Manuscript on paper of Christine de Pizan, La Cite des dames. With Jacques le Grand, Le Livre de bonnes moeurs., On f. iii verso, pasted in by a later owner, a miniature (80 x 61 mm.), the Queen of Sheba before Solomon, and a separate compartmentalized border (161 x 105 mm.) of blue and gold acanthus on pink, and red, purple and white flowers and grapevines., and Pasted in on f. 137v a small miniature (41 x 32 mm.) of St. Barbara, originally for a Suffrage, probably from the same Book of Hours as the border of f. iii verso.
Alternative Title:
The Queen of Sheba before King Solomon
Description:
Note, in ink, inside front cover: "Secundarius posessor et vetus peraccens erit quiuis alius I.g.
Subject (Topic):
Books of hours, Didactic literature, French, French literature--To 1500, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Women authors, French
Manuscript on parchment of 1) Lessons for the sanctorale from Saturninus through Catharine, including many Franciscan feasts. 2) Bull of canonization of Bernardinus of Siena, ending defectively. 3) Lessons for the common of saints and for the anniversary of a dedication of a church.
Description:
Binding: Eighteenth century. Brown calf over wooden boards, blind-tooled. Five very small, round bosses on each board and two fastenings. Rebacked. Pastedowns and flyleaves are conjugate leaves from a gradual (Italy, 16th century): front pastedown hidden under bookplates; front flyleaf with parts of the third Christmas mass and the rubric for Circumcision; back flyleaf with part of the first Christmas mass; back pastedown with parts of the mass of Epiphany., One 9-line initial, f. 1r, St. Saturninus holding an open book and martyr's palm, three-quarter length in front of trees and sky, dark blue with white filigree; purple foliage against a gold ground edged in black, with curling purple, green, and gold foliage extending into margin. Full border, framed in blue and gold, with three roundels in lower margin, right and left, hour glasses with scrolls with the motto "Pan. se. de. moi.", center, a coat of arms (barry of 6, sable and argent; overall a bend or). In upper margin, at right, a smaller roundel with a duck; at center, a Greek cross in gold, on purple; each framed in gold with blue or purple. Some foliage, as in initial, in center outer margin; border otherwise filled with blue and purple flowers with red and green centers, symmetrically disposed with smaller blue, purple, and green flowers, blue, purple, red and gold dots and fine spiralling vines in light brown. 2-line initials throughout, red or blue with blue or red penwork, with flourishes. 1-line red or blue paragraph marks. Rubrics throughout., and Script: Written by one person in round gothic bookhand.
Subject (Geographic):
Padua (Italy)
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church--Liturgy
Subject (Topic):
Graduals (Liturgical books), Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Lectionaries, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on paper containing letters by or related to Lapo da Castiglionchio (d. 1381), and his family: 1) Lapo da Castiglionchio, Letter, written in 1377, to his son Bernardo, canon of the cathedral of Florence, then 14 years old, containing an elaborate treatise in three parts dealing with political and historical questions. 2) Bernardo da Castiglionchio (1363-1383), Letter to his father Lapo, in which he thanks him for the education and protection his father has provided and in particular for the extensive letter he has written in reply to his questions. 3) Bernardo da Castiglionchio, Second letter to his father Lapo, of about the same time, in which he resumes the theme of the nobility of the Castiglionchio family and provides a panegyric of his father with details about his career. 4) Francesco da Castiglionchio (second half of the fourteenth century), Letter to his father Alberto, brother of Lapo, written 8 June 1381 or slightly later. Describes the coronation of Charles III, King of Naples and Sicily (1381-1386) by Pope Urban VI in the church of St. Peter in Rome on 2 June 1381, an event in the preparation of which Lapo had an important role. 5) Francesco da Castiglionchio, Second letter to his father Alberto staying at Verona, dated 17 July 1381 and relating the death of Alberto's brother Lapo, which happened in Rome on 27 June of the same year after a short illness, a couple of weeks after the coronation of Charles III, which had been so important for the improvement of the Castiglionchio family. 6) Niccolò Acciaiuoli (1310-1365), Extracts from a letter, dated 26 Dec. 1364, to the Florentine merchant Angelo Soderini (d. 1377) established in Avignon.
Description:
Binding: Seventeenth century (?). Brown leather with artificial cross grain over cardboard. Blind-tooled spine with four raised bands and gold-tooled inscription in the second compartment: “CASTIGLIONCHIO / EPISTOLE”. Below a small oval paper label with the number “7” in red ink. Yellow spine., Headings and explicit formulas in pale red ink; marginal captions and notes in the same colour or in black; paragraph marks in pale red ink. 4-line initials (Capitalis) in blue (missing f. 2v), at the opening of each art. and of the subdivisions of art. 1. On f. 1r 7-line white vinestem initial integrated into left margin border of the same style. In the lower margin, in a wreath, the Volognano-Castiglionchio coat of arms: silver, with four chains azure in saltire and castle azure. Running headlines in pale red Capitalis in art. 1 only., On the author, a Florentine poet, friend of Petrarch, professor of Canon Law, lawyer, diplomat, politician, see Dizionario biografico degli Italiani, v. 22 (1979), pp. 40-44., and Script: Copied by one hand in careful Humanistica Semitextualis Libraria. The first line of each text and some headings are in Capitalis.
