Manuscript on parchment of Books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus, preceded by prologues. With two short prayers.
Description:
16th-century inscription of Heinrich Schkor von Stranov on verso of front flyleaf: "1542/ diss puechle gehert zu dem Edlen vnd Vesten [?] hainrichen schkor [followed by hole in parchment] von stranoff [Stranov in Bohemia] derzait haubtman zu prukh an der layta [Bruck an der Leitha, Southeast Austria]/ 15 A 47 [sic]..."., Acquired from B. M. Rosenthal in 1959 by Thomas E. Marston., Binding: Fifteenth century, Bohemia. Sewn on three supports, with two half bands near head and tail, fastened to wooden boards. Yellow edges and kermes pink place marks. Covered in brown calf, blind-tooled with floral designs, with a central and four large corner fittings on each board. Spine: supports defined with double fillets; four leafy flower bud tools pointing inward in the two central panels. Two fastenings, the catches on the upper board and the lower one cut in for tawed skin, cream colored straps (only stubs remain). Small pieces of liturgical manuscript (Northern Italy, 14th century) used for front and rear pastedowns. Head and tail of spine and the upper joint very unobtrusively repaired., Covered in brown calf, blind-tooled with floral designs, with a central and four large corner fittings on each board., For prologues and beginning of each book partial borders constructed of a thin bar, unburnished gold, pink or green with burnished gold balls, terminating in sprays of stylized foliage, green, pink, and blue with gold accents. One large illuminated initial, f. 1r, 13-line, blue with light blue foliage shading against a red and pink ground; foliage serifs in green. 6 smaller illuminated initials, blue, pink, green or gold against blue or pink ground with white or gold filigree and/or gold crosshatching. Numerous pen-and-ink initials, 2-line, alternate in blue with red penwork designs and gold with blue penwork designs. Running titles in red and blue. Headings in red. Initials touched with yellow., Script: Written in hybrida script by a single scribe. Arts. 2-3 added by later hands., Small pieces of liturgical manuscript (Northern Italy, s. XIV) used for front and rear pastedowns., and Written in hybrida script by a single scribe. Arts. 2-3 added by later hands.
Subject (Topic):
Bible.--O.T.--Apocrypha.--Ecclesiasticus, Bible.--O.T.--Apocrypha.--Wisdom of Solomon, Bible.--O.T.--Ecclesiastes, Bible.--O.T.--Proverbs, Bible.--O.T.--Song of Solomon, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Wisdom literature
Manuscript on paper of Boniohannes de Messana (previously attributed to Ps.-Cyrillus), Quadripartitus figurarum moralium.
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century, Italy. "Alla rustica" paper case., Plain initials, 3- to 1-line, and headings in red., Purchased from Renzo Rizzi of Milan in 1957 by L. C. Witten, who sold it the same year to Thomas E. Marston., Script: Written by a single scribe in neat, even humanistic cursive., and Watermarks, in gutter: similar to Piccard Waage VI.29-31; unidentified anchor in a circle with linking ring at top, the whole surmounted by a star.
Subject (Topic):
Ethics, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment of Gregorius Magnus (Gregory the Great, pope 590-604), Regula pastoralis.
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century, England. De luxe, gold-tooled green morocco over cardboard; each cover framed by rich gold-tooling imitating the decorated initial on f. 1v; turn-ins gold-tooled. Gold-tooled spine with repeated motif in the same style and title: “GREGORII / PASTORALIS / M.S.”. Gilt edges., Collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps (MS 14872)., Headings in red, missing from f. 12v onwards. 1-3-line plain initials in red of various shades. On f. 1v very large (c. 25 lines) decorated Romanesque initial “P” in red., Holes and defective corners, many repaired; the lower margins of ff. 63 and 91-92 are repaired by means of a strip of parchment; the lower margin of f. 93 is cut off. The manuscript is heavily trimmed at the top. First and last pages very soiled., and Script: Copied by various scribes writing Praegothica, difficult to distinguish from each other because of the uneven level of execution of their hands.
