Manuscript on parchment (thick and furry, numerous imperfections, some repaired) of Augustine, Confessiones.
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century, France. Brown, diced calf with a gold-tooled spine and title: "Confescion/ Santti/ Augustini" and "Manuscrit/ du 12^e siecle". and Ten illuminated initials of good quality, 19- to 6-line, drawn in brown ink against medium blue, reddish orange and/or ochre grounds. The initials are constructed of scrolling vines with stylized foliage and/or winged dragons, with vines issuing from their mouths, accentuated or shaded in red. Some initials inhabited by winged dragons, f. 10v with grotesque (outlined by prickings), f. 25r with a nude male figure. Headings in red.
Subject (Topic):
Autobiography, Church history--Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on paper (variety of watermarks) of Part I: Dionysius the Areopagite, De caelesti hierarchia with the Paraphrasis of George Pachymeres. Part II: Dionysius the Areopagite, De divinis nominibus I.1-II.9, with Paraphrasis of George Pachymeres. Part III: Nicetas of Serres, Commentarius in Gregorii Nazianzeni orationes. Part IV: Theophanes Cerameus, Homiliae (text of 13 sermons). Part V: Andrew of Crete, Encomium in Martyres X. Part VI: Nicephorus Blemmydes, De anima. Part VII: Dionysius of Halicarnassus, De compositione verborum, extract (ch. 14-15).
Description:
Belonged to Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford (1766-1827). Belonged to Sir Thomas Phillipps (no. 9480). Purchased from L. C. Witten with funds from the Jacob Ziskind Charitable Trust in 1957., Binding: 18th-19th centuries. Rigid vellum, rebacked., In Greek., Part I: Carefully executed woven headpieces in black and red on ff. 1r and 7r; beginning of each portion of the text marked by large initial in red, accompanied by flowers outlined in red and filled with pale yellow. Rubrics stop on f. 22v. Part II: Crude headpiece (in imitation of that on f. 7r?) occurs on f. 100r. Large painted initials, in red, with vine-leaf appendages, mark sections of the text. Part III: Delicate floral headpiece on f. 138r: each flower is outlined in red and painted with pale grey and red washes; details added in black. More modest headpiece in similar style, but painted with yellow, occurs on f. 148v; intricate initials in same colors on ff. 138v and 148v. Part IV: Simple woven headpieces, in red, on ff. 266r and 269r. Initials with floral motifs accompany rubricated titles for each sermon; decoration is incomplete (stops on f. 320r). Part V: One initial, in black, occurs at the beginning of the text (f. 330r). Part VII: Small decorative initial and heading, in red, at the beginning of the work., and Script: The codex is composed of several small manuscripts and booklets, each copied by a different scribe but all written in similar styles of minuscule, that were originally bound together in the 17th century shortly after being copied.
Subject (Name):
Andrew, of Crete, Saint, approximately 660-740, Dionysius, of Halicarnassus, Dionysius,--the Areopagite, Saint,--1st cent, Gregory, of Nazianzus, Saint, Nicephorus, Blemmydes, 1197-1272, and Pachymeres, George, 1242-ca. 1310
Subject (Topic):
Christian martyrs, Cosmology, Ancient, Fathers of the church, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, Scholia, Sermons--Early works to 1800, and Theology--Early works to 1800
Manuscript on parchment of Boethius, De consolatione philosophiae.
Description:
Binding: Date? Original sewing on two thick, slit leather straps, the endbands sewn on leather cores. Flush beech boards with straps laced through tunnels in the edge to channels slanted up to the outer face. The ends of the straps therefore protrude well above the face. Straps nailed and endband cores laid in V shaped grooves and nailed. The spine and about one quarter of the boards covered by brown calf with a nailed parchment strip at the edge, fragments only remaining. No adhesive on the spine. Channels for straps cut in the upper board. Holes for pins in the lower, but no marks of pin plates. This binding could be contemporary or 19th-20th century. It is interesting to note that the manuscript was bought because of the binding and not because of the text., Historiated initial with partial border contains the portrait of Boethius (f. 14r); four illuminated initials of similar design and colors (dark red, red-orange, green, blue, gold) on ff. 6r, 12v, 22r, 29v (beginning of Books II-V). Small initials and paragraph marks in red throughout., and Script: Written in round gothic bookhand by one scribe.
Subject (Topic):
Consolation--Early works to 1800, Dialogues, Latin, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment (irregularly trimmed pieces) of Jean Gerson, De potestate ecclesiastica.
Description:
Binding: Fifteenth century, Spain (?). Sewn on three tawed skin support, two pink, the central one green, laced into a thick parchment wrapper. Contemporary title written in ink on back cover: "Tractatus de potestate eclesiastica***". Rodent damage at tail., Crude initial, red with an asymmetrical configuration of red and black penwork designs. Floral line-filler at conclusion of prologue. Plain red initials, 3- to 2-line, mark text divisions. Heading, f. 1r, in red. Majuscules stroked with yellow. Contemporary sketches of intertwining snakes on ff. i recto and ii verso., and Script: Written by a single scribe in fere-humanistic script, below top line.
