Manuscript: De Imitatione Christi

Agnietenberg Monastery (Mt. St. Agnes, Netherlands), late 15th century. Manuscript closely follows the text of the autograph of 1441. Colophon uses the term “compilator” rather than “auctor” of Thomas (Haemmerlein) a Kempis, suggesting that he compiled the work “after his teachers at Deventer (notably so Gerard Zerbolt van Zutphen) had written the original versions of the four parts” (from notes by seller - Avalon Operating Corporation). A 15th-century library stamp on the first page of the text, with the letters SMAI surrounding a cross, suggests that the ms. was in the Agnietenberg Monastery, where Thomas lived, and thus might also mean that it is a direct copy of the original. Physical description: 108 leaves, fine heavy rag paper; 8 in. x 6 in.; flexible later vellum cover glued over paper ms. leaf; very neatly and legibly written in red and black ink; some trimming very close to marginal notes.