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 paper of an unidentified treatise, incomplete, on the Cardinal Virtues; material taken mostly from Valerius Maximus, with additional material from Augustine, the Bible, Cicero, Seneca, Macrobius, Aristotle, and Vegetius. and Unidentified treatise, incomplete, on the Cardinal Virtues; material taken mostly from Valerius Maximus, with additional material from Augustine (De civitate Dei, De beata vita, Epistolae), Bible (Proverbs), Cicero (De officiis, etc.), Seneca (Epistolae morales, De ira, De constantia), Macrobius, Aristotle, Vegetius, the "Storie Romane" of "Arineo" (f. 6r), and "Salino" (f. 23v). The presence of the "versificatore" (f. 11r), cited in Latin (Walther, Sprichwoerter 33507), and a similar constellation of sources suggest that Vincent of Beauvais' Speculum Doctrinale was a major (though not exclusive) source for this author.
Description:
Imperfect: incomplete manuscript; leaves 42-43 also wanting. and Written by a single scribe in humanistic cursive script.
Subject (Name):
Valerius Maximus
Subject (Topic):
Cardinal virtues, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Literature, Medieval--Translations, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment of Ps.-Joachim da Fiore, Vaticinia Pontificum. With additional prophetic texts including a Sibylline tract entitled De imperatore; and a Version of the "Tripoli" prophecy, added by a late 15th- or early 16th-century hand, here recorded as a vision in a Cistercian monastery in 1346.
Description:
15 small miniatures, 12-line, within narrow ochre frames inserted into text column, one for each prophecy in art. 3, ff. 15r-22r. The miniatures depict a cycle of Popes and city scapes with emblematic attributes against pink, blue and ochre grounds with small white filigree designs along the edges. Numerous flourished initials, 2-line, alternate in red and blue with purple or red penwork designs. Headings in red. Paragraph marks alternate red and blue., Binding: Fifteenth century (?). Tacketed through a limp vellum (palimpsest?) wrapper to thick leather pads with a basket weave around the sewing threads. Contemporary title in ink, on front: "De imperatore." Backs of quires cut in for sewing., Binding: Place uncertain, s. xv [?]. Tacketed through a limp vellum (palimpsest?) wrapper to thick leather pads with a basket weave around the sewing threads., Contemporary title in ink, on front: "De imperatore., Purchased from L. C. Witten in 1959 by Thomas E. Marston., and Script: Arts. 2-4 written in neat gothic bookhand. Art. 1 in a less formal bookhand and art. 5 in a notarial hand with various flourishes.
Subject (Name):
Joachim,--of Fiore,--ca. 1132-1202
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, Papacy--History, Prophecies--Early works to 1800, and Visions--Early works to 1800
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