A bonus

[Probably from the seventeenth century. As seen, and touched, in the University of Illinois Music Library. Click for a larger view.]

This bonus appears in a gradual, “a service book containing the musical portion of the Mass sung by the choir” (Webster’s Second ). This gradual is on display in the Music Library, the vellum pages right there for the turning. I wish I had thought to take the book’s measurements. Let’s just say massive.

More about this gradual here.