Single leaf from the Missal according to the use of Augsburg Sebald Mayer 1555
MAYER, Sebald (act. 1550-1576) A single illuminated leaf from Missale secundum ritum Augustensis ecclesie (Missal according to the use of Augsburg). Dillingen: Sebald Mayer, 1555.
A single leaf from the 1555 Augsburg Missal, printed in black and red in double columns, with three large historiated or ornamental woodcut initials, illuminated by hand in gold and colours. Fol. 393 to recto. Approx. 250x370 mm. A little marginal marking and soiling; otherwise a very good example.
An attractive leaf from the 1555 Missal for the Use of Augsburg, printed by Sebald Mayer at Dillingen for Cardinal Otto Truchsess von Waldburg, Prince-Bishop of Augsburg. A substantial altar book intended for the celebration of Mass according to the Augsburg rite, the edition was produced at a significant moment in Catholic liturgical history, during the Council of Trent and fifteen years before the publication of the standardised Roman Missal of Pius V in 1570.
The present leaf is from the section containing prayers for All Saints and the Lenten ferial cycle. It is particularly decorative, with three large hand-coloured woodcut initials across the two sides. Two are historiated, including a representation of the risen Christ, while the third is an elaborate ornamental initial. The initials are heightened in gold and rich colours against the characteristic red and black printing of the Missal.
The edition was an ambitious ecclesiastical production associated with Cardinal Otto Truchsess von Waldburg (1514-1573), Prince-Bishop of Augsburg and an important figure of the Catholic Reformation. Such missals were practical ceremonial books, intended for use by clergy at the altar in churches and religious houses within the Augsburg diocese, rather than books of private devotion.
The leaf has been identified by comparison with a digitised complete example of the 1555 edition, held by the Bavarian State Library (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich) where fol. 393 reproduces the same setting of type, text and three decorated initials.