Manuscript roll, on parchment, in a single hand, illuminated, containing the "Arma Christi" poem and other prayers, in Dutch, including prayers ascribed to Popes Sixtus IV and Alexander VI. The prayers are preceded by a rubric instructing readers to kneel as they recite the prayers in order to obtain an indulgence.
Description:
Binding: section of leather sewn to top of scroll. Accompanied by seventeenth-century? fabric case with fabric and metal appliqués., Decoration: Rubricated. Initials in red or blue. Large miniature at head of roll containing a bust of Christ wearing a crown of thorns, displaying his stigmata, and surrounded by the "arma Christi" (also known as the Instruments of the Passion). On a blue ground in gold frame. One large decorated initial immediately below miniature. Text accompanied by decorated borders on both sides., Layout: single column of text., Purchased from Richard Linenthal (Sotheby's London sale, 2014 July 8, lot 48) on the Edwin J. Beinecke Book Fund, 2014., and Script: gothic.
Subject (Geographic):
Netherlands--Religious life and customs--Early works to 1800
Subject (Name):
Alexander VI, Pope, 1431-1503, Catholic Church--Prayers and devotions--Dutch, Jesus Christ--Passion--Art, Jesus Christ--Passion--Prayers and devotions, Jesus Christ--Passion--Prayers and devotions--Early works to 1800, and Sixtus IV, Pope, 1414-1484
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Indulgences--Early works to 1800, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment of astrological texts drawn largely from Arab astrology of the early Middle Ages, and transmitted in medieval Latin translations; in addition Ptolemy's Centiloquium is present, transmitted not in Greek but through the Arabic, along with a single contemporary component, the Astrolabium planum of Johann Engel.
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century, English. Marbled paper boards, green calf back with six heavy (false?) bands, the compartments with patterns of small tools impressed in gold and with gold-stamped titles, a small rectangular label with the printed number 1037 and a small round label with the inked number 894 glued to the bottommost compartment. All edges gilt. Preserved in a modern green cloth folding box, probably French, with leather label., Collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps. Mellon MS 155, acquired from C. A. Stonehill, Inc. (bookseller), New Haven. Gift of Paul and Mary Mellon, 1965., Rubrics, and occasional headlines in red, diagrams in the text in brown and red inks. Full illuminated border, outlined in red, on f. 1r of leafy sprays in colors and gold, the white spaces filled up with black dots and small burnished gold circles each with three or four small tendrils; a large initial in burnished gold and colors at the beginning of the text in the first column, with gold band extending downward and then around three sides of the page forming an inner border, completed by a red line at top; a lozenge at the center of the lower band of the border containing a pattern of platelike discs, quatrefoils, and a leafy spray on a dull gold ground, this segment almost certainly a later replacement of an original coat of arms which has been erased. Elsewhere in the manuscript smaller illuminated initials in the style of the first frequently occur, and larger ones with descenders to partial borders at the foot of the page occur. Each of the ninety-six pages from f. 191r through 238v has four drawings in colors (six on those pages which open each of the signs of the Zodiac), placed within diagrams accompanied by slight text., and Script: Written by a single scribe in a large and clear hand in Gothica textualis formata and Bastarda.
Subject (Name):
Ptolemy,--2nd cent
Subject (Topic):
Astrology, Arab, Astrology--Early works to 1800, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on paper made by an unknown Venetian mathematician, astronomer and cartographer. This manuscript is highly interesting for the excellent drawings of contemporary Mediterranean sailing-ships
Description:
In Italian., Script: Written by one hand in Gothico-Humanistic Cursive, which in the maps alternates with Capitalis. Headings in Capitalis inscribed on scrolls or tablets., Maps, borders and decorations in colours. Clumsily drawn human and animal figures., and Binding: Original limp vellum. On the spine is written "G***ctrica MSS". On the rear cover are a pen-drawing, upside-down, of the same decorative device as on f. 2r, and a sketch of city gates.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut, New Haven., and Islands of the Mediterranean.
Subject (Topic):
Atlases, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscript maps, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Sailing ships
Manuscript on paper of Pedro Lopez de Ayala, Aves de caça.
