Hufnagelschrift Notation Supplied in Manuscript

[Psalter. Bursfeld Congregation. Fragment].
Psalterium Benedictinum cum canticis et hymnis.
[Mainz]: Johann Fust and Peter Schoeffer, 29 August 1459.
Fragment of one vellum leaf.
(07038)

The 1459 psalter printed by Johannes Gutenberg’s immediate successors, Johann Fust and Peter Schoeffer, is the second firmly dated book printed in Europe and the earliest edition of the Psalter for Benedictine Use. The volume was commissioned by the Benedictines of St. James in Mainz for use by the Bursfeld Congregation, a rapidly growing reform movement within the Benedictine Order. The immense size of this edition, which originally measured approximately nineteen inches in height, illustrates the book's function in communal reading in monasteries, in contrast to the later tendency to produce portable psalters for personal reading.

Bridwell Library’s rare single leaf from this publication was re-used as a liner inside a later bookbinding. The text is Psalm 69, sung during Quadrigesima, the first Sunday in Lent: “Save me, O God, for the waters are come in unto my soul . . .” The Hufnagelschrift (“horseshoe nail script”) musical notation was added by hand. When Schoeffer reprinted the Benedictine Psalter in 1490, he was able to add music printed with wood blocks.

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Printed Books
Hufnagelschrift Notation Supplied in Manuscript