ILLUSTRIOUS MISSAL. MISSALE CONSTANTIENSE. In... Lot 58

ILLUSTRIOUS MISSAL. MISSALE CONSTANTIENSE. In Insula majoris britanniae vulgo dicta, Jersey 1795. in-4, 10 ff. n.ch. -665 -CLXIV + 44 plates of pen-and-ink drawings. [1 typographed booklet "Canon Missae" interleaved pp 315 to 327]. Bound in contemporary glazed calf, spine with five raised bands and gilt thread, gilt inscription at foot P. ECORBIN. Very beautiful missal calligraphed with a regular, clear and airy writing. It is illustrated with 44 AMAZING FULL-PAGE DRAWINGS, geometrical compositions for the most part intended to highlight various verses of the Bible and the Gospels. This recourse to an ornamental geometry to highlight the Catholic liturgy is unusual, to say the least. The few figurative plates are also very plain. The missal was used in the diocese of Coutances and not in Constance, as the Latin name of this diocese seems to indicate (an old error frequently repeated). The name on the back of the binding is probably that of the copyist.