Description:
In Spanish., Script: Written by a single scribe in a careful italic script., Crude initial and heading (in gold and subdued water colors) on f. i recto and f. 1r; other small initials, 4- to 1-line, in similar colors throughout text. Headings in red; initials of each paragraph in blue or red., Waterstained throughout., and Binding: Seventeenth century. Black goatskin, blind-tooled. Fragments of manuscripts (covered by paper pastedowns) serve as binding reinforcements.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
López de Ayala, Pedro, 1332-1407.
Subject (Topic):
Falconry, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Spanish literature
Manuscript on parchment (trimmed) of 1) Unidentified preface. 2) Sallust, Bellum Catilinae. 3) Unidentified scholia on Sallust, Bellum Catilinae. Although the commentary of Beinecke MS 358 belongs to the medieval school tradition rather than to the Renaissance tradition, neither the text of this article or of art. 5 below resembles closely any medieval texts currently known. 4) Sallust, Bellum Iugurthinum. 5) Unidentified scholia on Sallust, Bellum Iugurthinum
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written in batarde, with scholia in a smaller version of the same hand., One miniature, 12-line, f. 74v, a T-O mappa mundi, in a red and gold frame, slightly waterstained at the edges. One 4-line initial, f. 3r (pink), and one 3-line initial, f. 57r (blue), both with white highlights, filled with red and blue ivy on gold against a gold ground. Twenty 2-line initials, gold, filled with pink and blue against pink and/or blue grounds, square or irregular, with white filigree. Capitals stroked in yellow, red or blue between ff. 1r and 26v; in yellow for the remainder of the text. Borders were perhaps added later (between 1425 and 1450) on folios with initials only; between ff. 1r and 57r, flowering vines, gold, green and blue with gold dots in lines above, below or in written space; blue and gold acanthus mixed with flowering vines, red, pink, blue, and green with gold ivy in line above written space and in inner margin within rulings for scholia; on a few folios, outer vertical bounding line reinforced in red with small acanthus terminals. Between ff. 57v and 162v pink, blue and/or green acanthus, with flowering vines, pink, blue and green, with gold ivy and dots, disposed as above; on f. 85v vertical bounding line repainted as a green stem with lopped off stalks. Lemmata underlined in red., and Binding: 18th-19th centuries. Limp vellum case with title in ink. Rodent damage.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Catiline, approximately 108 B.C.-62 B.C. and Sallust, 86 B.C.-34 B.C.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Jugurthine War, 111-105 B.C., Latin literature, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Scholia
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
Manuscript on paper (watermarks in gutter) of 1) Petrarch, Boccacii Griseldis historia. 2) Pope Pius II, Epistola. 3) Petrarch, Famil. rerum., 12, 2. 4) Pope Pius II, Bulla retractationum. 5) Pope Pius II, Epistola de fortuna
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written by three scribes in similar styles of informal gothic scripts (batarde influence). Scribe 1) ff. 1r-7r; 2) ff. 7v-14v; 3) ff. 15r-26v., One calligraphic initial, f. 1r, 4-line, blue with white floral motifs; infilled with red penwork floral designs tinted with green; penwork trails into inner margin, with plain green dots. Four initials, ff. 1v, 7v, 10v, 21v, red ink, 6- to 2-line. Paragraph marks in red. Numerous capitals stroked in red; rubrics throughout; explicits underlined in red., and Binding: Twentieth century. Vellum spine (verso of an unidentified manuscript) with "Petrarcae et Aeneae Silvii Epistoles" inscribed; grey-blue paper sides.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Petrarca, Francesco, 1304-1374.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Latin literature, Medieval and modern, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Papal documents
Manuscript on parchment (goatskin) of Gaspare Zacchi, Bononiensium res publica. Most probably the dedication copy, sent by the author from Tivoli to the Signoria of Bologna on or soon after 29 Nov. 1471
Description:
The author (d. 1474) in 1450-1455, being protonotary of Volterra, was a member of Cardinal Bessarion's legation to Bologna. In 1460 he became bishop of Osimo. At the time he wrote the present treatise he was prefect of Tivoli ("Arx Tiburtina")., In Latin., Script: Copied by a single scribe writing Humanistica Cursiva Formata very close in aspect to Humanistica Textualis, with relatively numerous and unusual abbreviations. A second hand, probably the author, has corrected the scribe's errors., The headings and "Finis" on f. 9r are written in Capitalis in pale red ink. The nine chapters open with a plain initial alternately blue and pale red. Between two chapters one line is left free. The Prologus (f. 2r-v) opens with a 3-line gold initial on a blue-red-green rectangular background decorated with white and gold penwork. The body of text opens on f. 3r with a 5-line white vinestem initial with full-length marginal extension. F. 1v contains the coat of arms of the city of Bologna, f. 10r the coat of arms of the author, both in full colour., and Binding: Early nineteenth century by Rene Simier (d. 1826). Citron morocco over pasteboard, both covers with delicate gold-tooled frame, the spine gold-tooled, with gold-tooled title "GASP. / RESP." and binder's signature at the foot "REL. P(ar) SI.". Gilt edges. Grey marbled endpapers.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut, New Haven., and Bologna (Italy)
Subject (Name):
Zacchi, Gaspare.
