Saturday 9 August 2014

Hearst's Other Brölemann-Mallet Manuscripts

As related in the previous post, the Beauvais Missal was bought at the Brölemann-Mallet sale in 1926 by Permain on behalf of William Randolph Hearst. Lest there be any doubt that Permain was acting for Hearst, we can look at the other manuscripts bought by Permain at the Brölemann-Mallet sale, and find that they all later belonged to Hearst, and were all listed in the 1941 Gimbel-Saks-Hammer catalogue.

Even where the attributions to a country or century are incorrect, or absent, positive identifications can be made based on other features such as the dimensions and numbers of leaves:

They are as follows:
  • 480-1: Bible
    • Brölemann-Mallet sale, lot 2; bought by Permain for £310
    • Now Washington D.C., Library of Congress, MS. 5
  • 480-2: Franciscan Breviary
    • Brölemann-Mallet sale, lot 15; bought by Permain for £450
    • Now Wormsley Library, no.13 in the 1999 exh.cat.
  • 480-3: Book of Hours, Use of Rouen
    • Brölemann-Mallet sale, lot 56; bought by Permain for £450
    • Now Chicago, Newberry Library, MS. 50-5
  • 480-4: Book of Hours, in Dutch
    • Brölemann-Mallet sale, lot 69; bought by Permain for £450
    • Now Cleveland, Museum of Art, Acc.1998.124
  • 480-5: Book of Hours, in Dutch
    • Brölemann-Mallet sale, lot 70; bought by Permain for £210
    • Sold at Christie's, New York, Vershbow sale, 6 April 2013, lot 3
  • 480-6: Livy, Third decade, in French
    • Brölemann-Mallet sale, lot 147; bought by Permain for £900
    • Tenschert, Leuchtendes Mittelalter II, Katalog XXV (1990), no.60
  • 480-7: Beauvais Missal
    • Brölemann-Mallet sale, lot 161; bought by Permain for £970
    • Now broken up
  • 480-8: Pontifical
  • 480-9: Psalter, France, 13th cent., 194 leaves, 16 lines per page, 11 historiated initials with three-quarter borders, c.145×105mm.
    • Brölemann-Mallet sale, lot 186; bought by Permain for £440
    • Present location not known

Probably the only medieval manuscripts that remain at Hearst Castle are in this form:



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