Manuscript, on parchment, in a single hand, containing the text of Bede's Commentary on the Proverbs (Super parabolas Solomonis), nearly complete. Four original endleaves, at front, contain twelfth-century extracts from Peter Lombard on the Epistle to the Hebrews; exhortational material; and Latin verses (first line: Amittit proscriptus opes nec possi reverti).
Description:
Armorial bookplate of William John Monson, Baron Monson on front pastedown., Binding: nineteenth-century tooled brown leather over pasteboards; gold-lettered spine., Decoration: Rubricated. Two-line initials in red, blue or green with contrasting penwork; two larger initials in red, blue and green with penwork flourishes. Large illuminated initial (f1r) in gold, enclosing gold foliage on blue and green grounds., Layout: single columns of 31 lines., Ownership inscription of "roberti di cantuaria" on verso of final front endleaf., Ownership inscription of Anthony Watson on recto of first front endleaf., Previously owned by Robert of Canterbury (roberti di cantuaria); Anthony Watson. Ex libris William John Monson, Baron Monson. Purchased from Richard Linenthal (Sotheby's London sale, 2013 July 2, lot 60) on the Edwin J. Beinecke Book Fund, 2013., and Script: English book hand.
Subject (Name):
Bede, the Venerable, Saint, 673-735, Monson, William John Monson, Baron, 1796-1862--Bookplate, and Peter Lombard, Bishop of Paris, approximately 1100-1160
Subject (Topic):
Bible.--O.T.--Proverbs--Commentaries--Early works to 1800, Latin poetry, Medieval and modern, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment (thick and furry, numerous imperfections, some repaired) of Augustine, Confessiones.
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century, France. Brown, diced calf with a gold-tooled spine and title: "Confescion/ Santti/ Augustini" and "Manuscrit/ du 12^e siecle". and Ten illuminated initials of good quality, 19- to 6-line, drawn in brown ink against medium blue, reddish orange and/or ochre grounds. The initials are constructed of scrolling vines with stylized foliage and/or winged dragons, with vines issuing from their mouths, accentuated or shaded in red. Some initials inhabited by winged dragons, f. 10v with grotesque (outlined by prickings), f. 25r with a nude male figure. Headings in red.
Subject (Topic):
Autobiography, Church history--Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript fragment, on parchment, of a portion of Seneca, De Beneficiis, Book 4, Chapter 7.
Description:
Decoration: initial E in red ink with green tendrils., From the collection of A. G. and M. Hammond, MS 29 (2). From the collection of Toshiyuki Takamiya, 2013-., Layout: single column of 27 lines., Page is trimmed slightly at one edge, affecting the text., and Script: copied by one hand in Praegothica.
Subject (Name):
Seneca, Lucius Annaeus,--ca. 4 B.C.-65 A.D.
Subject (Topic):
Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven., Medieval and Renaissance Manuscript Fragments in Beinecke Library., and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library.
Manuscript on parchment (poor quality; end pieces) of Boethius, De arithmetica. Text begins imperfectly in Bk. I, ch. 23.
Description:
Binding: 19th-20th centuries, Eastern Europe (?). The back pastedown consists of a portion of a Latin parchment document dated 1374. Front pastedown removed and preserved as Marston MS 89A. Sewn on three supports laced into thick oak boards and wedged. Plain wound endbands on alum-tawed cores originally laced into the boards. Covered with parchment with irregularly serrated turn-ins, with a strap-and-pin fastening, the pin on the upper board. The codex has been so tightly rebacked that it is difficult to open., Parchment stained and warped by damp., Plain intials, 6- to 2-line, red, blue or black, occasionally with modest pen design in red (e.g., ff. 27v-28r). Numerous diagrams and charts throughout., Purchased from G. Heilburn of Paris in 1951 by L. C. Witten who sold it in 1953 to Thomas E. Marston., and Script: Written by multiple scribes (some copying or correcting only brief portions of text) in late caroline minuscule.