Subject (Name):
Gregory--I,--Pope,--ca. 540-604
Subject (Topic):
Fathers of the church, Letters, Papal, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Theology--History--Early church, ca. 30-600
Manuscript on parchment of Guarino of Verona, 1) Regulae grammaticales. 2) De orthographia. 3) Carmina differentialia.
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century (?). Rigid vellum case. Remains of a brick red label., Bookplate of Thomas E. Marston; the date and source of acquisition unknown., One illuminated initial of poor quality, f. 1r, 11-line, purple with white filigree on gold and blue ground; filled with a stylized flower red and green with white filigree, upper terminal extending into pen-and-ink inkspray with gold balls and a mauve flower in upper border; pen-and-ink flourish with gold balls, ending in a bird's head, mauve, green and blue. Plain initials and paragraph marks alternate in blue and red; headings in red. Arms of the Valaresso family of Venice in lower border (azure, 3 bars gemelles or); partially effaced arms of Cardinal Bessarion in outer margin (azure, a cross botonny gules, a chief or; crest, cardinal's hat and crozier)., and Script: Written in humanistic bookhand, below top line; marginal annotations in humanistic cursive.
Subject (Name):
Guarino,--Veronese,--1374-1460
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Language and languages--Orthography and spelling, Latin language, Medieval and modern--Grammar, Latin poetry, Medieval and modern, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment (speckled on hair side) of 1) Petrarch, Rerum vulgarium fragmenta. 2) Petrarch, Triumphi.
Description:
Acquired from H. P. Kraus in 1960 by Thomas E. Marston., Binding: Nineteenth century, Italy. Brown calf, blind- and gold-tooled. Gilt edges. Title on spine: "Petrarca". Signed by "CR"., Illuminated by Antonio di Niccolo di Lorenzo. The decoration consists of an illuminated title page with full border, white vine-stem ornament on blue, red and green ground with white, blue and pale yellow dots, respectively, with a thin gold bar in all margins, forming a diamond (black) in inner and a roundel with a profile head of a young woman against blue sky with some clouds in the outer margin. In the lower border a medallion (erased) framed in gold and supported by four round-faced putti with multicolored wings in green and red. Superimposed on the border are a variety of multicolored birds, a lion and two putti. These animals are related to animals in contemporary Florentine manuscripts and perhaps reflect the use of a model book. Historiated initial, 10-line, gold, on blue green and red ground with white vine-stem ornament attached to the inner border, with a half-length portrait of Petrarch holding a book against a blue sky with white cloud formations. Six illuminated initials (ff. 143r, 155v, 159r, 168v, 176r, 178v), 6- and 5-line, gold on blue, red and green grounds with white vine-stem ornament extending into margin, and gold dots with hair-line extensions. On f. 143r, initial joined to partial border, same as above. Plain initials in blue, paragraph marks alternate red and blue. Headings in red., and Script: Written by Carlo di Palla Guidi in a round humanistic script, above top line.
Subject (Name):
Petrarca, Francesco,--1304-1374
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Italian poetry--To 1400, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment of 1) Rudimenta grammatices (Grammatica latina secundum Donatum). 2) Disticha Catonis.
Description:
Binding: Twentieth century, England (?). Quarter bound in brown, blind-tooled calf over wooden boards., Historiated initial, f. 1r, 11-line, pink against blue ground with a half-length portrait in profile of the author, dressed in red and green robes and a red hat against parchment ground with brown penwork. Foliage serifs, green, blue and red extending into inner and upper margin to form partial border. In center of lower margin, blank shield for coat of arms, flanked by stylized foliage, blue and red. In outer margin, small patch of green with boy or man sitting under a tree (visible under ultra-violet light). One illuminated initial on f. 11r, 8-line, pink against blue ground filled with stylized foliage, blue, green and red. Plain initials in red. Small initials touched with yellow., Purchased from H. P. Kraus in 1955 by Thomas E. Marston., Script: Written in round gothic bookhand by a single scribe., and The entire manuscript is well worn, affecting the text; f. 1r is badly rubbed and stained.
