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IM-9277: (197x130mm) Original leaf from a medieval manuscript pocket Bible, written in Italy (probably Bologna), c. 1250. Latin rotunda gothic script, ruled in red & written in brown ink in two columns of 50 lines on animal vellum. Rubricated chapter numbers, two multi-lined illuminated Lombard style initials and elegant marginalia in red and blue. The gothic text is written in extremely tiny & very well formed letters – so small that there are ten lines of text to the inch! 

This leaf contains text from Genesis 41:52 – 43:21: “Nomen quoque…” (And he named the second Ephraim, saying: God hath made me to grow in the land of my poverty…The seven years of scarcity, which Joseph had foretold, began to come...The ten brethren of Joseph went down, to buy corn in Egypt...The men took the presents, and double money, and Benjamin: and went down into Egypt, and stood before Joseph...) .

Provenance: Ex-collection Otto Ege (1888-1951). Dean of the Cleveland Institute of Art and Lecturer on History of the Book  at Western Reserve University and Northwestern University. Ege increased awareness of the history of the book through the dissemination of individual pages to schools, libraries, calligraphers and printers. For sister leaves see Cary Collection  - Rochester Institute (online example) and other museums.