Critical examination of the manuscript Bern, Burgerbibliothek 801 and its text, accompanied by a full-color, full-size facsimile reproduction.

The manuscript was first conceived for a laywoman of Strasbourg ca. 1380-1410 as a picture book with a cycle of at least 136 fullpage tinted drawings on biblical subjects covering the entire span of salvation history, to which was added an extensive appendix of saints. In the 1470s or 1480s it was remade as a prayer book for an anonymous nun from the convent of St. Magdalena, Strasbourg, through the addition of more than 156 specially composed German prayers. The manuscript later came into the possession of Ursula Begerin, a nun in the convent of St. Magdalena. It is currently preserved at the Burgerbibliothek Bern under the shelfmark Cod. 801.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Critical matter in English. Text of the manuscript (see volume 2; presented in facsimile and in transcription) in 15th-century German.

Volume 1 includes (on pages 537-596) English translations of the manuscript's German texts, along with the Latin texts that served as models and sources for the German.