Subject (Geographic):
Florence (Italy)--History
Subject (Name):
Castiglionchio, Lapo da,--d. 1381
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Italian letters, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Nobility--Italy
Manuscript on parchment of 1) Unidentified Greek-Latin lexicon. 2) Anonymous treatise on breathing marks in Greek. 3) De formationibus temporum uerborum graecorum. 4) De praepositionum significatione et constructione. 4) De numeris.
Description:
Belonged to Sir Thomas Phillipps (no. 3384). Purchased in 1956 from L. C. Witten by Thomas E. Marston., Binding: ca. 1500, Italy. Original sewing on three tawed skin, slit straps laid in channels on the outside of wooden boards. Gilt edges. The secondary, beaded endband is cream and green. Covered in reddish brown goatskin, blind-tooled with a floral border and fleurons in a central panel. Name of owner is gold-tooled on side in Roman letters that have been modified to form Greek letters. Spine: triple fillets at head and tail; single fillet diapering in the panels. Gold tooling added later. Traces of two fastenings, the catches on the lower board; the upper board heavily cut in for clasps. Modern title on spine: "Guarini Lexicon Ineditum. MS. in membranis"., and The decoration consists of an illuminated title page, with full border, thin white vine-stem ornament with stylized foliage in red, pink, blue against blue, green and pink ground with white dots and gold balls. In outer border two vases, blue with white highlights, and three roundels framed in red, green or pink with Roman profile heads wearing fillets against blue or gold ground. In inner border foliage curling around a thin gold bar. The upper border consists of a garland, green with gold highlights, tied with red ribbons against a blue and gold ground with two masks, one spouting water. Unidentified arms (palm? tree on red ground) in center of lower border. Large illuminated initial, 12-line, gold against a predominately blue ground with some green, pink, red and gold, and sprouting vine-stem ornament, white with pale brown shading and stylized foliage in red, pink and light brown. 25 illuminated initials for letters of Greek alphabet, 6- to 5-line, gold, against blue, green and dark pink grounds with stylized white vine-stem ornament or white stylized foliage. 2 small illuminated initials (ff. 205v and 206r), 3-line, gold against blue, red and green ground with pale yellow and white dots and white filigree. Heading on f. 1r in blue; others in red. Plain initials in red.
Subject (Topic):
Greek language--Dictionaries--Latin--Early works to 1800, Greek language--Grammar, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Illuminated frontispiece picturing the coats-of-arms of Spinelli, of the city of Florence, and of Pope Eugenius IV.
Subject (Geographic):
Florence (Italy)
Subject (Name):
Eugene--IV,--Pope,--1383-1447
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on paper of 1) Prologue by the translator, addressed to Henry of Lusignan, Prince of Galilee (d. 1427). 2) Plutarchus (c. 46-120), Vita Luculli, Latin translation by Leonardus Iustinianus (Leonardo Giustiniani, 1388-1446). 3) Plutarchus, Comparatio vitarum Cimonis atque Luculli, Latin translation by Leonardus Iustinianus.
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century. Quarter brown leather (with corners) and reddish brown marbled paper over cardboard. Gold-tooled flat spine with inscription: “PLUTARCHI VITA LUCULLI LATINE M.S.”., Headings in pale red. Art. 1 opens with a 6-line initial in red with the pen drawing for unexecuted white vinestem decoration. The 6-line initial at the head of art. 2 is purplish red on a blue background delicately heightened with silver arabesques, extended in the margin with red and green acanthus leaves. At the bottom of the same f. 387r there was a coat of arms flanked by two fleur-de-lys and four balls in purplish red and blue and red ribbons; the coat of arms has been cut out and the page has been repaired with a piece of paper; on it a modern coat of arms accompanied by the initials W and S (Walter Sneyd) is drawn in pencil., and Script: Copied by one scribe in a broad Humanistica Textualis Formata of "typographic" character and marked by unusual features such as the occasional use of round s in medial position and long i in final position, and inconsistencies in the use of ae/ẹ, the form of final s and m, etc. Majuscules at the beginning of lines protrude into the margin. Line fillers in the shape of expunged i.
Subject (Name):
Lucullus,--ca. 117 B.C.-ca. 56 B.C and Plutarch
Subject (Topic):
Biography--To 500, 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 of 1) Les livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio. 2) Le bon chien Soullart (in verse).
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century. Quarter purple leather with textured cloth sides., Penwork drawing (with red added) of the hound, Soullart, on f. 59r; drawing of a lion (?) in same style on f. 60r. Simple decorative initials and headings in red, blue and/or black; some with calligraphic penwork designs and grotesques extending into margins. Paragraph marks, underlining, and highlights, in red., Script: Written by a single scribe in a running script, with a more formal style of writing for headings., and Watermarks: similar to Briquet Tete de cerf 15548, Tete de boeuf 14247, and unidentified unicorn.
