One of the very important medieval illuminated manuscripts in the Stokes Collection is an elegant copy of the Satires by the Roman author Juvenal. This manuscript was made in 1472 for presentation to the Chancellor of France, Pierre Doriole, and it is beautifully illuminated, with a large presentation frontispiece miniature (Figg- ure 9.1) a historiated initial at the beginning of each of the satires, and partial borders of intertwined flowers and acanthus leaves throughout. 1 Such richness is reason enough to examm- ine and value this manuscript, but it has, in addition, some particularly unusual elements. Although a manuscript, it was made for the first printing press established in Paris, known as the Sorbonne Press; offered as a gift to one of the most powerful men in France, its large presentation miniature is unconventional and intriguing. This essay will consider the unusual aspects of the Juvenal manuscript in relation to its context, the Sorbonne Press, and to the late medieval practice of presentation manuscripts, and it will attempt to decode the curious frontispiece miniature. Basic to this discussion is the splendid research of Anatole Claudin, the late nineteenth century bibliophile bookseller, who owned this manuscript at one time.

The Sorbonne Press was established in 1470 by Johannes Heynlin, Prior of the Sorbonne and previously Rector of the University of Paris, and by Guillaume Fichet, who had also been Rector of the University of Paris, and was at the time Librarian of the Sorbonne.