Manuscript on paper of Iohannes de Sacrobosco (1000-1210), Tractatus de sphaera.
Description:
2-line plain initials alternately in red and blue at the beginning of the subdivisions of the text. They are placed almost entirely in the margin and are missing ff. 17v, 28r and 33r. Guide letters, written in the space reserved for the initials, are equally often missing. On f. 1r the Prologue opens with a 4-line foliate initial in red, green and blue with two flowers on a gold background and floral extensions in the inner margin, in Lombard style; in the lower margin of the same page a painted double-headed imperial eagle in black, its two heads with a golden crown and on its chest an oval shield with the coat of arms or, three bends azure., Binding: Original Italian, undecorated blue-stained leather over beech boards. Sewn on three double leather thongs. Remnants of three clasps attached to the front board (one at the upper, one at the lower and one at the right-hand side); thin brass engraved catches on the rear cover, decorated with a floweret and the Gothic majuscule “S”. The parchment pastedowns are now detached from the boards., Collection of Bernard M. Rosenthal, Berkeley (MS 149). Purchased from Rosenthal on the Edwin J. Beinecke Fund., Parchment end leaves., Script: Copied by one hand in Humanistica Cursiva Libraria/Currens, widely spaced. The first letter after an initial is in Capitalis., and Watermark: two crossed arrows, similar to Briquet 6269-6275, especially to Briquet 6271 (attested 1462). The whole group and its variants are attested in Northeastern Italy 1448-1495.
Subject (Name):
Sacro Bosco, Joannes de,--fl. 1230
Subject (Topic):
Astronomy, Medieval, Geometry, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment (trimmed) of 1) Bible in the usual order with some prologues and later additions. 2) Index of Hebrew names generally attributed to Stephen Langton. 3) List of readings for year, beginning with the first Sunday in Advent through Monday after Easter. 4) Another list of readings from the first Sunday in Advent (f. 427r) through the 25th Sunday after Trinity, for the dedication of a church, for the sanctorale from Andrew through Cecilia, for the common of saints and for Trinity, Holy Spirit, Holy Cross, Virgin Mary, and the dead. and Manuscript on parchment (trimmed).
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century. Red, straight-grained goatskin, gold-tooled., Collection of Cornelius Vanderbilt (MS 190); bequeathed to Yale in his memory by his daughter Gladys Moore Vanderbilt, Countess Laszlo Szechenyi in 1966., Rectangular pieces cut out of lower margin, ff. 266-69; no loss of text., Script: Written in small gothic textura; a few corrections added in a tiny neat cursive hand. Marginal notes in several cursive hands of 14th-15th centuries., and The historiated initials, 11- to 6-line (not including ascenders or descenders), are pink and blue, with dragons, against pink and blue grounds with gold dots and triplets of white dots. Initials for prologues 6- to 4-line (without ascenders or descenders), as above, filled with intertwining vines, blossoms, dragons, occasionally birds or fish; 4- to 1-line initials, red or blue with blue and red penwork. Headings, chapter numbers, red and blue alternating letters with blue and red penwork. Capitals stroked in red. Some rubrics missing.
Subject (Topic):
Bible.--Latin--Versions, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Manuscripts, Medieval--France--13th century, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment of Valerius Maximus, Factorum et dictorum memorabilium ad Tiberium cesarem.
Description:
Binding: 15th-16th centuries. Resewn on four tawed, slit straps laced through the edge of wooden boards and nailed in channels which are filled in with plaster. There is a piece of leather at the exit from one tunnel and what may be the tips of nails just inside the channel so earlier supports may have been of leather, nailed twice. The endbands, sewn on twisted leather cores laid in grooves, were tied down through a leather spine lining, the embroidery with three beads. The edges are gilt with a design scratched on them, the spine square. Covered in dark brown goatskin with corner tongues, blind-tooled with a star in a circle with wide rope interlace panels above and below, inside concentric outer borders. Small diamonds and dots on the spine. Four brass catches on the lower board and stubs of velvet straps nailed to the upper. One joint cracked and repaired and one endband added., On f. 3r, a good historiated initial, 7-line: the author in armor, holding his book; thick, curling foliage forms, pink, orange, blue, and green, on an irregular gold ground, edged in black. Nine illuminated initials (ff. 16r, 29v, 43r, 57r, 72r, 85v, 98r, 111v, and 126r) to open Books 2-10, composed of foliage, as above, and striated color strips, in vibrant blue, orange, crimson, mauve, green, and occasionally yellow, highlighted in white and variations of the same basic hues. 4-, 2-line initials, blue with red penwork or vice versa. Book numbers at top of page, red and blue; rubrics throughout. Remains of guides for rubricator., and Script: Written by a single scribe in fere-humanistic script. Marginal and interlinear notes in several contemporary and later hands.
Subject (Geographic):
Rome--History--Tiberius, 14-37
Subject (Name):
Valerius Maximus
Subject (Topic):
Didactic literature, Latin, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library