Manuscript on parchment of John Chrysostom, Sermo de dignitate humanae originis, translated into Latin by Ambrogio Traversari. The text is preceded by a dedicatory letter, here directed to Rene d'Anjou (King of Sicily and Naples, 1435-42).
Description:
3 large initials of modest quality, 8- to 7-line, gold on blue or blue and red grounds with white dots and white vine-stem ornament. 1 smaller initial, 3-line, gold on red and blue ground with white dots. Plain initials in blue and red, one in gold, some with penwork flourishes in red. Rubrics throughout. Paragraph marks in red or blue. Guide letters for initials., Binding: Fifteenth century, Italy. Original sewing on three tawed skin, slit straps laced through tunnels in the edge to channels on the outside of beech boards and nailed. Beige and white chevron endbands are sewn on tawed skin cores laid in grooves on the outside of the boards. The spine is lined with green tawed skin between supports. Covered in brown, originally tan, calf with corner tongues, blind-tooled with a triple cross in a border of rope interlace. Spine: sewing bands defined and panels diapered with triple fillets. Two truncated diamond catches with a flower in a circle on the lower board, the upper one cut in for the red fabric straps attached with star-headed nails., Purchased from Giuseppe (Joseph) Martini of Lugano by H. P. Kraus, who sold it in 1957 to Thomas E. Marston., and Script: Written by a single scribe in humanistic cursive script, below top line.
Subject (Name):
John Chrysostom, Saint, -407 and Traversari, Ambrogio, 1386-1439
Subject (Topic):
Catechetical sermons, Fathers of the church, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Literature, Medieval--Translations, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Sermons--Early works to 1800
Manuscript on parchment of a collection of anonymous sermons, mostly drawn from the Italian Homiliary.
Description:
Attractive pen-and-ink drawings throughout the manuscript, in red, though much of manuscript now stained. Folio 1r with a partial border formed of fantastic beasts, dragons and grotesques. Other drawings in margins include a fantastic bird, f. 9r; a dragon with a human head issuing forth stylized scrolls, f. 40v; a scroll inhabited by a fantastic bird, f. 49r; a lizard-like creature, its tail forming a partial border, f. 53r; a grotesque, f. 73v. Several drawings in the lower margin have been trimmed. Plain initials in red, some with penwork scrolls or simple flourishing. Headings and underlining of Biblical passages in red., Binding: Nineteenth century (?), Italy (?). Brown leather case with title, in ink, on spine: "Homil. in Evangel". Fragment of an unidentified 13th-century Latin document (monastic register?) bound in as second front flyleaf., and Script: Written in a nice large early gothic script, above top line.
Subject (Topic):
Homiliaries, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, Sermons, Latin, and Sermons--Early works to 1800
Manuscript on parchment of Gottofredo da Trani, Summa super titulis Decretalium. With medicinal recipes and a list of Roman emperors.
Description:
5 fine illuminated initials, 30- to 7-line, in blue or pink with white filigree on blue and red grounds framed in blue or red accentuated at the corners by gold dots. Infilled with intertwining or angular vines, some with biting head terminals, mauve or blue with white highlights and gold dots. Ascenders and descenders, red, mauve and blue terminating in spiralling serifs with biting animal heads or grotesques against cusped grounds. Two initials with vines issuing from upper and left corners, blue with white highlights ending in grotesques. 3- and 2-line calligraphic initials, red and blue with blue and red penwork. Plain initials alternating in red and blue. Headings in red; running titles (chapter numbers) alternating red and blue. Instructions to rubricator in lower margins., Binding: Nineteenth century, France. Early sewing on five supports with 19th-century boards covered in parchment. Title on spine: "Gofredo de Trano/ Manuscrit"., and Script: Written in a rounded gothic bookhand, below top line; marginal annotations and finding aids by a contemporary hand in less formal script.
Subject (Topic):
Canon law--Early works to 1800, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Scholasticism
Manuscript on paper of Summulae naturalium, composed in 1408 by Paulus Nicolettus Venetus O.E.S.A. (1369/72-1429).
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century, England. Blind-tooled brown goatskin with the same gold-tooled title on the spine and both covers: "Summule Naturalium/ Paulus de Venetiis/ M. S. 1373". Bound by Riviere (London) before 1881. Red edges., Brittle. Acidic ink damage with some loss of text., Decorated title page, f. 1r, with border, in black and red ink composed of various decorative devices: in the upper margin a bar border with a central semicircle flanked by stylized scrolls in black and red. In the outer margin, a roundel, black with red and black frame, filled with a flower of 6 petals in red; the roundel flanked by stylized scrolls. In center of lower margin a medallion framed in narrow black and red bands containing a flaming heart pierced by an arrow and an open book, also flanked by stylized scrolls. Numerous decorated initials, 30- to 4-line, black and red with interior designs of lozenges, small flowers, and wavy lines of paper ground. Plain initials and paragraph marks in red. Guide letters for rubricator throughout., Purchased from C. A. Stonehill in 1953 by Thomas E. Marston., Script: Written by several scribes in humanistic cursive script with gothic features, below top line; inital words of each section in gothic bookhand., Watermarks, obscured by text: similar to Harlfinger Chapeau 17 and unidentified ladder., and Worm-eaten; some minor loss of text.
Subject (Name):
Aristotle, Augustinians, and Venetus, Paulus
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Latin literature, Medieval and modern, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, Physics--Early works to 1800, and Scholia
Gazaeus, Aeneas Rufinus, of Aquileia, 345-410 Traversari, Ambrogio, 1386-1439
Published / Created:
[ca. 1450]
Call Number:
Marston MS 1
Image Count:
127
Resource Type:
Archives or Manuscripts
Abstract:
Manuscript on paper of 1) Aeneas Gazaeus, Theophrastus, translated into Latin by Ambrogio Traversari. 2) Life of St. Helenus, monk in Egypt. Text is an extract (incomplete) taken from the Latin translation by Rufinus of the Historia monachorum, ch. 11.
Description:
Acquired from C. A. Stonehill in 1949 by Thomas E. Marston., Binding: Fifteenth century, Italy. Vellum stays are adhered in and outside the paper gatherings. Original sewing on three tawed skin, kermes pink, slit straps which go through tunnels in the edges of wooden boards to channels on the outside where they are pegged. The primary endband, sewn on a tawed skin core, is gilt with traces of a red secondary endband. A design is scratched on the gilt edges. Covered in brown sheepskin with corner tongues and blind-tooled with progressively taller concentric frames alternately decorated with five small tools. Five flower-shaped bosses on each board, some wanting, and four fastenings, leaf-shaped catches on the lower board, the upper board cut in for the clasp straps which are attached with star-headed nails. Rebacked., ff. 2r-9v blank (first gathering; foliation begins on preceding flyleaf), One large illuminated initial, 5-line, of modest quality, in gold with black accents on a multicolored ground of red, blue and green with white vine-stem ornament and white dots. One smaller initial (unfinished), parchment color on blue ground with white vine-stem ornament. On f. 1r, in lower border an unidentified coat of arms: vert a chief sable (?), overall a lion (?) rampant gules (or purpre?) on the main field and or in chief and with bend (tincture undetermined) overall; the whole shield overpainted in black. Headings in red., Script: Written in humanistic script by a single scribe, above top line., and Watermarks: Briquet Fleur 6306, and unidentified shrub, ff. i-viii, in gutter; Briquet Tete humaine 15617.
Subject (Name):
Gazaeus, Aeneas
Subject (Topic):
Biography--To 500, Desert Fathers, Dialogues, Greek, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Literature, Medieval--Translations, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Monks
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 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 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