Manuscript on parchment (trimmed). and On fol. 260v: historiated initial of King David and a carillon of three bells and clappers.
Description:
Evidence of heavy use in the 14th through 16th centuries includes marginal notes of an early corrector (e. g. "hunc prologum non correxi quia non inueni correctum" on f. 182r and "Quidam non hunc istum uersum" on f. 539v).
Subject (Topic):
Bible.--Latin--Versions, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment of an illuminated Bible, with the prologues attributed to St. Jerome, and interpretations of the Hebrew names.
Description:
Binding: 19th century: calf over cardboard; both covers and spine, in six compartments, gold-tooled. Purple silk doublures., Manuscript on parchment of an illuminated Bible, with the prologues attributed to St. Jerome; interpretations of the Hebrew names: Interpretationes nominum Hebraicorum, with additions in the margins and at the end; an alphabetical list of words with explanations and/or ethymologies; a table of Epistles, Gospels and other readings for the ecclesiastical year: Temporale, Sanctorale and Common of the Saints; and a list, in two columns, of the kings of Juda and Israel., and Script: probably copied by one hand in extremely small Gothica Textualis Libraria (Perlschrift). Article 3 is by a contemporary hand. Numerous historiated initials of various sizes with long vertical extensions.
Subject (Name):
Jerome,--Saint,--d. 419 or 20
Subject (Topic):
Bible.--Latin--Versions, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment (thick, fuzzy on hair side) of a Book of Hours, followed by 3 short devotional texts in French.
Description:
Binding: 19th-20th centuries, England. Rigid vellum case with note on spine "MS. Circa 1400". Red edges. Bound by Birdsell and Son (Northampton, 1792 and later)., Manuscript has been heavily trimmed with loss of marginal decoration; staining, rubbing throughout affects illumination., Purchased from C. A. Stonehill in 1935 by Thomas E. Marston., Script: Written in two styles of script: large gothic bookhands, often with only 3-4 words per line, by three scribes for ff. 1r, 2r-91r, 93r-115v, respectively; Anglicana scripts for ff. 1v, 91v-92v (added prayers)., and The codex, now in fragmentary condition with no miniatures extant, contains a sequence of historiated initials, some badly rubbed. Large historiated initials, 3-line, pink or blue with white designs on blue square ground framed with gold; both initial and frame edged in black; figures on gold ground, often rubbed and flaked; elongated dragons extend into margins for ascenders, as in initial D. Small historiated initials, 2-line, of similar designs and colors, but on cusped gold grounds. Other text divisions marked by 2-line initials, pink, orange, blue with simple foliage motifs in the same colors and yellow, all with designs in white and on square or cusped gold grounds that often extend far into margins. Initials on ff. 93-115 are somewhat more delicate in appearance and presumably by a different hand than those on ff. 2-91. 1-line initials in red with blue penwork designs alternate with opposing color scheme. Elaborate line-fillers, including fish and heads of long-beaked beasts, for litany (art. 5). Headings in red, ff. 2-91 only.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church--Prayers and devotions
Subject (Topic):
Books of hours, Devotional literature, French, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
The manuscript contains a book of hours, use of Sarum (ff. 1-138v), and a Missal (ff. 139r-236v). It was produced in England, in liturgical Gothic bookhand on vellum, in two phases. The first section, consisting of quires 1 and 3-18 (ff. 1-6, 17-83, and 86-137), was produced around 1390, perhaps in London. Around 1420 the manuscript was augmented with a second section, consisting of quires 2 and 19-31 (ff. 7-16, 84-85, and 138-236).
Alternative Title:
Book of Hours
Description:
Binding: early nineteenth-century English calf over carved wooden boards, blind-stamped and gilt, rebacked with spine laid on; gilt edges with traces of painted landscape., Decoration includes thirty-two historiated initials and three half-page miniatures (f.11v, the martyrdom of St. Elmo (St. Erasmus); 109v, Christ at the Tomb, surrounded by the instruments of His passion; f. 118r, the Crucifixion, with the Virgin and St. John)., Modern paper binder's blanks (2 l.) at end not digitized., Peyton coat of arms gilt on covers., and Seventeenth-century coat of arms on flyleaf and on f. 139r (quarterly, 1 and 4, azure a castle or, 2 and 3, gules 2 foxes or).