Subject (Topic):
Dogs, French literature--To 1500, French poetry--To 1500, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Mathematics, Medieval, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment (thick, good quality), composed of four parts. Although all four parts may be roughly contemporary in execution, they apparently were not assembled together as a "missal" until the 15th century, at which point the manuscript was annotated and cross-referenced from beginning to end; it is possible that only the lectionary and sacramentary in Part IV were originally intended to be used together.
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century, England. Quarter bound in brown calf, blind-tooled, over wooden board. Metal fittings at the head and tail of the leather and two fastenings., Elegant repairs to parchment sewn with blue and chartreuse thread (e.g., f. 27). Most of the leaves of Part III have been repaired., Part I: KL monograms, in red, embellished with knobs. Part II: Eleven large initials, 12- to 6-line, drawn in red and/or brown ink against geometric grounds of blue and lime-green washes. The initials are constructed of dragons and other fantastic animals, or of stylized foliage inhabited by biting beasts and birds. Plain initials in blue, red or lime-green, some with blue and/or red penwork designs, others with knobs. Major headings in majuscules with letters alternating red, black, and sometimes lime green; other headings in red. Instructions to rubricator perpendicular to text. Part III: The decoration of the Canon of the Mass consists of a 3/4-page miniature of the crucifixion, f. 60r, framed with a narrow border of olive green, red and blue with white filigree. Christ is shown hanging from a Y-shaped Astkreuz flanked by Mary and St. John, against gold ground. The gold ground is largely rubbed and the figures are partly restored (lower part of St. John's robe has been reworked, and flaked paint on the cross and Christ's loin cloth replaced). Marginal illustration of what appears to be a kneeling Augustinian canon dressed in white and red robes, adjoining the Te igitur (f. 60v). Three illuminated initials, ff. 58r, 59v, 60v, for the Canon of the Mass, 7- to 5-line, pale mauve with stylized scrolls and green foliage against gold ground edged in blue with white filigree. Vere dignum initials, 3-line, alternate in red and blue with penwork in either blue or red. Part IV: Pen-and-ink initials, 7- to 4-line, of a similar design as in Part II, but lacking the vitality; drawn in brown and/or red ink with stylized foliage and palmettes sometimes touched with blue or red against blue, red and/or lime-green ground. Smaller initials, 4-line, red, blue or green with red and/or green penwork design. Plain initials in red. Headings in red. Instructions for rubricator perpendicular to text., and Script: Part I (ff. 2-8): Text of calendar written in gothic bookhand by a single scribe; many later additions in several hands. Part II (ff. 9-56): Written in gothic bookhand, with additions in several different hands in less formal styles of writing. Musical notation consists of Austrian adiastematic neumes in the same ink as the text. Part III (ff. 57-64): Written in large liturgical gothic bookhand. Part IV (ff. 65-276): Written in gothic bookhand; several layers of marginalia added in less formal hands.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church--Liturgy
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Missals
Manuscript, in a single hand, of a missal for the Use of St. Nicholas (Beauvais).
Description:
Collation: 59 l. + 2 l. paper + 3 l. original parchment endleaves., Decoration: miniature of the Crucifixion on gold ground, with protective cloth stitched to leaf (6v.), Decoration: rubricated. The two-line initials are in gold on pink and blue grounds. Large historiated initial "PP (5v)., Purchased from Richard A. Linenthal (Sotheby's London sale, 2013 July 2, lot 51) on the Edwin J. Beinecke Book Fund, 2013., and Script: Gothic bookhand, large and angular.
Subject (Geographic):
Beauvais (France)
Subject (Name):
Cathédrale Saint-Pierre (Beauvais, France) and Catholic Church--Liturgy
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Missals
Manuscript on parchment of Ambrose, 1) De virginibus. 2) De virginitate. 3) (Incorrectly attributed) De lapsu virginis consecratae. 4) De viduis. 5) De institutione virginis. 6) De Helia et ieiunio. 7) De penitentia.
Description:
Acquired from Rousseau-Girard (Freres) of Paris in 1956 by L. C. Witten, who sold it in 1957 to Thomas E. Marston., Binding: Nineteenth century, France. Brown goatskin with the arms of comte Chandon de Briailles gold-tooled on both sides. Edges, headcaps, and doublures also gold-tooled., Illuminated title page, severely rubbed and stained, with full border, white vine-stem ornament on red, blue, green and gold ground with white dots, in inner border with ribbon interlace. In lower border wreathed medallion within narrow gold bands, supported by two haloed angels, one dressed in green, the other in red; central shield of medallion blank. Included in border are a standing and a seated putto. Historiated initial, 6-line, gold, with a portrait of St. Ambrose seated at a lectern and reading, against a blue sky. 8 illuminated initials, 5-line, in gold against blue, green and red grounds with white dots and white vine-stem ornament extending into the margins to form partial borders. Headings, running titles and foliation (Roman numerals), in red., Many pages stained with some loss of text; f. 220r-v mostly illegible., and Script: Written in bold humansitic cursive script that slopes toward the right by a single scribe, above top line.
Subject (Topic):
Celibacy--Christianity, Christian literature, Latin, Fathers of the church, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library