Manuscript on parchment of Caesar, Bellum Gallicum, translated into Italian by Pier Candido Decembrio in 1438. With Dedication of the translation to Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan.
Description:
Binding: Date? Italy. Vellum case with title in ink on spine: "Cesare Comment". Gilt, gauffered edges and gold and cream silk endbands. Fragments of a printed service book with musical notation partially visible under pastedowns., Elegant illuminated title page (f. 2v) with the title, written in blue over an erasure, in a circular wreath, green with gold flowers, and framed by narrow gold bands with fillets and inkspray issuing from the top and bottom with blue and deep red flowers, green leaves and gold balls. Full border, f. 1r, white vine-stem ornament on blue, green, deep red and gold ground between thin gold frames. In lower border, medallion, blank, framed by wreath, green with yellow highlights and narrow deep red frame. Partial border, f. 3r, white vine-stem ornament on blue, green and deep red ground between narrow gold frames, enlarged to elongated dots at terminals; white vine-stem ornament extends into upper (trimmed) and lower margins, with single gold balls with hair-line strokes. 8 large initials, 11- to 3-line, gold on blue, green, gold and deep red ground with white vine-stem ornament shaded with pale pink. First few words of each book in gold; incipits, explicits and marginalia in red., and Script: Written below top line in a bold round humanistic hand by a single scribe who added extra rulings in outer margins for headings, annotations, etc., in red. Additional annotations in humanistic cursive, in a brighter shade of red.
Subject (Geographic):
Rome--History, Military--265-30 B.C
Subject (Name):
Caesar, Julius
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Literature, Medieval--Translations, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Lawrence Justinian, Saint, 1381-1456 Tavelli, Giovanni, 1386-1446
Published / Created:
[between 1450 and 1500]
Call Number:
Beinecke MS 796
Image Count:
466
Resource Type:
Archives or Manuscripts
Abstract:
Manuscript on paper (sturdy) of Laurentius Iustinianus (Lorenzo Giustiniani, 1381-1456), De disciplina et spirituali perfectione monasticae conversationis (De disciplina spiritualium), Italian translation by Iohannes de Tossignano (Giovanni Tavelli da Tossignano, 1386-1446, bishop of Ferrara 1431-1446).
Description:
Binding: Of the original binding the wooden boards (and the gilt and gauffered edges) survive. The boards are now covered with brown 19th-century marbled paper and the spine with cloth-reinforced beige marbled paper. On the latter (now detached) a paper label with handwritten 19th-century inscription: "146. / Anonimo. / Della disciplina et perfectione / de la monastica conversatione. / Cartaceo. / secolo XV."., Collection of Bernard M. Rosenthal, Berkeley (MS 136). Purchased from him in 1994 on the Edwin J. Beinecke Fund., Headings in red ink of various darkness. On f. 1r the Prologue opens with an 8-line Gothic foliate initial L in purple and blue, heightened with white penwork, on a square golden background, containing a stylized flower in purple and yellow with green foliage and ending in blue, purple and green acanthus leaves; on the same page a full floral border in blue, purple and green with a multitude of hairy gold balls. On all the remaining pages the decoration was not executed: the rectangular spaces with guide letters for initials are blank. A 4-line initial was planned f. 5r at the beginning of the text, a 3-line initial at the beginning of chapter 2 (f. 10r), and 2-line initials at the beginning of the other chapters., and Script: Copied by one hand in Italian Gothica Hybrida Libraria/Currens.
Subject (Name):
Lawrence Justinian,--Saint,--1381-1456
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Literature, Medieval--Translations, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Monastic and religious life
Manuscript on paper of Jerome, Epistolae, etc., translated into Italian by Ser Nicolaus Berti Martini de Gentiluzis de Sanctogeminiano, a notary in Florence (ca. 1388-1468). With Ps.-Augustine, Epistula ad Cyrillum, concerning the death of St. Jerome.
Description:
Binding: ca. 1500, Florence. Sewn on three tawed skin, slit straps attached to oak boards, with brown and natural color endbands (later additions?) sewn on tawed skin cores laid in grooves on the outside of the boards. Covered in orange/brown sheepskin neatly blind-tooled with rope interlace in concentric frames. Spine: double fillets at head and tail and outlining the supports on the spine; fine diapering with double fillets in the panels. Four flower-shaped catches on the lower board, two wanting. Remains of vellum label (worm eaten) on the spine and pieces of string used as place marks. Off-set impressions of medieval liturgical manuscript on front and back pastedowns. Orange edges. Sticky from excessive oiling., One illuminated initial, f. 4r, 6-line, gold, filled with red and blue penwork in geometric patterns. The penwork extends the whole length of the text column to form a partial border, terminating in the upper and lower margins in a scroll of blue penwork with small flowers, heart-shaped leaves and red dots. Numerous penwork initials of good quality, 5- to 2-line, alternate in red and blue with purple and red penwork respectively, often extending into the margins. Headings in red. Majuscules and display script touched with yellow., Script: Written by a single scribe in a small upright gothic script with both notarial and humanistic influence, above top line., and Watermarks: similar to Piccard Schere III.710, Briquet Chapeau 3387; unidentified eagle.
