Psalterium Davidicum ad usum sacri ordinis Cisterciensis per hebdomadam dispositum. Cum canticis, hymnis et suffragiis juxta novum ordinis breviarium. Autoritate R.D.D. Abbatis Generalis. Lutetiae Parisiorum: Sumptibus Frederici Leonard, 1698. Folio (48.6 cm, 16.75"). π4 e[m]4 i[m]4 A–Z4 Aa–Zz4 Aaa–Zzz4 Aaaa–Iiii4; [12] ff., 624 pp.
• Cistercians, like other monks, prayed the entire psalter through in the
course of the week. The psalms were sung as part of the daily office, services
of prayer sung at various times of day and night. This Psalterium
Cisterciense contains the entire psalter with antiphons and the other
ordinary parts of the daily office,
all
with music or pointed for singing,
arranged for use throughout the week. At the end is appended a selections of
hymns, the office of the dead, and the eight tones as sung for the psalms, the
Benedictus, and the Magnificat. An antiphon (Praestet hoc
nobis) with music has been added in manuscript on the recto of the rear
free endpaper.
The
text is printed in black and red with healthy use of woodcut foliated and
historiated initials. The music is in black square notes on a red four-line
staff, as usual. The title-page has an engraved vignette showing the Blessed
Virgin Mary and Jesus with (presumably) St. Robert of Molesme and St. Bernard
of Clairvaux on either side. 
Such psalters are
rare, and this edition is noticeably so: No copies were found searching OCLC,
RLIN, and NUC Pre-1956.
Provenance: Acquired by the Cistercian monastery of Salem in southern Germany (Baden) following the fire in 1697 that destroyed many of the buildings. Monastery secularized in 1802 and library moved to Peterhausen, thence sold to the University of Heidelberg. A portion, including this volume, acquired by Baron von Lassberg. The Lassberg collection of post-incunabula sold en bloc to an Anglo-American bookselling consortium in 1999.
Cistercian
Monastery of Salem: A very important imperial abbey, founded in
1136 by the Bl. Frowin (a companion of St. Bernard of Clairvaux), it was noted
in the Middle Ages as being the most beautiful (and richest) monastery in
Germany. As the 14th century began it had 285 monks. The Church was not
destroyed in the fire of 1697, and the rest of the monastery was beautifully
rebuilt around it, but numbers had declined somewhat, and in 1698 the
monastery had, not including conversi or dependents, 49 priests and 13
other choir monks. The abbey was to recover, however, and prospered under some
strong abbots in the 18th century. In September of 1802, as a consequence of
Napoleon's policies, the abbey was secularized and became Schloss Salem, a
summer residence for the Margrave of Baden.
Binding: Heavily tooled alum-tawed pigskin over wooden boards with corner and center bosses and leather fastenings with brass clasps, still in working order.
• Bound as above, vellum worn away along bottom edges and some abrasions/staining to covers; edges red, fading in part. Striped cloth place markers (8) held together by an engraved brass plate at the top. Some worm holes in front and back pages, with some little loss of text; many of these repaired with paper, and the lost text generally supplied in manuscript. Some soiling on the most used pages, and occasional small dark spots. The lessons in the office for the dead have had extra pointings for singing added in pencil. Inscription in ink on front pastedown.
