Littera Scripta

    Member of ANZAAB - Australia

    Antique Prints Art Early Printed Leaves Ephemera Manuscripts Medieval Illuminated Manuscript Leaves

Australia's specialist dealer in medieval and renaissance documents. Original illuminated manuscript leaves, 11th to 16th centuries.

Original printed leaves, 15th to 17th centuries.

Books of Hours, Bibles, music, liturgy, secular and sacred commentary.

Occasional newsletters of new items and specials. Email me to be included in the mail-out.

Contact Information
Phone: +61 (0) 409 020 768
Website: http://litterascripta.com.au/

Highlights
Delicate, precise illuminations of very high quality.
$1350
Sparkling illuminations, fine condition. Book of Hours leaf, c.1490, France. Revered Psalm: “De Profundis”
View More
Original leaf from the famous Bohun Bible, considered to have been commissioned by Edward “The Black Prince”.
$7800
England, East Anglia, circa 1350. “…one of the most magnificent Bibles ever produced in England in medieval times ...." A huge lectern bible leaf, believed to be the only Bohun Bible leaf in Australia.
View More
Antiphon for the Annunciation to the Shepherds
$465
Gregorian Chant leaf, c.1600, Spain. “Salvator mundi", the Saviour of the World." Spain, c.1600. Excellent condition.
View More
Virgil’s Aeneid: The Boat Race of the Funeral Games, woodcut, 1529.
$295
The first Jean Crespin, Lyon edition, of Virgil’s works, containing the re-used woodcuts prepared for the Johan Grüninger Strasbourg edition of Virgil, (1502). This edition is rightly acclaimed for its magnificent series of woodcut illustrations by the anonymous Late Master of the Grüninger Workshop.
View More
A remarkable manuscript bifolium from the turn of the twelfth century. Gregory the Great’s letters in a clear, precise Carolingian script.
$8000
A bifolium fragment (1075-1125 CE, Southern Germany) from one of the most important documentary collections to have survived from the Middle Ages - Pope Gregory the First’s collection of letters. Comprehensive research notes and a full translation of the Latin included with the document.
View More
Prologue to Genesis with an Ouroboros in the illuminated initial. Paris, c.1250.
$1785
The initial ‘D’ is formed from an “ouroboros” - a circular symbol that depicts a snake or dragon devouring its own tail, representing the eternal cycle of destruction and rebirth. A bar border of Illuminations extends from the initial to the top of the page. Condition: This 770 year old leaf is very good/excellent condition. The script shows no ink loss and the illuminations retain vibrant colours. There is slight darkening of the vellum and a dozen of so small worm holes.
View More
Holinshed’s Chronicle leaf, 1577. The History of Scotland.
$185
One of Shakespeare’s primary history sources. Woodcut illustrations of William the Conqueror's soldiers ransacking a village and Gentlemen submitting to King Malcolm's pleasure. Holinshed was Shakespeare's favourite and most trusted source and he used it for more than a third of his plays, including Macbeth, King Lear, Cymbeline and the English history plays such as Richard III. Condition: At best, fair antiquarian condition, but despite faults, the main body of text is complete and legible and the woodcuts are sharply printed.
View More
"By the Rivers of Babylon..." Illuminated Breviary leaf, c.1480, France.
$875
The leaf includes the entire psalm136 and one line of liturgical chant music. Despite its appearance, this leaf is almost certainly from a Breviary, not a Book of Hours. The beloved Psalm 136 (KJV 137) "By the rivers of Babylon" is part of the liturgy for Sunday in the 5th week of Easter. Neither the psalm nor the antiphon that follows it on this leaf appear in the usual Uses of Books of Hours. Excellent condition.
View More