Walters Ms. W.523, Gospel Book Gospel Book Eusebius, of Caesarea, Bishop of Caesarea, ca. 260-ca. 340. Principal cataloger Parpulov, Georgi R. Editor Herbert, Lynley Editor Noel, William Copy editor Joyal, Stephanie Contributor Bockrath, Diane Contributor Emery, Doug Contributor Izer, Emily Contributor Noel, William Contributor Tabritha, Ariel Contributor Toth, Michael B. Conservator Owen, Linda Conservator Quandt, Abigail The Walters Art Museum

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode. It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.

 This manuscript is of interest for the history of Greek handwriting because it presents a remarkably early example of a less formal, cursive script used for copying books (rather than just documents). The miniature at the beginning of the volume dates from ca. 1150 and must have been added as late as 1920-1930 in order to raise the book's selling price. It is rather damaged but reveals the preliminary drawing which guided the painter at the final stages of his work. Baltimore The Walters Art Museum W.523 The primary language in this manuscript is Greek, Ancient (to 1453). 1r - 332r Gospel Book Fols. 1r-v: letter from Eusebius to Carpianus; fols. 2r-3v: readings for the feast days from September 1 to January 21; fol. 5r, lower margin: readings for the feast days from January 22 to January 30; fols. 5r-98r: Gospel of Matthew; fols. 99r-158r: Gospel of Mark; fols. 159r-257v: Gospel of Luke; fols. 257v-258v: readings for the feast days from February 1 to June 29; fols. 260r-332r: Gospel of John; fols. 262bis r-v: readings for the feast days from July 1 to August 31

High quality parchment, light, smooth, and remarkably thin

 Foliation: 33521.8 15.5 13.5 7.6 Pencil foliation begins in upper right corners of rectos through fol. 4; foliation then continues from fol. 5 through the end in lower right corners of rectos; foliation omits leaves after fols. 213, 220, and 262

1(4), 2-12(8), 13(8,-7), 14-20(8), 21(6), 22-33(8), 34(10), 35-40(8), 41(2), 42(4), 43(8), 44(6) None None Quires begin on fols. 1(1), 5(2), 13(3), 21(4), 29(5), 37(6), 45(7), 53(8), 61(9), 69(10), 77(11), 85(12), 93(13), 100(14), 108(15), 116(16), 124(17), 132(18), 140(19), 148(20), 156(21), 162(22), 170(23), 178(24), 186(25), 194(26), 202(27), 210(28), 217(29), 224(30), 232(31), 240(32), 248(33), 256(34), 265(35), 273(36), 281(37), 289(38), 297(39), 305(40), 313(41), 315(42), 319(43), 327(44); the first four leaves of quire 1 are all tipped

 Main hand written in sloping cursive minuscule, medium brown ink; fols. 2-3, 258, 262bis copied in thirteenth- or fourteenth-century hand The Evangelist John Full-page miniature

This miniature was certainly painted for a somewhat larger volume: it has been noticeably trimmed to fit its present position. Even though it now faces the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew, it portrays the Evangelist John; the text of John 1:1 is written in the book in front of the Evangelist.

Early twentieth-century (probably Leon Gruel); tooled leather over squared wooden board; five brass bosses on each cover; slightly raised endbands; pastedowns are fragments from Chicago, University of Chicago Library MS 138, fourteenth century

 10th century CE Byzantine Empire Henry Walters, Baltimore, by purchase from Leon Gruel Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest Relevant Works K. W. Clark, A Descriptive Catalogue of Greek New Testament Manuscripts in America (Chicago, 1937), 350–351 with pl. lv K. Weitzmann, Die byzantinische Buchmalerei des 9. und 10. Jahrhunderts. Addenda und Appendix. (Vienna, 1996), 80 with fig. 631 G. R. Parpulov, “A Catalogue of the Greek Manuscripts of the Walters Art Museum”, Journal of the Walters Art Museum 62 (2004), 71-189, esp. 91-93 N. F. Kavrus-Hoffmann, "Tenth-Century Greek Gospels at the Walters Art Museum: Writing Styles and Ornamental Motifs", Journal of the Walters Art Museum 62 (2004), 21-34, eps. 27-34 Art Medicine Museum Poetry Script Muhammad, the Prophet Kashmiri Horses Walters Art Museum Document Astrology Devotion History Legal Literature -- Poetry Literature -- Prose Liturgy Philosophy Science Science -- Medicine Scripture Sufism Theology Mineralogy Logic Geography Geomancy Cosmology Cartography Fortune-telling Koran Qur`an Firman Palimpsest Prayer Bible Gospels Psalter Missal Lectionary Book of Hours Antiphonary Homilary Processional Horologion Breviary Hymnal Chronicle Maghreb Sub-Saharan (West) Africa Turkey Afghanistan Central Asia Egypt England India Iran Iraq Pakistan Germany France Austria Netherlands Ethiopia Armenia Flanders Greece Mamluk Mughal Ottoman Ottonian Armenian Byzantine Abbasid Qajar Rajput Christian Arabic Austrian Dutch Egyptian Fatimid German Indian Islamic Persian Safavid Timurid Turkish Umayyad English French Flemish Ethiopian Carolingian Calligraphy Colophon Headpiece Illumination Illustration Medallion Miniature Ornament Painting Early Abbasid script Ragini Romanesque Gothic Watermark Grotesques Historiated initial Inhabited initial White-vine lettering Textura Batarda Humanistic Uncial Accordion book Album Book Codex Manuscript Heraldry Saint's Life Drawing Grisaille Binding New Abbasid style Musical notation Russia Romania Charter Russian Genealogy Mass book Prayer book Gospel Lectionary Psalter-Hours Treatise Grammar Gloss Pontifical Private devotional text Gradual Protective scroll Scroll 10th century 11th century 12th century 13th century 14th century 15th century 16th century 17th century 18th century 19th century 20th century 8th century 9th century Block book Caroline minuscule Central Arab lands (Near East) Chart English secretary hand Kufic Gothic book hand Original binding Treasure binding Gospel Book Spanish Spain Italian Italy Coptic Scrapbook American United States Maryland Historical Society Friendship book Friendship Biography Liturgical Devotional Scriptural Theological Legal Historical Scientific Scientific -- Medical Literary -- Prose Literary -- Poetry Philosophical Astrological Sufi English Gospel Book Gospels Byzantine Book Headpiece Illumination Manuscript Greece 10th century Christian Binding Codex Illustration Miniature Walters Art Museum Scripture Turkey 12th century