Subject (Name):
Jerome,--Saint,--d. 419 or 20
Subject (Topic):
Christian legends, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Latin letters, Literature, Medieval--Translations, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment (palimpsest: written over an unidentified canon law text, 1250-75) of Epitome of Aristotle's Ethics translated into Italian by Taddeo d'Alderotto (ca. 1235-1295).
Description:
Binding: ca. 1900, England or U.S.A. (?). Quarter bound in orange goatskin with a gold-tooled label on spine ("Aristotle. Ethica, in Italian. XIVth Century") and marbled paper sides. Edges gilt., Script: Written in a calligraphic notarial hand with tall ascenders and strongly looped forms of letters d and b, above top line., and Spaces left for decorative initials remain unfilled.
Subject (Name):
Alderotti, Taddeo, 1223-1295 and Aristotle
Subject (Topic):
Ethics, Italian literature--To 1400, Literature, Medieval--Translations, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment of 1) Curtius Rufus, Historia Alexandri Magni, translated into Italian and supplemented with material from Plutarch by Pier Candido Decembrio. 2) Pier Candido Decembrio, Comparazione di Cesare e d'Alessandro Magno.
Description:
Binding: 15th-16th centuries, Italy. Sewn on four tawed skin, slit straps laid in channels on the outside of wooden boards and pegged. Gilt edges. Covered in brown goatskin with corner tongues, and blind-tooled with a ropework star inside painted (red) and blind-tooled circles inside a floral border, all with metallic annular dots. There are traces of four leaf-shaped fastenings, the catches on the lower board, the upper one cut in for fabric straps attached with star-headed nails. Rebacked twice., One illuminated intial, 6-line, gold against blue, green and pink ground with white vine-stem ornament, extending into inner margin to form a partial border; terminating at top and bottom in pen inkspray with buds in green and pink and gold balls with hair-line extensions. Plain initials, 3- to 2-line, in blue, mark text divisions; headings in pale red., Purchased from Lathrop C. Harper in 1949 by Thomas E. Marston., and Script: Written by a single scribe in a slightly rounded humanistic bookhand with many cursive elements, below top line.
Subject (Name):
Caesar, Julius, Decembrio, Pier Candido,--1399-1477, Plutarch, and Rufus, Curtius
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Italian literature--15th century, Literature, Medieval--Translations, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment of Henry Suso, Horologium Sapientiae, translated into Italian. With Office of Eternal Wisdom (Cursus de aeterna sapientia), composed by Henry Suso; and several anonymous, miscellaneous texts.
Description:
[Notes on back pastedown refer to the Venetian monastery for Benedictine nuns, San Zaccaria], Binding: Fifteenth century, Italy. Original sewing on four tawed skin, kermes pink slit straps laced through tunnels in the edge of wooden boards to channels on the outside and nailed. A tawed skin endband core is laid in grooves and covered with plain, wound primary and red secondary embroidery. Spine: supports outlined and panels diapered with triple fillets. Covered in light brown goatskin with corner tongues, and decorated with interlace squares on their points within concentric frames. Trace of one fastening, the catch on the lower board and the upper one cut in for a red fabric strap attached with star-headed nails. The cover has been varnished., For main text divisions good blue initials with plain parchment designs and red penwork flourishes; elsewhere 2-line initials alternate red with blue harping designs and blue with red. On f. 11r red rectangular page filler at bottom of text space. Small plain 1-line initials alternate red and blue. Headings and paragraph marks in red. Majuscules stroked with yellow. Remains of guide letters., and Script: Main text written in gothic bookhand, below top line.
Subject (Name):
Seuse, Heinrich,--1295-1366
Subject (Topic):
Devotional literature, Italian, Literature, Medieval--Translations, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Mysticism--Early works to 1800
Manuscript on paper of excerpts from works of Greek and Roman history and philosophy (Greek works translated into Latin); religious tracts; and Italian strambotti.
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century, Italy. Rigid vellum case; paper label with title on spine: "Excerpta De Vetustioribus script. Latinis et Grecis, Saecul. XV"., Headings and initials often highlighted in red or ochre; some paragraph marks in same colors., Imperfect: Some worming at end of volume with slight loss of text., In Latin, with Greek headings and Italian poems., Script: Written by a single scribe in a neat humanistic script with many cursive elements; later additions by several hands., and Watermarks, in gutter: unidentified hunting horn, crossbow, animal (?); in outer margin, trimmed: unidentified mountain in a circle surmounted by cross.
Subject (Topic):
Education, Humanistic, Literature, Medieval--Translations, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Strambotto
Manuscript on paper of Bartolommeo Fonzio (1445-1513), 1) Italian translation of Leonard Bruni's Latin translation of the "Oratio ad Alexandrum," attributed to Demosthenes. 2) Italian translation of Marsilio Ficino's "De Magnificentia." 3) Letter to Gerolamo Pasqualini.
Subject (Name):
Fonte, Bartolommeo,--1445-1513
Subject (Topic):
Italian letters, Literature, Medieval--Translations, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library