Subject (Name):
Donatus, Aelius
Subject (Topic):
Catonis disticha, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Latin language--Grammar, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Stoics
Manuscript on paper (thick, coarse) of Lives of the Saints, preceded by accounts of events in the Bible from both the Old and New Testaments. Folios 51 and 61 interchanged in rebinding.
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century, Italy. Rigid vellum case with two red labels on spine: "Trattati di storia sacra" and "Manuscritto 1360"., Crudely executed title page, f. 1r, consisting of floral and foliage motifs in upper margin, scroll around column in inner margin, and, in outer margin, scroll around column terminating in elongated arm with text on the scroll (much rubbed and stained). In lower margin a coat of arms (damaged; probably: or, two columns gules); the letters B and C on either side in the bases of columns in inner and outer margins. The decoration of title page in bright red and green. Plain initials (some with simple foliage designs), headings, paragraph marks, pointing hands, and hands holding crosses or symbols of passions of martyrs (e. g., gridiron for Laurence), all in bright red, green, and/or black., Folio 1 damaged; no loss of text., Script: Written by several scribes in unruly mercantesca script, above top line. Script becomes smaller and tighter toward end of codex., and Watermarks: similar in design to Briquet Ciseaux 3708 dated Genoa, 1465.
Subject (Topic):
Christian hagiography, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Italian literature--15th century, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment of collected Greek moral sayings translated into Latin by the diplomat George Hermonymus of Sparta. The manuscript also contains a dedicatory preface to the Abbot of St. Albans. The final two leaves contain 16th and 17th-century verses in multiple hands. The humanist style of the book's script, contents, and illuminations suggest that it is a sister copy of British Library, Harley MS 3346, which was presented to George Neville, Archbishop of York.
Description:
Binding: original, worn velvet over wooden boards., Decoration: heraldic illumination on f. 1v of two angels holding a coat of arms, overpainted to that of the Totewhill family (sable, three covered cups argent); the mitre associated with the abbacy of St. Albans floats above. Borderwork around the miniature consists of gold leaf and alternating red and blue flowers. 1 four-line gilt initial "M" on 2r with accompanying blue and red design and gold borderwork with blue and red background. Between 1 and 3 two to three-line gilt initials per page with blue and red background. Rubrics in red., Ex libris St. Albans Abbey. Ex libris the Totewhill family of Cornwall. Purchased from Christie's London sale (2017 July 12, lot 13) on the James Marshall and Marie-Louise Osborn Fund, 2017., Layout: single column of 14 lines., Script: main text in a humanist hand, possibly that of George Hermonymus. Later English and Latin verses in three early modern hands., and The manuscript contains a dedicatory preface from George Hermonymus to "Gulielmum," the Abbot of St. Albans, either William Albon (1465-1475) or William of Wallingford (1476-1492); this manuscript was probably presented while Hermonymus was on a diplomatic mission to England between 1475 and 1476. The coat of arms of the Totewhill family of Cornwall have been overpainted in the heraldic miniature.
Subject (Name):
Albon, William,---1476., Hermōnymos, Geōrgios,--15th cent., St. Albans Abbey, and Wallingford, William,---1488?
Subject (Topic):
Classical philosophy, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment of Peter Lombard, Sententiarum libri IV. With a Commentary on Eccles. 38.
Description:
Binding: 1837, England. Bound by Gough in London. Dark brown goatskin, blind-tooled with a light brown gold-tooled label with title "Liber Sententiarum"., Purchased in 1957 from Quaritch, London, by L. C. Witten, who sold it in 1959 to Thomas E. Marston., Red and blue divided initials, 4- to 3-line, for prologue and beginning of books, with penwork designs in the same colors. For other text divisions, 3- to 2-line initials in red or blue with flourishes in opposite color. Distinctio numbers and running headlines in red and blue; rubrics in red. Initial letters of each entry in chapter lists alternate red and blue., and Script: Written in gothic bookhand, below top line; annotations added in less formal, later hands.
Subject (Name):
Peter Lombard,--Bishop of Paris,--ca. 1100-1160
Subject (Topic):
Bible.--O.T.--Ecclesiastes, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, Philosophy, Scholasticism, Scholia, and Theology
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