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 goatskin parchment of 1) St Basil of Ancyra, De vera integritate virginitatis. Translated into Latin by Ambrogio Traversari between 1423-1424; 2) St John Chrysostom, Adversus oppugnatores vitae monasticae. Translated into Latin by Ambrogio Traversari in 1420
Description:
In Latin., Script: Copied by one scribe, writing in Humanistica Semitextualis with a few Gothic features., Pale red rubrics. Text undecorated, with the following exceptions: plain 2-4-line initials (Capitalis) in red or blue on pp. 1, 152, 155, 188; 5-line white vinestem initial integrated in a three-margins-left border in the same style on p. 3; the initial and border have been attributed by Albinia C. de la Mare to Giovanni d'Antonio Varnucci (1416-1457)., and Binding: 19th-20th centuries; brown morocco over cardboard. Both covers are blind-tooled with frames of fillets and four different flower tools. Five raised bands are on the spine.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Traversari, Ambrogio, 1386-1439.
Subject (Topic):
Fathers of the church, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Monastic and religious life
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