), and four additional stubs following ff. 88, 129, 167, and 171 [collation: i¹⁰, ii–iii¹⁰, iv¹²⁺¹, v–ix¹⁰, x¹⁰⁻¹, xi¹⁰, xii⁸, xiii¹⁰⁺¹, xiv¹⁰⁻¹, xv–xvi⁸, xvii¹², xviii⁸ , xix¹²⁻¹, xx⁸, xxi¹⁰, xxii⁸, xxiii¹⁰] written on ten long lines (Nuremberg dialect) in a formal Gothic textura bookhand in two different sizes and various shades of brown ink (clear change of color, but not hand, e.g., f. 99, lines 1–2, and f. 204v, lines 2–3), single vertical and horizontal bounding lines, ruled in light brown ink (justification 36 mm × 32 mm), rubrics and paragraph marks in red, one-line capital letters slashed in red throughout (trimmed), two-line burnished gold initials against cusped blue and pink grounds, outlined in black pen; verses marked by one-line initials in burnished gold with delicate purple fleuronnée decoration extending into the margins where initials adjoin the edge of the text block, and occasionally elsewhere (as on f. 54v), an unusual decorative feature, SEVENTEEN HISTORIATED INITIALS accompanied by prolific border decoration, TWO FULL-PAGE ILLUMINATIONS. Bound in early (sixteenth-century?) tan-colored silk with lozenge pattern over dark wooden boards, spine with two supports, one pair of green silk ribbons (frayed), generally in good condition, though heavily cropped, affecting some border illumination, and somewhat rubbed in places. Dimensions 71 mm × 60 mm.

Provenance
(1) Dated 1423 by both its Easter Table (ff. 5r–5v) and its colophon (f. 214r), the book was written by one Paul Mülich of Nuremberg, who is known to have died between 18 September and 18 December 1443: “Explicit libellus iste. Anno Domini millesimo quadringentesimo vicesimo tercio. In crastino beati Bartholomei [i.e., on 25 August]. Permanet Pauli Mülich. Civis Nüremberge.” Nothing else is known of Mülich. In Nuremberg, however, the name is associated with the wealthy merchant family better known from later fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century documents for its extensive trading interests, which extended to the annual fairs in Frankfurt and, through Lübeck, to the Hanseatic League. There is no evidence to link the present Paul Mülich directly to this family. Nevertheless, given the book’s extraordinarily luxurious character, still apparent despite its damaged condition, the possibility cannot be ruled out (see Fritz Rörig, “Das Einkaufsbüchlein der Nürnberg-Lübecker Mulichs auf der Frankfurter Fastenmesse 1495,” in Wirtschaft im Mittelalter, ed. Paul Kaegbein, Weimar, 1959, pp. 288–350 and Carl Friedrich Wehrmann, “Briefe an Matthias Mulich, geschrieben im Jahre 1523,” Zeitschrift des Vereins für Lübeckische Geschichte und Altertumskunde 2 [1867], p. 296). The presence of both German and Latin texts indicates that the present manuscript was intended for private lay devotion rather than clerical use. A single masculine ending (Sunder, f. 157v) suggests, though does not prove, that the original owner was male.

(2) Seventeenth-century ownership inscription (?) “Tobias M,” written in black ink at the head of f. 142v.

(3) Nineteenth-century ownership inscription, “Elan(or?)a Bul(?)ning (?)” written in brown ink on front flyleaf, partially illegible.

(4) Private European Collection.

