UCLA Library Special Collections, A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library, Box 951575, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575. Email: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu. Phone: (310) 825-4973
Description
Rebound, probably in the 19th century. Upper board missing. Brown mottled calfskin over pasteboard, gold-tooled border using two different rolls. Some tools used to divide the spine into four panels, each wit ha floral tools in center. Edges of boards also gilt with one of the roll tools. Endbands of blue and pink silk, bead on the edge. Paper pastedowns. Edges sprinkled red. Spine lined with paper. Textblock split in two at spine, and appears to be sewn on three cords; but neither the sewing structure nor the board attachment is visible. The fore-edges of the text are have been severely trimmed (marginal decorations partially trimmed off). Some pages from another MS (or perhaps replacement pages written for missing leaves), done by a different scribe, have been used with the rest pf the text, as have some blank sheets. There are three tipped-in engravings taken from an Armenian printed book. The head of all of the original text was apparently damaged. Not a traditional Armenian binding. The codex has been extensively repaired. What was evidently the original portion is composed of folios of a thin white paper, which has also been used to repair the tops of many of the older sheets. The three engravings taken from a printed book are on yet a third king of paper, similar in color to the original folios but with a softer surface. They are glued onto sheets of the white paper.The book is broken into two almost equal halves. When the codex was rebound, the missing leaves were replaced, and a number of leaves were misbound. Despite these defects, the book is in a fairly good state of preservation. The illustrations of this codex consist of two headpieces (fols. 1 and 7), seven marginal palmettes, eighteen bird-form initials, and three tipped-in engragins cut from a printed book.The headpiece on fol. 1, which is on the white paper used for repairs, is drawn in swift strokes of red over a very faint brown underdrawing. On top, the traditional palmette forms have been reinterpreted with two concentric repeats of a silhouette of leaves, The field below is occupied by similar rilobes, fleshed out with hatching and sprouting leafy vines. THe headpiece on fol. 7, which is par of the original codex, contains two interlocking lozenges framing buds. The straight lines are ruler-drawn, the curves somewhat unsteady. The ground has been tinted red. Most of the headpiece’s marginal palmette has been cut away.The marginal palmettes and buds are part of the original codex. All were damaged (cut away or glued over) in the repairs. They are drawn in gray by a sure hand, and highlighted with the magenta and orange used in the rubrics, as well as with a blue-gray.The three ripped-in engravings, which represen the Annunciation (fol. 37v), the Last Supper (fol. 83v), and St. Gregory the Illuminator (fol. 90v.), have captions provided in Armenian. The printed text can sometimes be discerned on the reverses (e.g., fol. 90), despite the fact that the pages are firmly glued in. The engravings are in an Italo-Flemish style, fairly quiet in tone. In the Annunciation, Gabriel approaches the Virgin as she kneels at a lectern. He holds a branch of lily flowers and buds. In the Last Supper, we look through an archway at Christ sitting at a rectangular table, surrounded by his apostles. John, shown as a beardless youth, leans his head on Christ’s shoulder. This page was numbered 42 in the cannibalized book. St. Gregory the Illuminator is shown in the dress of a bishop, standing on a high platform, preaching to a grop of turbaned men. This was page 304 in the cannibalized book. Text in bolorgir, written in one column of 17 lines. Subtitles in red bolorgir, and several initial lines of individual texts in red or magenta bolorgir. Large erkatagir initials throughout the codex.Seventeen quires numbered with the letters of the Armenian alphabet, written in bolorgir in he lower margin of the page. Except for quire 17, which has only two leaves, the quires have gatherings of twelve leaves each. Fol. 232v. Principle colophon.Fol. 90. Fol. 218v In notragir.On endsheet facing inside back cover, in Minasian’s handwriting.
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