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
Aeschines Anaximenes, of Lampsacus Bruni, Leonardo, 1369-1444 Demosthenes
Published / Created:
[ca. 1415-20]
Call Number:
Marston MS 10
Image Count:
207
Resource Type:
Archives or Manuscripts
Abstract:
Manuscript on parchment (speckled on hair side) of Greek works translated into Latin by Leonardo Bruni: 1) Demosthenes, Olynthica tertia. 2) Aeschines, Epistola senatui populoque Atheniensi. 3) Anaximenes of Lampsacus, Epistola Philippi ad Athenienses. 4) Aeschines, Oratio contra Ctesiphontem. 5) Demosthenes, Oratio pro Ctesiphonte (De corona).
Description:
Belonged to Sir Thomas Phillipps., Binding: Nineteenth century, France or Italy. Brown calf blind- and gold-tooled, with shells and caducei in the blind-tooled borders. Edges red., One very fine illuminated initial, 12-line, in gold on vibrant blue ground with white vine-stem ornament. The stems of the initial are divided into compartments and filled with penwork decoration in red, blue and green on parchment ground. Four small initials, 6- to 5-line, gold on vibrant blue ground with white vine-stem ornament. Headings in red., and Script: Written in an expert humanistic bookhand characterized by prominent approach and finishing strokes. The headings in red are by a different scribe.
Subject (Name):
Demosthenes
Subject (Topic):
Greek letters, Literature, Medieval--Translations, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Speeches, addresses, etc., Greek
Binding: Nineteenth century, England. Bound by Zaehnsdorf (London, 1842-1930) in brown goatskin, blind-tooled, with gold-tooled spine "Cicero" and "MS". Yellow edges. Discoloration on early parchment endleaves reveal traces of corner tongues., Blanks at end not digitzed., Script: The manuscript was copied by two scribes who exhibit distinct formats and scripts reflecting the transition from gothic to humanistic types of book production. Scribe I) ff. 1-107r, line 14. Written in a very fine early humanistic bookhand, above top line. Scribe II) ff. 107r, line 15-135r. Written in a semi-gothic script, below top line, in a style of writing similar to that used by Coluccio Salutati; strong gothic influence in forms of majuscules., and Twenty-three illuminated intials of fine quality, 6- to 2-line, yellow on rectangular bright blue grounds with narrow black frames. Grounds filled with restrained and stylized thin white vine-stem ornament and intricate white filigree. Most spaces for rubrics left unfilled.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Speeches, addresses, etc., Latin
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 (goatskin) of a 1) Ps.-Marcellus, Gesta Petri et Pauli. 2) Ps.-Bernardus Claraevallensis (Ps.-Anselmus Cantuariensis), Sermo de miseria humana. 3) Guigo II Carthusianus (d. 1188, Ps.-Augustinus Hipponensis), Epistola de vita contemplativa (Scala claustralium). 4) Italian version of Dan. 13:1-64. 5) Passio Ciryci et Iulittae. 6) Passio sanctae Caeciliae. 7) Passio sanctae Eugeniae. 8) Vita sanctae Theodorae. 9) Passio sanctae Theodosiae. 10) Passio sanctae Felicitatis cum septem filiis. 11) Passio sanctae Reparatae. 12) Passio sanctae Agathae. 13) Passio sanctae Luciae. 14) Passio sanctae Agnetis. 15) Passio sanctae Domitillae. 16) Vita sanctae Thaidos. 17) Passio sanctorum Simplicii, Faustini et Beatricis. 18) Vita sanctae Margaritae. 19) Vita sanctae Mariae Aegyptiacae. 20) Passio sanctae Ursulae et sociarum. 21) Vita sanctae Mariae Magdalenae, followed by three miracles performed by the saint.
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century. De luxe brown leather binding over cardboard, the covers decorated with gold- and blind-tooled frames; flat gold-tooled spine, with gold-tooled inscriptions: “LEGGENDE / DI SANTI / TESTO DI LINGUA / DEL / BUON SECOLO” and “TRASCRITTO / NEL / 1462”. Brownish marbled endleaves., Headings in red, sometimes missing. Blue plain 3-line initials (Capitalis) with guide-letters, half inset; missing on p. 198. On the opening page white vinestem left margin border with incorporated 7-line initial, and white vinestem lower border with wreath in which a coat of arms is missing (a later hand, who made also a few notes elsewhere in the manuscript, has written in the blank space "Ipsa est antiquitas")., and Script: Copied by one hand in Humanistica Textualis.
Subject (Topic):
Christian hagiography, Christian literature, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment of a summary of Giovanni Villani's Croniche.
Description:
Script: copied by a single hand writing Gothico-Humanistica Libraria on the basis of Italian Hybrida. Pale red headings. Flourished initials with penwork and marginal extensions, 2-line up to f. 16r, generally 3-line from f. 16v onwards. On f. 1r 2-line white vinestem initial incorporated into a border corner piece of the same style. In the lower margin two marks of oval seals (?) and the early number or date “1264”.