Text
ff. 1–4v, Calendar (incomplete, beginning with September); ff. 5r–5v, Easter Table for the years 1423–1447; ff. 6–11, instructions and tables for calculating Easter and the weeks between Christmas and White Sunday (the Sunday after Easter); f. 9, ruled but blank; ff. 11v–18v, prayers for Confession; ff. 19–34v, Hours of the Passion, including First Vespers, Compline, Matins, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Second Vespers, and Second Compline; ff. 35–74v, Seven Penitential Psalms, Litany, and petitions, including Saints Oswald, Erasmus, Gall, Otto, Henry, Sebald, Ulrich, Willibald, Gumpert, Odilia, Kunigunde, Bridget, and Ursula; ff. 75–78v, prayers on the Passion of Christ; ff. 79–88v, prayer attributed to Saint Augustine (ending imperfectly due to an excised leaf); ff. 89–94, series of nine prayers; ff. 94v–95v, prayers to the Guardian Angel and various saints; ff. 95v–108v, Suffrages, including Saint John the Baptist, the Three Kings, Saint Jerome, Saint Erasmus, and Saint Nicholas; ff. 109–112v, prayers for the Dead; ff. 113–115, prayers for obtaining indulgences in church; ff. 115v–116v, eleven prayers for members of different orders of society (ending imperfectly due to an excised leaf); ff. 130–142, Johannes von Neumarkt, Tagzeiten zum Leiden Christi (Hours of the Passion of Christ), beginning imperfectly; ff. 143–149r, prayers before and after receiving the Eucharist; ff. 149–152v, Heinrich Suso, Eucharistic prayer from the Büchlein der ewigen Weisheit; ff. 152v–165v, Eucharistic and devotional prayers to Christ and the Trinity, including the Anima Christi in German (ff. 165v–166r); ff. 166–167v, prayer following Communion; ff. 168r–179r, Mass of the Purification of the Virgin; ff. 179v–191v, Marian prayers, including an indulgenced prayer to the Virgin and a prayer attributed to Saint Bernard; ff. 192–203, devotional prayer (beginning imperfectly); f. 203v, ruled but blank; ff. 204–214, additional Marian prayers and prayers to Christ, including the German Recordare virgo mater, ending with the colophon of Paul Mülich of Nuremberg dated 1423.

Illumination
This manuscript is a classic liber precum, or prayer miscellany, a devotional genre that enjoyed immense popularity in late medieval Germany. Similar to Books of Hours, which dominated private devotion in France and the Low Countries but remained comparatively rare in German-speaking regions, these personalized collections gathered together prayers, offices, and devotional texts tailored to the spiritual needs of individual patrons. Although many of the prayers contained in the manuscript circulated widely in fifteenth-century German devotional compilations, the exceptional quality and originality of its illumination distinguish it from the vast majority of surviving German prayer books. Richly illuminated libri precum from this early in the fifteenth century are rare, particularly in Nuremberg, and the present manuscript represents an important witness to the city’s artistic production during the International Gothic period. Its figural style reflects the cosmopolitan character of Nuremberg around 1420, drawing especially upon Bohemian painting traditions in the elongated forms, soft modeling, and delicate expressions of its figures. The Last Judgment miniature (f. 35), for example, finds close comparison with a contemporary Bohemian-influenced leaf of the same subject (Munich, Graphische Sammlung, Inv.-Nr. 39836), while other aspects of the manuscript’s graceful figures, flowing draperies, and refined gestures recall the elegant courtly language found in Netherlandish works associated with the Master of the Morgan Infancy Cycle. Rather than belonging to a single local tradition, the manuscript reflects the complex artistic exchanges that shaped manuscript production across Europe around 1400.

The greatest achievement of the manuscript, however, lies in its extraordinary borders. Monumental curling acanthus, delicate penwork vines, brilliant flowers, birds, animals, and fantastic creatures transform the margins from simple decorative frames into some of the most inventive elements of the book. While certain motifs recall Bohemian ornament, the decoration looks equally toward Netherlandish illumination. Its gold initials, lively foliage, and naturalistic marginal details find parallels in manuscripts associated with the Masters of Zweder van Culemborg and the Master of the Morgan Infancy Cycle, as well as the rich marginal worlds of works such as the Hours of Catherine of Cleves and Hours of Margaret of Cleves. Other elements, including bounding animals and fantastic creatures inhabiting fields of curling foliage, evoke the luxury manuscripts produced for the Visconti court in Milan, especially the celebrated Visconti Hours. This remarkable synthesis of Bohemian, Netherlandish, and Italianate traditions, combined with its energetic design and sophisticated use of color, makes the manuscript a significant monument of early fifteenth-century Nuremberg illumination and a rare survival from one of Germany’s most important artistic centers.