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church--Liturgy and ritual--Hours, Catholic Church--Liturgy and ritual--Missal, and Peyton family--Coat of arms
Subject (Topic):
Books of hours, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Sarum Rite
Manuscript fragment on vellum of 1 leaf from a Breviary, with offices for St. Ursula.
Description:
Two historical initials.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church--Liturgy and Ursula,--Saint
Subject (Topic):
Breviaries, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
An alphabetically arranged collection of extracts on the virtues and vices and on moral subjects drawn from Vincent of Beauvais. and Manuscript on parchment (greatly trimmed) of An alphabetically arranged collection of extracts on the virtues and vices and on moral subjects drawn from Vincent of Beauvais.
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century, Italy. Half bound in brown mottled calf with a gold-tooled spine and cream, blue-green, and red paste-paper sides. Red and olive green paste-paper pastedowns in a chevron pattern. Red edges. and Script: Written in a small neat got
Subject (Name):
Vincent,--of Beauvais,--d. 1264
Subject (Topic):
Didactic literature, Latin (Medieval and modern), Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, Vice, and Virtue
Manuscript on parchment of St. Bonaventure's Commentary on Book IV of the Sentences of Peter Lombard.
Description:
Binding: Eighteenth century, Germany. Cream colored pigskin, blind-tooled. Gilt edges. Green and cream endbands. Title on spine: "De septem/ Sacrament. Tract. Mst."., One historiated initial, f. 1r, 6-line, beige with foliage serif, red, against blue ground with white filigree, containing an apothecary (unguentarius) mixing ingredients in a mortar with two pestles. Numerous flourished initials, 3- to 2-line, alternate in red with blue, and vice versa, or often plain initials in red or blue. Running headlines in red and blue. Paragraph marks, alternating red and blue, appear sporadically (ff. 1r-36v)., and Script: Written by several scribes in small gothic bookhand.
Subject (Name):
Peter Lombard, Bishop of Paris, ca. 1100-1160
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, Scholasticism, and Scholia
Manuscript on parchment of Leonardo Bruni, De bello italico adversus gothos, in the Italian version by Ludovico Petroni made in 1456. Preceded by the letter of Leonardo Bruni to Giuliano Cardinal Cesarini (1398-1444).
Description:
Binding: 18th-19th centuries, Italy. "Alla rustica" with grey-green paper added over the spine and part of the boards. Edges yellow., Partial border in inner margin of white vine-stem ornament, f. 1r, on blue, green and pink ground with white and blue dots. In lower border terminals extending in ink hair spray with green, pink and blue flowers and gold balls frame central medallion with a crude outline drawing of a head in profile (later addition?). Two decorated initials, 4- to 3-line, gold on blue, pink and green grounds with white vine-stem ornament. On f. 1r initial joined to partial border. Heading on f. 1r in red., and Script: Written by a single scribe in fere-gothic script, above top line.
Subject (Geographic):
Rome--History
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 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 paper of Boccaccio, De mulieribus claris, with dedication to Andrea Acciaiuoli.
Description:
Binding: Fifteenth century, Italy. Parchment stays from contemporary document adhered to inner and outer conjugate leaves of quires. Original wound sewing on three tawed skin, slit straps fastened in channels in flush wooden boards. A primary endband, caught up on the spine, is sewn on tawed skin cores. Remains of red secondary embroidery. The spine is square and lined with tawed skin between central supports. Covered in kermes pink, tawed skin with corner tongues, the sides divided into triangles with right angled and diagonal fillets. Three fastenings, the catches on the lower board and stubs of green fabric straps on the upper board which is cut in to accomodate them. Eight star-shaped bosses on the upper board (one wanting) and five on the lower, each board with four bosses on their spine edges. Inscription on upper cover: "de mulieribus claris". Written in ink on fore edge: "LXXXVIII" with a helmet on each side. Label on lower board wanting., Folio 3r, partial border, of poor quality: in lower margin, a patch of green grass with two women seated, one dressed in red, the other in green and white, supporting a shield with unidentified arms (gules, 3 helmets sable [in outline only]), a later addition. From the patch of grass oak branches with leaves and acorns extend into inner and upper margins. In inner margin, a fox chasing a hare. Folio 80r, a medallion framed in red and pink and four small gold flowers, with an unidentified monogram in gold against blue ground. One pen-and-ink initial, 8-line, blue with pale red penwork. Plain initials alternate in red and blue. Headings in red (ff. 1r-7r only). Many initials touched with red. Guide letters for decorator throughout., Purchased in 1954 from C. A. Stonehill by Thomas E. Marston., Script: Text written in a well spaced gothic bookhand with humanistic features by a single scribe, below top line. Art. 1 and rubrics added in similar script by another hand., Unidentified arms, with "Cretulia" and "Thurj" added on either side, and inscription in the lower margin of f. 2v: "Quid spectas Thurum [with 3 helmets] sunt hec insignia. Thuris/ Donarunt Sacre Iuno Minerua Venus/ Cretulia., and Watermarks: Briquet Tete de boeuf 14717 and similar to Piccard Ochsenkopf XII.123.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Latin literature, Medieval and modern, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment of Boethius, De topicis differentiis.
Description:
Binding: Date? Limp vellum case with title, in ink, on spine: "Topica boetij"., One historiated initial, f. 1v, blue with white filigree and highlights against a square reddish brown ground with white filigree, showing Boethius as a monk in a blue robe seated on a chair and holding a scroll inscribed with his name, and a disciple, dressed in a red robe and holding a book inscribed with the opening words of the text proper, both figures against a grey ground with white filigree. Three illuminated initials, ff. 7v, 16v, 23r, 6- to 4-line (without ascenders or descenders), blue with white filigree against reddish brown ground with white filigree or reddish brown against blue ground with white filigree. The initials are filled with scrolling vines blue or reddish brown with white highlights, with stylized leaves, ending in dragons' heads against reddish brown or blue grounds. Descender, f. 16v, in form of a dragon, reddish brown against blue ground. Flourished initials, 2-line, and paragraph marks alternate red and blue., and Script: Written in compact gothic bookhand by a single scribe, below top line.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Latin literature, Medieval and modern, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Pavoni, Giuseppe, ca. 1551-1641 Rossi, Giovanni de’, fl. 1556-1596, printer
Published / Created:
1589
Call Number:
2006 272
Image Count:
27
Publisher:
Nella Stamperia di Giouanni Rossi ...
Subject (Geographic):
Florence (Italy)
Subject (Name):
Christine, of Lorraine, Grand Duchess, consort of Ferdinand I, Grand Duke of Tuscany, 1565-1636 --Marriage
and Ferdinando I, Grand-Duke of Tuscany, 1549-1609 --Marriage
Subject (Topic):
Festivals--Italy--Florence--Early works to 1800., Marriages of royalty and nobility --Italy --Florence, Pageants--Italy--Florence--Early works to 1800., Sports tournaments --Italy --Florence --Early works to 1800, and Weddings--Italy--Florence--Early works to 1800.
Manuscript on parchment (hairside yellow and speckled) of Cicero, Epistolae ad familiares. With Extract from Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae III.8.8: Epistula Fabricii et Aemilii consulum ad Pyrrhum regem. The text was copied ca. 1400 and the border decoration added between ca. 1415 and 1431.
Description:
14 elegant illuminated initials and partial borders at the beginning of each of the 16 books (the opening pages of Books XII and XV have been excised). Initials, 5- to 3-line, blue with white filigree or red with gold filigree on cusped grounds of gold. Most of the illuminated initials filled with bust-length portraits, presumably of Cicero's correspondents, on red, blue or diapered ground. Some initials filled with vine scrolls with trilobe leaves in red with white highlights against gold ground. Partial borders, scrolling vine with trilobe leaves or acanthus in blue, pink, red and gold with white highlights and green, red and blue with gold highlights. Small figures of angels, dressed in green with gold wings in borders or margins, some playing musical instruments, one holding an open book, one holding the cloth of Veronica. Other marginal figures include the "Agnus Dei" and a pelican piercing its breast. The figures are all characterized by white faces, small angled black eyes, and a preference for green and gold, the green with contour lines in gold. Plain initials alternate red and blue. Rubrics throughout., Binding: Nineteenth century, France (?). Red velvet case with a dark green gold-tooled label: "M. T. Ciceronis Epistolae Ad Familiares MS. in Membranis". Gilt edges., Imperfect: incomplete, some leaves wanting with loss of text., and Script: Written in a neat fere-humanistic hand by a single scribe, below top line.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Ambrose, Saint, Bishop of Milan, d. 397 Jerome, Saint, d. 419 or 20
Published / Created:
1439-1440.
Call Number:
Beinecke MS 766
Image Count:
620
Resource Type:
Archives or Manuscripts
Abstract:
Manuscript on parchment of St. Jermone, Epistulae et tractatus. With Ambrosius Mediolanensis (St. Ambrose, 339-397), De excessu fratris.
Description:
Binding: Sixteenth century. Brown leather over cardboard boards, the covers blind-tooled with a triple fillet lozenge inside a floral roll frame, the center and the corners gold-tooled with two different floral tools. Spine with four raised bands and remnants of gold-tooled lilies in the compartments. Edges painted blue. Marks of two pairs of ties., Headings in red. Red heightening (stroking) of the majuscules. 2-3-line flourished initials (with guide letters) in red with penwork varying from pale red to purple. A large (10 lines) decorated flourished initial in red, with developed purple penwork (“R” instead of “D”) in littera duplex style on f. 229v. Two Gothic historiated initials on gold background with floral marginal extensions: f. 1r: St. Jerome with lion and boy holding open a book (damaged); f. 25v: a monk copying., Script: Apparently four scribes: A, Iohannes de Carnago, is the main scribe and copied ff. 1r-260v (with the exception of 8 lines at the bottom) in Gothico-Humanistica Semitextualis Libraria; B copied from the bottom lines of f. 260v to f. 270v, in Humanistica Textualis Libraria; C copied ff. 271r-275v in Gothico-Humanistica Textualis Libraria; and D copied ff. 276r-304v in Gothico-Humanistica Semitextualis Libraria., and The codex belonged to the Diocesan Library of Dunedin, New Zealand. Sotheby sale, London, 27 March 1950 (catalogue, no. 35).
Subject (Name):
Jerome,--Saint,--d. 419 or 20
Subject (Topic):
Christian literature, Latin, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Latin letters, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
The offset on f. 53v of an elaborately decorated border for the opening leaf of the office of St. Felicitas suggests that the codex was originally produced for an institution associated with this saint.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church--Liturgy
Subject (Topic):
Graduals (Liturgical books), Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
f. 221r-221v: Apostles' Creed and the Confiteor; the latter incomplete, ending with "consensu tactu uisu". The phrase "ego infelix peccatrix" in the Confiteor indicates that the book was written for use by a woman. and Manuscript on parchment (trimmed) of a Book of Hours, with Calendar and prayers in Flemish.
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century. Brown, originally black, sheepskin; stamped in gold on the spine: "Psaterium." Red edges., Script: Written in liturgical gothic bookhand by one scribe., and Three full-page miniatures of mediocre quality. Each miniature set in a narrow frame of gold, black, pink, and white; full border of blue and gold acanthus leaves, red, pink, and blue flowers and strawberries, and black pen flecks. One 7-line historiated initial on f. 216r (Flemish Prayers): Pieta, pink with white highlights on gold; full border as above; text separated from border by a narrow band attached to initial of gold and pink, edged in black. Illuminated 5-line initials with full borders (eg. ff. 13r, 18r, 28r), pink or blue with white highlights on gold, filled with blue or pink trilobe leaves. 2-line initials, gold on pink and blue with white highlights, one on f. 92r (Advent Office) with a band attached, as above, and small sections of border, as above; one 3-line initial on f. 179r (Obsecro te) in similar manner. 1-line initials, blue with red penwork and gold with black penwork; initials within text washed in yellow. KL monograms as 2-line initials; Latin names of months and important feasts in red. Line fillers: oblique lines with dots attached, stylized plant motifs, dots, etc., in blue or gold. Rubrics in faded red.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church--Prayers and devotions
Subject (Topic):
Books of hours, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment of Biondo Flavio, Italia Illustrata with the dedicatory preface to Pope Nicolas V (d. 1455).
Description:
Binding: Eighteenth century, England. Red goatskin gold-tooled, with the crest of Charles Chauncy on the sides. Gilt edges. Rebacked. The fine quality of the endleaves and leather, and the tool used on the edges of the boards and the turn-ins are similar to those in Marston MS 102 and Beinecke MS 497, both probably bound by Richard Wier, active in London and France in the 1770s; d. 1792)., Elaborately illuminated title page with historiated initial, 10-line, mauve with silver filigree against gold ground, edged in black, with a portrait of the author, seated and holding a book, against a hilly landscape and blue sky. Partial border of white vine-stem ornament against a predominantly gold ground with blue, green, and red patches with white and pale yellow dots in inner and upper margins, terminating in dense penwork scrolls with gold dots. In outer and lower margin, border of stylized flowers and foliage in red, purple, green, and blue, surrounded by dense penwork scrolls punctuated by gold dots. In center of lower margin, wreathed medallion with unidentified arms, supported by two purple winged putti outlined in blue and wearing red necklaces. 14 illuminated initials, 9- to 6-line, gold, on blue, green, and red ground with white vine-stem ornament, sometimes extending into the margins. Headings, running titles, and marginalia in red., and Script: Written in fine humanistic bookhand, below top line, by a single scribe who also wrote the running titles (epigraphic majuscules) and marginalia, in red.
Subject (Geographic):
Italy--Description and travel
Subject (Topic):
Geography, Medieval, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Binding: Seventeenth Century (?). Brown leather over pasteboard, the front and rear cover decorated with gold-tooled frames., Pale red headings; pale red numbering of the letters in artt.1-111. 2-line plain initials (Capitalis) in ... at the opening of the various texts (3-line initial at the opening of art. 112). On f. 1r 8-line historiated white vinestem initial D (Jerome writing in his study), incorporated in a three-margins left border in the same style, featuring birds, a putto, a theatre mask and in the lower horizontal section a coat of arms (altered?) held by two putti., Script: Copied by one hand in Humanistica Textualis with elements of Southern Gothica Textualis. Running headlines in rapid Gothico-Humanistica Cursiva on ff. ...... . The scribe Dominicus (or Donatus?) de Attavantis (see f. 238v) is not recorded., and Some errors in contemporary foliation.
Subject (Name):
Jerome, Saint, d. 419 or 20
Subject (Topic):
Latin letters and Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven
Manuscript on goat parchment of Giordano Ruffo di Calabria's De medicina equorum (Mascalcia) in Sicilian dialect.
Description:
Binding: 16th century light brown leather over wooden boards, both covers blind-tooled with a double frame of multiple fillets, the inner frame divided by two diagonals. Small engraved bronze bosses at the four corners of the inner frames. Remnants of two clasps attached to the front board, with decorated brass catches on the rear board. Rebacked., On folio 1recto there is a 17-line historiated initial, showing the author presenting his work to Emperor Frederick II on horseback. The initial has been erased and the scene is hardly recognizable., and Script: copied by one hand in Southern Gothica Textualis Libraria/Formata (Rotunda).
Subject (Name):
Ruffo, Giordano
Subject (Topic):
Horses--Early works to 1800, Italian literature--To 1400, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment of Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae (abridged).
Description:
Binding: Fifteenth century, Italy. Sewn on three tawed skin, kermes pink slit straps nailed in channels on the outside of the wooden boards. Yellow edges. The plain wound endbands may have been resewn. The spine is lined with cloth. Covered in brown, originally tan, sheepskin with corner tongues. Blind-tooled with two rope interlace stars in a central panel bordered with concentric frames. Spine: bands outlined with double fillets; panels diapered with triple fillets. Two truncated diamond fastenings, the catches on the lower board (one wanting), the upper board cut in for straps attached with star-headed nails., Folio 1r with partial border in inner and lower margin (rubbed). Inner margin has scrolling vine, yellow, on parchment ground with red dots, with stylized foliage, flowers and fruit in green, red, purple and dove grey. Illuminated initial, 3-line, purple on dark green ground, is incorporated into border. In lower margin, wreathed medallion (unidentified mutilated arms: per pale, or and sable?) on pink ground, supported by two heraldic dragons, parchment colored (unfinished) against red ground. All of this decoration appears to be a later addition. Plain initials and headings in red., and Script: Written in fere-humanistic script by a single scribe, below top line.
Subject (Name):
Gellius, Aulus
Subject (Topic):
Commonplace-books, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Latin literature, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment (fine; leaves repaired before pricking and ruling) of the Collected Works of Hugh of St. Victor.
Description:
8-line illuminated initial, blue with white highlights on square ground, magenta with blue and white highlights; interior of initial inhabited by scrolling vines, rabbit and two animal heads on gold and blue ground; tail of letter extends down inner margin. 11- to 7-line red and blue initials divided by a zig-zag line in parchment and with interior red and blue flourishes resembling the design on a peacock's tail feathers, mostly in red with small blue circles. This style of initial accompanied by long penwork extensions in red and blue I designs and with small spirals, circles, flourishes. Small 3-line initials alternate red and blue with penwork flourishes in the opposite color. 1-line plain initials alternate red and blue for chapter lists. Remains of guide letters for decorator. Headings, running titles (often incorrect), deletions (single horiztonal red line) and initial strokes in red., Binding: France [?], ca. 19th c. Brown calf, elaborately blind-stamped with figure of Christ giving a blessing with his right hand, while his left hand holds a book with alpha and omega displayed on the open pages. Original endbands (and therefore sewing?) and yellow edges., Binding: Nineteenth century, France (?). Brown calf, elaborately blind-stamped with figure of Christ giving a blessing with his right hand, while his left hand holds a book with alpha and omega displayed on the open pages. Original endbands (and therefore sewing?) and yellow edges., Purchased from L. C. Witten in 1960 by Thomas E. Marston., Script: Written in uniform gothic bookhand throughout; contemporary marginal notes in several less formal hands., and Written in uniform gothic bookhand throughout; contemporary marginal notes in several less formal hands.
Subject (Name):
Hugh,--of Saint-Victor,--1096?-1141
Subject (Topic):
Christian literature, Latin (Medieval and modern), Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment of Pauline Epistles (Epistola ad Romanos 2.27 through Epistola ad Hebreos 11.34), with commentary of Gilbert de la Porree. With Argumenta, later additions, all attributed to Hugo de Sancto Caro or Peter Lombard.
Description:
Binding: Twentieth century, United States (?). Half bound in dark red goatskin with gold-tooled lettering on the spine ("St. Paul/ Epistulae cum commento/ MS. 12th Cent."), marbled paper sides, and yellow edges., Script: Written in fine early gothic bookhand in two sizes of script, above top line., and Three illuminated initials at beginning of first three Epistles of excellent quality, ff. 34v, 69v, 86v, 8- to 5-line, with descenders extending into margins, red, blue, green and beige against gold ground. Bodies of initials filled with stylized scrolling foliage, bright blue, red, green, orange, silver and yellow with white highlights against gold ground. Descenders serve as a trellis for similar scrolls, some ending in biting animal's heads or fantastic birds. Scrolling foliage, f. 86v, inhabited by beasts of a canine variety, white with red shading. The decoration of manuscript is unfinished; f. 99r pen and ink underdrawing for an initial as above, with only touches of red added; blank spaces left for initals for remaining Epistles. Small initials, 3-line, gold with red penwork, for beginning of commentary for each Epistle. Headings in red or alternating red and blue majuscules. Plain initials touched with red. Running titles, later addition, in red.
Subject (Name):
Gilbert, de La Porrée, Bishop, ca. 1075-1154, Hugh, of Saint-Cher, Cardinal, ca. 1200-1263, Paul, the Apostle, Saint, and Peter Lombard, Bishop of Paris, ca. 1100-1160
Subject (Topic):
Bible.--N.T.--Epistles of Paul, Bible--Commentaries, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on paper of Flavius Blondus (Flavio Biondo, 1396-1463), Roma instaurata.
Description:
Binding: ca. 1500, Italy. Brown goatskin over wooden boards, both covers blind-tooled with frame and centre-piece, the latter in the shape of a cross composed of small rhomboid stamps showing some remnants of gold. Remnants of one clasp attached to the front cover, with a brass catch fixed with three nails to the rear cover., Rather carelessly written headings in purplish red ink, added posteriously at the beginning of the Prologue and of each Book, not corresponding to the instructions for the rubricator written in the margins by the scribe (no such instruction is visible on f. 3r). White vinestem initial (5 lines) and border in the same style in the upper and inner margins at the head of the Prologue (f. 3r). The Books open with 2-3-line plain initials (Capitalis) in blue; a similar 2-line initial was planned (and executed) at the beginning of what would be chapter 3 (“Ambitum”, f. 4v), but this practice was afterwards abandoned. Guide letters for the initials in the margin., Script: Copied by a single hand writing a rapid Humanistica Semitextualis Libraria. The first line of the Prologue and the first word or second letter of the three Books are written in Capitalis., and Sold by Alberto Govi, Modena to Fred K. Schreiber, New York. Purchased from Schreiber on the Edwin J. Beinecke Fund.
Subject (Geographic):
Rome
Subject (Topic):
Latin literature, Medieval and modern, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Title within woodcut border. Historiated initials. Full-page coast of arms and crest of Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester (to whom the work is dedicated) on verso of title. Full-page portrait of author on verso of 3d p.l.
Manuscript on paper of an unidentified treatise, incomplete, on the Cardinal Virtues; material taken mostly from Valerius Maximus, with additional material from Augustine, the Bible, Cicero, Seneca, Macrobius, Aristotle, and Vegetius. and Unidentified treatise, incomplete, on the Cardinal Virtues; material taken mostly from Valerius Maximus, with additional material from Augustine (De civitate Dei, De beata vita, Epistolae), Bible (Proverbs), Cicero (De officiis, etc.), Seneca (Epistolae morales, De ira, De constantia), Macrobius, Aristotle, Vegetius, the "Storie Romane" of "Arineo" (f. 6r), and "Salino" (f. 23v). The presence of the "versificatore" (f. 11r), cited in Latin (Walther, Sprichwoerter 33507), and a similar constellation of sources suggest that Vincent of Beauvais' Speculum Doctrinale was a major (though not exclusive) source for this author.
Description:
Imperfect: incomplete manuscript; leaves 42-43 also wanting. and Written by a single scribe in humanistic cursive script.
Subject (Name):
Valerius Maximus
Subject (Topic):
Cardinal virtues, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Literature, Medieval--Translations, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
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
Manuscript, on parchment, containing copies of several treatises: 1) Tractatus de Sacramento Corpus Christi, by Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury (ff. 1-26); 2) De Vero Sapientia, Dialogus I and II, attributed here to Petrarch (now believed to be by Nicholas of Cusa) (ff. 27-50v); 3) De Invidia, Niccolò Perotti's translation of a sermon by Basil the Great, with a preface addressed to Pope Nicholas V (ff. 51-63); 4) De invidia et odio, Niccolò Perotti's translation of a work by Petrarch, with a preface addressed to Pope Nicholas V (ff. 63v-68v); 5) De fortuna virtute ve nominum: ad Nicolaum quintum pontificem maximum, by Niccolò Perotti (69-73v); 6) Epistle LXVII to Simplician, by St. Ambrose (ff. 74-79v); 7) Ex sermonibus quadragesimalibus: Sermone de correctione fraterna, by Leonardo di Utino, O.P. (80-86v); 8) Speculum regis Edwardii tercii, attributed here to Simon Islip, Archbishop of Canterbury (now recognized as the work of William Pagula) (ff. 87-148, with skip from 89 to 100); 9) De tenenda obedientia et evitanda superbia, by St. Augustine (ff. 148-152).