Subject (Topic):
Arithmetic--Early works to 1800, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Mathematics, Medieval, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment (monastic, furry) of Josephus, De bello Judaico, translated into Latin by Hegesippus
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written by a single scribe in elegant French minuscule. Marginalia, including "Nota" marks, by several later hands., Good pen-drawn initial for Book 1 (f. 2v), 12-line, in brown, with vigorous foliage swirls, modelled with fine striations, against a bright, multicolored (green, blue, red, maroon) panelled ground; for the Prologue and Books 2-5 (ff. 2r, 37r, 52r, 67v, and 82v), 7- or 5-line initials, in red, blue, green, and light brown with delicate, stylized foliage (f. 2r: also with two stylized heads). On f. 77v, a marginal drawing in red ink of a man pointing to text with a note (13th century) in brown ink "Nota de iniquo Symone.". Rubrics throughout., and Binding: Eighteenth century. Edges gilt. Green goatskin gold-tooled, with a brick-red label.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Josephus, Flavius.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Jews, History, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment of Josephus, De bello iudaico, translated into Latin by Rufinus
Alternative Title:
De bello Judaico
Description:
In Latin., Written in bold and elegant early gothic bookhand; some looped flourishes in upper margins contain red dots., Seven initials, 17- to 10-line, in red, filled with red swirling foliage on orange and green grounds, with touches of blue, against irregular grounds of blue and/or orange panels. 6- to 2-line initials, green and/or red with red or green foliate flourishes, set both outside and into text column; initials sometimes incorporate simple facial features. 1-line red initials for rubrics. Rubrics throughout; remains of notes to rubricator., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Brown goatskin, blind-tooled.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Josephus, Flavius.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Jews, History, Latin literature, Medieval and modern, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment (thick, furry) of an anonymous catena of Eucharistic proof texts
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written by several scribes, perhaps at different times, in early gothic bookhand., Plain initials in red or green (spaces left for others), followed by rustic capitals. Heading, in red, on f. 1r. Simple schematic drawings to explicate the text of art. 20 (ff. 21r, 22r)., Some loss of text due to trimming on f. 23v., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Brown goatskin, blind- and gold-tooled.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Eusebius Gallicanus.
Subject (Topic):
Catenae, Fathers of the church, Lord's Supper, Manuscripts, Medieval, Sermons, and Theology, Doctrinal
Manuscript on parchment of Ambrose, 1) De paradiso. 2) De Cain et Abel. 3) Exhortatio virginitatis. 4) De institutione virginis. Written perhaps at the Cistercian abbey of Hautecombe to which it belonged.
Description:
Acquired from Maggs Bros. of London in 1957 by L. C. Witten, who sold it the same year to Thomas E. Marston., Binding: 1800-1810, Italy. Half bound with a brown calf spine and goatskin corners, bright pink paper sides and red edges. Three green, gold-tooled labels on the spine: "Manuscri," "S Ambrosi de Cain" and "Seculi XII". Bound in the same distinctive style as Marston MSS 50, 125, 128, 135, 151, 158, 159 and 197, all of Hautecombe provenance., Heavily stained but with no loss of text., Plain red initials, 6- to 4-line, with small "pearls" on the thin strokes of the letters, introduce each text. Headings in red. Instructions to rubricator and guide letters., and Script: Written by two scribes in late caroline minuscule. Scribe 1 (ff. 1r-61r): preference for uncial d, angular abbreviation strokes, and a slightly larger module of script than that used by Scribe 2 (ff. 61r-83r).
Subject (Name):
Cistercians
Subject (Topic):
Celibacy--Christianity, Fathers of the church, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Theology--Early works to 1800
Early ex-libris on f. 52v in light ink: "iste liber est de fontibus geradi [sic]. and Manuscript on parchment of Arnald, abbot of Bonneval, 1) Tractatus de septem verbis domini in cruce. 2) Libellus de laudibus de B. Mariae virginis.
Description:
Binding: 13th-14th centuries (?), France. Original sewing on four tawed skin, slit straps laced from out to inside the boards and wedged at an angle. Pastedowns sewn with book. The upper board is beech, the lower oak. The grooves on the inside of the boards have been burned as well as gouged out. A blue and natural color endband is sewn in a chevron pattern. The primary core is laced into grooves parallel to the edges of the boards but not fastened and the endband is sewn through the cover. Fragment of an unidentified text (France, 1125-ca. 1150) used for front pastedown; portion of a document dated 1225 (?) involving Theobaldus, abp. of Rouen (1221-29) and the Cistercian nunnery of Fontaine-Guerard (Fontes Guerardi) for rear pastedown. Covered in very thick tawed skin, neatly patched and pieced out. The turn-ins are nailed near the corners. There are two strap-and-pin fastenings, the pins on the lower board and the kermes pink, tawed skin strap ending in a catch with a twisted, tawed skin cord and tassel attached, later additions (?). Remains of later title, in ink, on spine., Red initial, 4-line, with red and green arabesque designs on f. 1r; red monochrome initials with simple decorative designs, ff. 2v, 9r, 14r; less elaborate red initials, ff. 18v, 23r, 29v, 47r. Heading in red for art. 1 only. Initials stroked with red., and Script: Written in a neat late caroline minuscule that is written above the text ruling, not on it.
Subject (Name):
Mary,--Blessed Virgin, Saint--Devotion to
Subject (Topic):
Devotional literature, Latin (Medieval and modern), Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript fragment on parchment of Boethius' De syllogismo categorico and De differentiis topicis
Description:
In Latin., Script: written in a highly abbreviated, late Caroline script., and Decoration: 2- and 3-line initials at the beginning of each section are red; 1-line initials are brown rustic capitals; the explicit is written in brown rustic capitals with some use of uncial and minuscule forms; there are nine diagrams, one outlined in red; punctuated with the punctus.