Subject (Name):
Gerson, Jean,--1363-1429
Subject (Topic):
Ecclesiastical law, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Early ex-libris on f. 52v in light ink: "iste liber est de fontibus geradi [sic]. and Manuscript on parchment of Arnald, abbot of Bonneval, 1) Tractatus de septem verbis domini in cruce. 2) Libellus de laudibus de B. Mariae virginis.
Description:
Binding: 13th-14th centuries (?), France. Original sewing on four tawed skin, slit straps laced from out to inside the boards and wedged at an angle. Pastedowns sewn with book. The upper board is beech, the lower oak. The grooves on the inside of the boards have been burned as well as gouged out. A blue and natural color endband is sewn in a chevron pattern. The primary core is laced into grooves parallel to the edges of the boards but not fastened and the endband is sewn through the cover. Fragment of an unidentified text (France, 1125-ca. 1150) used for front pastedown; portion of a document dated 1225 (?) involving Theobaldus, abp. of Rouen (1221-29) and the Cistercian nunnery of Fontaine-Guerard (Fontes Guerardi) for rear pastedown. Covered in very thick tawed skin, neatly patched and pieced out. The turn-ins are nailed near the corners. There are two strap-and-pin fastenings, the pins on the lower board and the kermes pink, tawed skin strap ending in a catch with a twisted, tawed skin cord and tassel attached, later additions (?). Remains of later title, in ink, on spine., Red initial, 4-line, with red and green arabesque designs on f. 1r; red monochrome initials with simple decorative designs, ff. 2v, 9r, 14r; less elaborate red initials, ff. 18v, 23r, 29v, 47r. Heading in red for art. 1 only. Initials stroked with red., and Script: Written in a neat late caroline minuscule that is written above the text ruling, not on it.
Subject (Name):
Mary,--Blessed Virgin, Saint--Devotion to
Subject (Topic):
Devotional literature, Latin (Medieval and modern), Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment of Valerius Maximus, Dictorum factorum memorabilium ad tiberium cesarem.
Description:
Binding: 18th-19th centuries. Mottled calf case, gold-tooled., Borders cut out on ff. 1r, 45r, and 79r, replaced with parchment, with initials and borders partially restored., Illuminated by Cristoforo Cortese, ca. 1420. Fine historiated initial (12-line) on f. 1r, the author seated at a lectern, pink, purple, green, red, and blue foliage on a gold ground, edged in black, with delicate white highlights; an exuberant vine and foliage border in three margins; the upper margin with a bar, gold and blue, with white highlights. Eight illuminated initials (9- or 8-line) on ff. 14v, 29v, 45r, 61r, 79r, 98v, 115r, 132r in the same style, borders in outer margin. Fine penwork initials throughout, blue with red penwork or vice versa (7- to 4-line). Several lines following initials written in ornate majuscules widely spaced on every other line, filled in with sepia penwork (some left unfinished, especially near end of manuscript). 2-line initials, blue with red or red with blue penwork, less ornate than above. Rubrics missing for major text divisions; paragraph marks in red or blue., and Script: Written by a single scribe in a precise round gothic bookhand.
Subject (Geographic):
Rome--History--Tiberius, 14-37
Subject (Name):
Valerius Maximus
Subject (Topic):
Didactic literature, Latin, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment (rough, poorly prepared) of Petrus Quesvel, Directorium iuris. With Eleven short blessings at Easter for meat, cheese, bread, salt, and lard, added in the 15th century.
Description:
Binding: Twentieth century. Brown calf over wooden boards, with the leather sewn around the endbands., Part of outer column of f. 189 cut off, no loss of text., Red and blue split initials, 18- and 16-line, with elaborate penwork designs and plain full border in red and blue mark beginning of Books 1 and 2 (ff. 1r, 91r); smaller initial with partial border at beginning of Books 3 and 4 (ff. 191r, 297r) and for the two parts of art. 3 (ff. 428r, 439r). Numerous initials, 5- to 2-line, alternate blue with red flourishes and vice versa. Running titles in red and blue, paragraph marks alternate red and blue. Notes to rubricator, but rubrics never supplied. Initial strokes and underlining, in red, for arts. 2 and 3., and Script: Written by a single scribe in a hasty cursive schoolhand.
Subject (Name):
Quesvel, Petrus
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Law, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Scholia
Manuscript on paper (sturdy) of Cicero, Epistolae ad familiares. Marginal and interlinear notes accompany the text of each letter (except for that to P. Vatinius appearing on ff. 26v-27v which was copied twice, apparently in error). Written probably for use as a school text (vocabulary lists on ff. 4 and 9).
Description:
Binding: 19th-20th centuries. Vellum case; spine fragile and splitting., Script: Written by a single scribe in gothic cursive, with a smaller script for glosses., Simple initials in red at the beginning of each letter; titles preceded by paragraph marks, and underlined, in red., and Watermarks: unidentified letter P in gutter.
Subject (Topic):
Latin letters, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Scholia
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