Église catholique / Diocèse de Malines (ouvrage liturgique officiel édité sous l'autorité de - [Liturgie / XVIIe siècle – Flandres] Grand livre de chœur / Antiphonaire – Dédicase à Mathias - 1600

[Liturgy / 17th century – Flanders] Great Choir Book / Antiphonary – Dedicated to Matthias Hovius, Archbishop of Mechlin (Mechlinia) – Early print with musical scores and carved illuminated initials

Magnificent and monumental ancient liturgical work from the southern Netherlands, richly endowed with rubrics (black and red), plainchant musical scores on musical staves, and superb historiated or ornamented initials carved in wood.

Opening dedication: Opens with a dedicatory epistle to the illustrissimo and reverendissimo Mathias Hovius, Archbishop of Malines (Domino D. Mathiae Hovio, Archiepiscopo Mechliniensi).

Content: Liturgical collection including the Proper of the Time, the Sanctoral, the Office of the Virgin (Officium Beatæ Mariæ), hymns and antiphons accompanied by their traditional musical notations (square notation and the rules of performance Regulæ Observandæ).

Format & Dimensions: Large robust format of 31×21.5 cm.

Illustration: Presence of superb initials ornately carved in wood framing the beginnings of chapters.

Binding: Full brown calf leather of the period, spine with raised cords, boards richly decorated with roulette frames and blind fillets, edges colored.

Binding: Solid and authentic monastic or ecclesiastical full-leather binding of the period. Wear from use, rubbing and minor losses on the crowns and boards, traces of old clasp attachments.

Interior: Interior well preserved overall, sturdy paper with clear black and red print, some ink stains or traces of monastic use in keeping with the ancient liturgical use of choir books.