Volume 2

Universal palaeography, or, Fac-similes of writings of all nations and periods, copied from the most celebrated and authentic manuscripts in the libraries and archives of France, Italy, Germany, and England / by M.J.B. Silvestre ; accompanied by an historical and descriptive text and introduction by Champollion-Figeac and Aimé Champollion, fils ; translated from the French and edited, with corrections and notes, by Sir Frederic Maddan ... in two volumes.

Joseph-Balthazar Silvestre

Date:: 1849-1850

Credit: Universal palaeography, or, Fac-similes of writings of all nations and periods, copied from the most celebrated and authentic manuscripts in the libraries and archives of France, Italy, Germany, and England / by M.J.B. Silvestre ; accompanied by an historical and descriptive text and introduction by Champollion-Figeac and Aimé Champollion, fils ; translated from the French and edited, with corrections and notes, by Sir Frederic Maddan ... in two volumes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$letters, which still remained mingled with the ordinary Roman minuscules. In the general classification of writings, this mixture forms a special class in the Germanic family. The fac-simile in the Plate is a remarkable specimen of this kind of writing. The Saxon character and taste are conspicuous in its ornaments, and in some of its words, although others are entirely written in Roman minuscules. The mixture of the two is, in fact, the leading feature of this text. It is written in the Germano-Saxon minuscule letter; very slightly conjoined, divided in its words, acute, sloping, equal, and wide; the top-strokes angular; the letters f r, s, g, e, retaining their Saxon forms, and the first three- extending in a point below the line; abbreviations are not uncommon ; ae are separate in suce and quce; no punctuation, except where the marks indicate abbreviations, as q. for que; r is sometimes used for /, and p for b, as in purchrius, (line 3,) and suptilius, (line 5). All the large letters have also the Saxon forms, and the first line is in capitals of the same kind, ornamented with red dots and colored. The initial S, gigantically prolonged, terminates at the bottom in claws, and is ornamented on the outside, near the summit, with scroll-work; its open part is decorated with a pattern of different colors, and the top- stroke finishes with a volute, ending in two monstrous heads. The second line is in mixed uncials, and the text is to be read:— S. [>Sancti] yiri quo apud dm [Zteim] altius virtutum dignitate profi- ciunt, eo suptilius indignos se esse deprehendunt, quia dum proximi lucis fiunt, quid quid eos in seipsis levat, inveniunt, et tanto magis foras sibi deformes apparent, quanto nimis purchrius quod intus vident, etc. This is the commencement of the 32nd book of the Com¬ mentaries of St. Gregory on the book of Job. On the top of the page represented in the fac-simile, is written in an ancient minuscule hand, Iste lib\er\ e [est] see Marie et sci Cor-$

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