GOTHIC INITIALS

Late C14th- Early C15th

These Initials are written in ink on vellum. They were cut out and compiled into a large album in the eighteenth century, acquired by A and H in 2000.

Dr Janet Backhouse (1938-2004), former Curator of Illuminated Manuscripts at the British Library, was consulted at that time and wrote the following in a letter …

‘I very much enjoyed your manuscript cuttings…it must have been a very handsome book in its original state. As I think you know, it was a volume of liturgical music – a gradual or an antiphonal, which would have contained music for the Mass or the Office, divided between the main feasts of the liturgical year and the feasts of the individual saints. Not enough text left to be very specific!
The initials themselves are of a kind which remained popular over a very long period. Very similar designs occur in scribal pattern books as late as the first quarter of the 16th century (there is an example at Yale and another in the British Library). They were however developed, as were lots of pen work extravaganzas in such treasures as the Luttrell Psalter and some of the Italian manuscripts, in the 14th century.

Given the amount of script visible on any single fragment, it is difficult to confirm a date. The original suggestion of ‘late 14th century’ could in fact be correct. The catalogue of dated Mss in the BL offers Mss from the 1360s and the 1390s (the former with a very nice pen work initial) which is not dissimilar script wise. There are also possible comparisons from the early 15th century. In an English context, the gauffered headdress worn by the female on the left of the second row down in the sale-catalogue illustration would be appropriate at the end of the 14th century. So late 14th – early 15th century seems a fair estimate, and you can keep your original statement, with suitable qualifications perhaps….’

NOTE: These are the last remaining Gothic Initials we have in stock.
Each is sold mounted.

GOTHIC INITIAL ‘A’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1x.5 inches.
£125
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘A’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.25x.75 inches.
£125
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘A’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.25x.75 inches.
£125
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘A’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.25x.5 inches.
£125
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘A’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.25×1 inches.
£150
Sold
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘A’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.25×1 inches.
£150
Sold
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘A’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.5x.75 inches.
£125
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘A’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.25×1 inches.
£150
Sold
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘B’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1x.5 inches.
£125
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘B’? Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.5x.5 inches.
£125
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘D’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.25x.75 inches.
£150
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘D’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.25×1 inches.
£150
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘D’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.75×1 inches.
£150
Sold
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘D’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.25x.75 inches.
£150
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘D’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.25x.75 inches.
£125
Sold
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘D’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1x.75 inches.
£125
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘D’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1x.75 inches.
£125
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘H’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1x.75 inches.
£125
Sold
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘H’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.25x.75 inches.
£125
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘H’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.25x.5 inches.
£125
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘I’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.5×1 inches.
£175
Sold
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘I’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.25x.5 inches.
£150
Sold
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘I’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.75x.75 inches.
£150
Sold
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘I’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 2x.5 inches.
£150
Sold
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘I’? Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 2.5×1.25 inches.
£175
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘L’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.25×1.5 inches.
£125
Sold
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘M’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.5×1 inches.
£150
Sold
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘M’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.25×1 inches.
£150
Sold
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘N’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1x.75 inches.
£125
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘N’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.5x.75 inches.
£125
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘O’? Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 2×1.75 inches.
£175
Sold
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘S’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.25x.5 inches.
£125
Sold
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘S’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.25x.5 inches.
£125
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘S’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1×1 inches.
£150
Sold
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘S’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.25x.75 inches.
£150
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘S’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.25×75 inches.
£150
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘S’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.25×1 inches.
£175
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘S’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.75×1.25 inches.
£175
Sold
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘V’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.75×1.5 inches.
£175
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘V’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.75×1 inches.
£225
Sold
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘V’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.75×1 inches.
£175
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘V’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.5x.75 inches.
£175
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘V’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1x.75 inches.
£125
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘V’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.25x.75 inches.
£125
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘V’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1x.5 inches.
£125
GOTHIC INITIAL ‘V’. Ink on vellum. Late 14th / early 15th century. The dating confirmed by Janet Backhouse (1938-2004). 1.25x.75 inches.
£125

LIST 565

December 2025

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