The subjects of the calendar illustrations, historiated initials, and miniatures are: ff. 1–4v, Calendar (incomplete, beginning with September), including Harvesting (September), Man Standing (October, subject uncertain), Slaughtering an Ox (November), and December (no longer legible); f. 19, Christ before an altar with chalice and Eucharistic wafer; f. 21v, Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane; f. 23, Christ before Annas or Caiaphas; f. 24v, Christ before Pilate; f. 25v, Mocking and Crowning with Thorns; f. 27v, Christ Nailed to the Cross; f. 29v, Crucifixion with the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Evangelist; f. 31, Deposition from the Cross with Nicodemus or Joseph of Arimathea; f. 32, Entombment; f. 35, Last Judgment (full-page miniature); f. 75, Man of Sorrows with the Arma Christi; f. 79, seated Christ Child holding an object, perhaps a small book; f. 89, Christ Carrying the Cross; f. 94v, seated angel with six additional angels within the initial; f. 95v, Saint John the Baptist with the Lamb of God; f. 107, Saint Nicholas in episcopal vestments; f. 115v, Throne of Mercy (Gnadenstuhl); f. 179, Virgin Mary holding an open book and surrounded by seven angels (large miniature); f. 204, Madonna of Humility holding the Christ Child, accompanied by a border inhabited by animals including a lion, dragon-like creature, stag, and hind.

LITERATURE
Unpublished; Related literature: Eberhard Lutze, “Nürnberger Malerei 1350–1450: Die Buchmalerei,” Anzeiger des Germanischen Nationalmuseums (1930–1931), pp. 7–21; Gerard Achten, Das christliche Gebetbuch im Mittelalter: Andachts- und Stundenbücher in Handschrift und Frühdruck, Berlin, 1980; Heinz Roosen-Runge and Marie Roosen-Runge, Das spätgotische Musterbuch des Stephan Schriber in der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek München, Cod. icon. 420, 3 vols., Wiesbaden, 1981; James H. Marrow, “Dutch Manuscript Illumination in Context: Encounters with the Art of France, the Southern Netherlands and Germany,” in Masters and Miniatures: Proceedings of the Congress on Medieval Manuscript Illumination in the Northern Netherlands (Utrecht, 10–13 December 1989), Koert van der Horst and Johann-Christian Klamt eds., Studies and Facsimiles of Netherlandish Illuminated Manuscripts 3, Doornspijk, 1991, pp. 55–88; Leonie von Wilckens, “Kunst in Nürnberg um 1400,” Anzeiger des Germanischen Nationalmuseums (1996), pp. 53–75; Regina Cermann, “Nürnberg,” in Katalog der deutschsprachigen illustrierten Handschriften des Mittelalters, Norbert H. Ott et al eds, vol. 5/1–2, Munich, 2002; Karl-Georg Pfändtner, “Das Missale ecclesiae Bambergensis der Stiftsbibliothek Göttweig und die Nürnberger Miniaturmalerei der ersten Hälfte des 15. Jahrhunderts,” Codices manuscripti 48/49 (2004), pp. 43–54; Jeffrey F. Hamburger, “The Book of Hours in Germany: Another Perspective,” in Books of Hours Reconsidered, Sandra Hindman and James H. Marrow, eds., London and Turnhout: Harvey Miller Publishers, 2013, pp. 97–152.

We thank Senior Consultant Sandra Hindman and Peter Bovenmyer for their assistance in preparing this sale.