Manuscript on parchment of Diogenes Laertius, Vitae et sententiae philosophorum, translated into Latin by Ambrogio Traversari and preceded by his dedicatory letter to Cosimo de' Medici.
Description:
Binding: Fifteenth century, Italy. A hybrid Italo-Greek binding. Sewn or resewn (the sewing is too tight to determine with certainty) on five tawed skin, slit straps. Wooden boards which are not flush at head and tail are grooved on the edges. Beaded Western endbands added. Covered in dark brown calf, blind-tooled with a triple cross made up of gilt annular dots and rope interlace in a central panel within concentric frames alternately made up of a beaded zigzag ribbon and feathered rinceau. Similar tools are used on Marston MSS 39 and 68. Spine: bands outlined and panels diapered with triple fillets. Traces of four braid-and-pin fastenings, the pins in the edges of the lower board instead of the upper board as is usual in Greek bindings. "Diogenes ***" is added on the fore edge; "diogenes laergi" is written in batarde on a label under horn at the head of the upper board, possibly added in northern Europe., Script: Main text written in round humanistic bookhand by a single scribe., Some worming at beginning of text., and The decoration consists of a 3/4 border, f. 1r, of intricate white vine-stem ornament curling around thin gold bars (doubled in inner and lower margins) on a blue, green and pale pink ground dotted with white, yellow and blue, and gold balls. Incorporated into the lower border are a medallion (blank) framed by a laurel wreath and two narrow gold bands, a stag, and a putto with multi-colored wings in blue, green and dark red. In the inner margin are two birds in brown, orange and white. Ten illuminated initials, 9- to 4-line, gold on blue, green and pale pink background with white vine-stem ornament. Numerous smaller initials, 3- to 2-line, gold on blue and pink or green and pink grounds with white and gold filigree. Headings in black majuscules. Running headlines, in red, on ff. 1-4 only.
Subject (Name):
Diogenes Laertius and Medici, Cosimo de',--1389-1464
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Literature, Medieval--Translations, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Philosophy, Ancient
Manuscript, on parchment, containing copies of several treatises: 1) Tractatus de Sacramento Corpus Christi, by Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury (ff. 1-26); 2) De Vero Sapientia, Dialogus I and II, attributed here to Petrarch (now believed to be by Nicholas of Cusa) (ff. 27-50v); 3) De Invidia, Niccolò Perotti's translation of a sermon by Basil the Great, with a preface addressed to Pope Nicholas V (ff. 51-63); 4) De invidia et odio, Niccolò Perotti's translation of a work by Petrarch, with a preface addressed to Pope Nicholas V (ff. 63v-68v); 5) De fortuna virtute ve nominum: ad Nicolaum quintum pontificem maximum, by Niccolò Perotti (69-73v); 6) Epistle LXVII to Simplician, by St. Ambrose (ff. 74-79v); 7) Ex sermonibus quadragesimalibus: Sermone de correctione fraterna, by Leonardo di Utino, O.P. (80-86v); 8) Speculum regis Edwardii tercii, attributed here to Simon Islip, Archbishop of Canterbury (now recognized as the work of William Pagula) (ff. 87-148, with skip from 89 to 100); 9) De tenenda obedientia et evitanda superbia, by St. Augustine (ff. 148-152).