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.
Manuscript on paper of Nicolas Trevet, Commentarius in tragoedias Senecae.
Description:
Binding: Date? The backs of the quires are cut in, some in a W shape. Resewn on two tawed skin, slit straps. Endband sewn on a tawed skin core laid in grooves on the outside of the boards and nailed. The back oak board was previously covered with leather; front board is of unidentified wood. This seems to be a patched together binding using boards from different, possibly 15th-century, books. Presently quarter bound with brown sheepskin, blind-tooled, with radiant IHS in circles. Spine: supports defined with triple (?) fillets; an X with a central cross bar in the panels. Two fastenings, with the catches on the lower board. The upper board cut in for straps fastened with star-headed nails. Remains of title, in ink, on tail edge., Many leaves stained and crumbling along edges; no loss of text., Red and/or deep aquamarine blue initials, 10- to 5-line, with penwork flourished in same color(s), mark beginning of each play. On f. 1r head of bearded man peeps out from behind foliage in interior of letter; on other initials penwork designs extend into margins to form borders (e. g., 170r). Plain initials, 5- to 2-line, paragraph marks, headings, in red., Script: Written in semi-gothic cursive script by a single scribe, above top line; headings in gothic bookhand., and Watermarks: similar to Briquet Tete de boeuf 14330, 14338, Piccard Ochsenkopf I.701, Briquet Main 11092.
Subject (Name):
Seneca, Lucius Annaeus,--ca. 4 B.C.-65 A.D and Trivet, Nicholas,--1258?-1328
Manuscript on parchment containing 1) Benedictus Casinensis (500-550), Regula. 2) Promise formula of the novice upon his entry in religion. 3) Decrees of pope Pascal II (1099-1118) and emperors Charlemagne (?800-814) and Lothar I (823-855) against alienating the goods of a church or monastery. 4) Alberic, bishop of Rimini (1158-1177), Letter to the prior and convent of Vangadizza, on the death of abbot Liutald. 5) Computistical notes and tables: (a) Table of the regulares lunae; (b) dates of the seven embolismi of the Nineteen-Years Cycle; (c) discussion of the three years of the Cycle in which epacts and embolismi differ; (d) table of the seven embolismi for all the years of the Nineteen-Years Cycle; in the first column the epacts; (e) a short table summarizing the data of table (d). 6) Obituary of the abbey of Vangadizza. 7) Liturgical instructions for observing the anniversary of Martin, first abbot of the monastery.
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century (?). Parchment over pasteboard. On the flat spine the handwritten 19th century inscription: "Regulae S. Benedicti et Kalendarium antiquum M.S.", Headings in red. Plain initials in red of various sizes (mostly 2-3 lines), sometimes with penwork decoration in the same colour (on f. 29 r in an initial a human head is drawn). On f. 4r the text of art. 1 opens with a 6-line zoomorphic initial "M" with two birds on a rectangular background. On f. 1r its preface opens with a 10-line historiated initial "A" , depicting St. Benedict explaining his rule to a monk, on a rectangular background. Both initials are in liquid gold, red, ocre and blue, and are followed by large display script in red, blue and ocre., Script: Copied by various hands, all writing Southern Praegothica. In art. 1 the changes of hands and layout often go together with the appearance of singletons, different layout and bad textual connection between successive pages and deserve a close analysis. In the Obituary (art. 6) the entries are added by many different, sometimes informal hands., and The lower margin of f. 25 and the outer margin of f. 58 are replaced with modern parchment.
Subject (Name):
Benedictines and Vangadizza (Abbey : Badia Polesine, Italy)
Manuscript on parchment (end pieces, worn, repaired) of Priscian, Grammatica minor.
Description:
8-line initial (later addition?), f. 1r, red with crude penwork designs in red and black; biting the letter is a grotesque stretched across upper margin, outlined in black with details in red. Small initials in red and/or black: ff. 17v, 31r, 35v, etc. Paragraph marks, initial strokes, and lines drawn through text passages written in Greek, all in red., Binding: Thirteenth century (?), France. Original sewing (except for the first few gatherings) on three tawed skin, slit straps laced through tunnels in the edge to the outside of quarter sawn (?) oak boards, almost flush, and fastened with rectangular, angled wedges. Blue/green and natural color chevron endbands are sewn on tawed skin cores. There is a strip of tawed skin extending a short distance on the outside of the boards and turned in at head and tail. The boards are edged with white, tawed skin and an outer cover is whip stitched to this edging. There is no adhesive on the spine and the cover is held in place by the endbands. The outer cover probably extended and has been cut off flush. Needle holes along the inner edge of the back board fore-edge turn-in. There are traces of two strap-and-pin fastenings, the pins on the lower board. Hole bored on the tail and fore edge of the front board does not seem to serve any purpose., Script: Written by a single scribe in early gothic bookhand, above top line., and Some marginalia lost due to trimming and rubbing.
Manuscript on parchment (goatskin) of Andrea Vendramin, Doge of Venice (1476-1478), Commission (dogale) to Girolamo Michiel as governor of Asolo, near Treviso.
Description:
On f. 1r white vinestem initial (6 lines) with long extensions in the upper and left margins; in the lower margin partial border in white vinestem, containing three medallions: the two outer ones feature the initials “I” and “M” in gold on a blue background; the larger, central one contains the coat of arms of Girolamo Michiel on a purplish red background in a green wreath., Script: Art. 1 is copied by one hand in a narrow Humanistica Cursiva Libraria, art. 2 by a hand writing Humanistica Cursiva Currens., and Unbound.
Subject (Geographic):
Asolo (Italy) and Venice (Italy)--Politics and government
Manuscript on paper of C. Iulius Caesar (100-44 B.C.), De bello Gallico; De bello civili; De bello Alexandrino; De bello Africo; De bello Hispaniensi.
Description:
Binding: ca. 1700 (repaired in 1993 by P. Dusel). Brown sprinkled calf over cardboard, gold-tooled: the covers decorated with a double fillet frame, the spine, with seven raised bands, richly decorated. In the second compartment a red title label with gold-tooled inscription “CESARIS / COMMENT/ARII .Ms.” Red edges., Collection of Bernard M. Rosenthal, Berkeley (MS 174). Purchased from Rosenthal on the Edwin J. Beinecke Fund., Pale red headings in Humanistica Textualis, sometimes missing, especially towards the end of the codex. Running headlines in the same colour and by the same hand, “L” in the middle of the verso page, the number in the middle and the title at right on the recto page. Gothic initials at the head of the subdivisions of the text as sketched above (including f. 69r): (1) foliate initials in Lombard style in red and green, filled with blue heightened with white penwork, on a square gold background, up to f. 51r; the opening one (f. 1r) is 9 lines high and has penwork extensions ending in leaves in the left and upper margin (the latter interfering with the heading); the others are 4-5 lines high and have similar sprays in the left margin only; (2) Starting f. 68v (art. 2) blue flourished initials (4-6 lines) with red penwork, the latter extending in the margin., and Script: Copied by one scribe writing a small Gothico-Humanistica with features close to Gothica Semitextualis Libraria.