Manuscript on paper of Cesare Speciano, Propositioni christiane et civili subalternate a Dio. With a Preface to the reader in which the author states that he completed the work while he was serving as Papal nuntius of Pope Clement VIII in Prague in 1597
Description:
In Italian., Unidentified watermarks: paschal lamb, with countermark PP plus clover; bird on mountain enclosed in a circle., Script: Written by a single scribe in a neat italic hand., and Binding: Seventeenth century. Italian red morocco gilt, with unidentified arms of a cardinal (vair) stamped in gilt on both covers. Edges gilt and gauffered. Unobtrusive repairs at head and tails of spine and joints.
Subject (Geographic):
Italy., Connecticut, and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Speciano, Cesare.
Subject (Topic):
Christian literature, Italian, Counter-Reformation, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment (goatskin) of Prudentius (beginning of the fifth century), Psychomachia, with interlinear and marginal glosses by various hands in Latin and Italian, variant readings and corrections
Description:
In Latin, with Italian glosses., Script: Copied by one hand writing an uneven Southern Semitextualis Libraria with some two-compartment a's. The scribe Ciutus is not recorded., Red stroking of the majuscules. 2-line red plain initials. Larger and more elaborate initial in red and black at the opening of the text. Numerous pointing hands., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Yellow parchment over pasteboard, both covers framed with a gilt running scroll. On the spine gold-tooled inscription "PRUDENTII PSYCHOMACHIA . COD. SEC. XV (?)".
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Prudentius, 348-
Subject (Topic):
Allegory, Christian poetry, Latin, Fathers of the church, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on paper of a miscellany including texts by Leonardo Bruni, Petrarch, Stefano Porcari, Matteo Palmieri, and Giovanni Boccaccio
Description:
In Italian., Watermarks: similar to Briquet Fleur 6651, Briquet Echelle 5910, Briquet Etoile 6070 and one unidentified., Script: Written in a mercantile script (mercantesca) by one hand., Calligraphic initials, 4- to 2-line, in red with purple or blue with red. Rubrics in brownish-red., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Paper binding "alla rustica". On spine, "Miscella di belle lettere".
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Italian literature, Italian poetry, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on paper (thick, coarse) of Lives of the Saints, preceded by accounts of events in the Bible from both the Old and New Testaments. Folios 51 and 61 interchanged in rebinding
Description:
In Italian., Watermarks: similar in design to Briquet Ciseaux 3708 dated Genoa, 1465., Script: Written by several scribes in unruly mercantesca script, above top line. Script becomes smaller and tighter toward end of codex., Crudely executed title page, f. 1r, consisting of floral and foliage motifs in upper margin, scroll around column in inner margin, and, in outer margin, scroll around column terminating in elongated arm with text on the scroll (much rubbed and stained). In lower margin a coat of arms (damaged; probably: or, two columns gules); the letters B and C on either side in the bases of columns in inner and outer margins. The decoration of title page in bright red and green. Plain initials (some with simple foliage designs), headings, paragraph marks, pointing hands, and hands holding crosses or symbols of passions of martyrs (e. g., gridiron for Laurence), all in bright red, green, and/or black., Folio 1 damaged; no loss of text., and Binding: Nineteenth century, Italy. Rigid vellum case with two red labels on spine: "Trattati di storia sacra" and "Manuscritto 1360".
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Christian hagiography, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Italian literature, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment of Jacopo Ariani (?), 200 Sonnets addressed to a lady called Laura. With Alberto Maffei, Colophon in the form of a sonnet addressed to the readers
Description:
In Italian., Script: Written by Alberto Maffei in a small calligraphic Humanistica Semitextualis Formata., Each sonnet opens with a Capital in gold ink, the three subsequent stanzas with alternating red and blue Capitals. On the opening page (f. 2r), however, the opening Capitals are in gold on a square blue background dotted with gold, above each of the two sonnets floral ornaments have been painted in red and gold ink and in the lower margin there is a medallion within a gold wreath adorned with ribbons and containing the coat of arms of the Ariani family flanked by the initials "I.A.". ff. 1 and 52 are stained purple and the text of artt. 1 and 3 is written in gold ink, the headings being executed in silver ink. On both pages silver and gold floral ornaments in three margins. The ones in the lower margins end in Capital "A" (for "Albertus")., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Blue velvet over cardboard with blue watered-silk doublure. Gilt edges.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Ariani, Jacopo.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Italian poetry, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on paper (one leaf) of Three poems. MS 352, f. 88 from a larger volume, may be Benivieni's working copy, since words and verses have been added and deleted throughout; all three columns on both recto and verso have been struck out. The three poems were once thought to be the autograph works of Lorenzo de' Medici
Description:
In Italian., Script: Written in a vigorous notarial script., Leaf is mutilated and has been repaired extensively., and Boxed.
Manuscript on paper (sturdy) of what is probably the first version of the treatise, finished ca. 1476-77. The order of contents is as follows: fortresses; temples, churches and theaters; columns and other architectural details; plans for palaces; aqueducts; measuring and surveying; instruments of war
Description:
In Italian., Watermarks: anchor and star similar to Briquet Ancre 478, Bergamo 1502., Script: Written in italic script by a single scribe who left blank spaces for illuminated initials., Outer and lower margins of almost every page filled with architectural or mechanical sketches drawn either directly on the leaves (ff. 1r-5v) or on small strips of paper pasted onto the margins of the leaves (ff. 6r-57v), in brown ink, sometimes with green or pink washes. The drawings illustrate every section of the text; many have explanatory inscriptions., and Binding: Eighteenth century. Red edges. Mottled, brown calf, streaked on the turn-ins. Blind-tooled, with a gold-tooled spine.
Subject (Geographic):
Italy., Connecticut, and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Martini, Francesco di Giorgio, 1439-1502.
Subject (Topic):
Architecture, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Italian literature, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Military art and science
Manuscript on paper of Guglielmo Balzani, of Casale Monferrato, Treatise on Falconry
Description:
The 8th Marchese of Monferrato mentioned in the prologue is presumably Guglielmo (1550-1587)., In Italian., Watermarks: unidentified crossbow in circle, with countermark "B A B"., Script: Written by 2 hands in 17th-century cursive: Scribe 1) ff. 1r-177r; Scribe 2) ff. 177v-208r., and Binding: Eighteenth century. Spattered brown calf, blind-tooled. Edges spattered blue/green and red. Rebacked.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Balzani, Guglielmo.
Subject (Topic):
Falconry, Italian literature, and Manuscripts, Medieval