Jerome (Saint) Commentary on Isaiah, single leaf from a very early decorated manuscript, single leaf, single column, 30 lines, in a fine early Carolingian minuscule, with some Uncial features, two small initials 'V' (opening: 'Vox clamantis indeserto' and 'Vox dicentis clama' respectively) set in the margin and touched with terracotta red, now oxidised, recovered from a binding hence scuffed and stained, old water-damage to lower portion with the script faded in places but still legible, words 'wiecklichyt', 'wiecklich', and 'prestiglich' added to outer margin of recto in a small hand datable to the 13th-century, probably Low Countries or northern Germany, small folio, 275 x 220 mm., last decades of 8th century or first decades of 9th century.

⁂ Highly remarkable leaf from a very early codex containing the Latin commentary on Isaiah attributed to St. Jerome (c. 342-420).

The text includes parts of Book XI, chapter 40. The handwriting and the later glosses visible in the margin suggest that the original manuscript might have been produced in the Carolingian central areas of the Low Countries or the German regions nearby. The form of some letters display elements characteristic of Uncial script, features which point towards a very early date for the original manuscript, probably the late eighth century. Isaiah as well as his commentators circulated largely in the Carolingian age, and played a fundamental role in the development of medieval theology. Jerome's commentary had been, for example, copied in Corbie in the eighth century, and its study is well documented in the milieu of the Carolingian court.

This leaf is from the dawn of this 'rediscovery' of Isaiah, and is by far the earliest manuscript of Jerome's commentary to come to the market.