Subject (Topic):
Didactic literature, Latin (Medieval and modern), Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Politics and government
Manuscript on paper of a common-place book. The main texts of the manuscript, which are primarily devotional in nature, were written in East Anglia by an unidentified scribe toward the end of the 15th century; a second individual, identified as Robert Melton of Stuston in Suffolk, added numerous accounts and notes at the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th century
Description:
Robert Melton was the co-executor of the estate of John Cornwallis (d. 1506), Lord of the Manors of Brome, Stuston, Okley, and Thranston, whose family possessed Brome Hall from early in the 15th to the 19th century., In Middle English., Watermarks: similar to Briquet Armoiries 1038 for part of quire I and all of II; similar to Briquet Main 11399 for remainder of quire I, all of quires III and IV, part of V; similar to Briquet Navire 11971 on ff. 68, 79 only; similar to Briquet Lettre P 8586 on ff. 72, 75; similar to Briquet Main 11152 on ff. 73, 74; unidentified watermark on f. 81., Script: Written primarily by two persons: Scribe 1) ff. 1r-26v, 28r-44r, 68r-77r, 79v, 80v-81r. Written in small, well formed Anglicana script with first line of each text in formal bookhand. Scribe 2: ff. 27r-v, 45r-60r, 62v-67v, 77v-78v, 80r, 81v. Written in a large sprawling script; no ornamentation. A third person added art. 17 at a later time., Only scribe 1 included decoration. Initials in red, 4- to 2-line, with penwork flourishes in brown; initial strokes in red. Portions of text underlined in red; rhyming verses often bracketed, in red, at end of lines. On f. 14v, a fine half-page drawing in red and brown of the monogram IHS which incorporates both a heart pierced by a lance and vine patterns and tendrils. Art. 4 is illustrated with drawings of dice, in red, in outer margins., First leaves heavily stained; lower right corner waterstained ff. 1-43., and Binding: Between 1490 and 1500. Original sewing with long stitches through a thick rectangular piece of leather on the outside of a vellum wrapper. Contemporary scroll design added to upper cover with unidentified inscription, in red, mostly illegible.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Melton, Robert.
Subject (Topic):
Devotional literature, English (Middle)., English poetry, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript fragment on parchment of a book of hours with an office for the dead
Description:
In Latin., Script: Copied by one hand writing in Gothica Cursiva Formata (Bastarda)., and Decoration: Purplish red rubrics. Yellow highlighting of the majuscules. 1-line versals and 2- or 3-line initials, all in liquid gold on purplish red or blue square background decorated with foliage or flowers in liquid gold. Initials in red, blue, and gold. On f. 1v, there is a rectangular picture, framed in black and gold and treated as an initial 11 lines high, of God the Father with tiara, sitting, one hand on the globe, the other hand blessing rows of Seraphim and Cherubim before him. Elsewhere yellow-colored fleur-de-lys, animals, archers and a giant insects.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Books of hours, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval