Manuscript on parchment of Caesar, Bellum Gallicum, translated into Italian by Pier Candido Decembrio in 1438. With Dedication of the translation to Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan.
Description:
Binding: Date? Italy. Vellum case with title in ink on spine: "Cesare Comment". Gilt, gauffered edges and gold and cream silk endbands. Fragments of a printed service book with musical notation partially visible under pastedowns., Elegant illuminated title page (f. 2v) with the title, written in blue over an erasure, in a circular wreath, green with gold flowers, and framed by narrow gold bands with fillets and inkspray issuing from the top and bottom with blue and deep red flowers, green leaves and gold balls. Full border, f. 1r, white vine-stem ornament on blue, green, deep red and gold ground between thin gold frames. In lower border, medallion, blank, framed by wreath, green with yellow highlights and narrow deep red frame. Partial border, f. 3r, white vine-stem ornament on blue, green and deep red ground between narrow gold frames, enlarged to elongated dots at terminals; white vine-stem ornament extends into upper (trimmed) and lower margins, with single gold balls with hair-line strokes. 8 large initials, 11- to 3-line, gold on blue, green, gold and deep red ground with white vine-stem ornament shaded with pale pink. First few words of each book in gold; incipits, explicits and marginalia in red., and Script: Written below top line in a bold round humanistic hand by a single scribe who added extra rulings in outer margins for headings, annotations, etc., in red. Additional annotations in humanistic cursive, in a brighter shade of red.
Subject (Geographic):
Rome--History, Military--265-30 B.C
Subject (Name):
Caesar, Julius
Subject (Topic):
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 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
Manuscript on paper of 1) Jacopone da Todi (c. 1236-1306), Laude. 2) Poem in quatrains, each beginning with the name "Yhesu" (attributed to Jacopone da Todi). 3) Jacopone da Todi (attributed), Tractatus utilissimus. 4) On the five steps of spiritual illumination. 5) Hymn on the name of Jesus attributed to St. Bernard of Clairvaux (Bernardus Claraevallensis, 1090-1153). 6) Bonaventura (1221-1274), Rhythmus de operationibus Iesu Christi, an addition to his Lignum vitae. 7) On the name of Jesus. 8) Lauda on the love of Jesus, attributed to Bianco da Siena (ca. 1350, d. between 1400 and 1450). 9) Lauda on the Virgin, attributed to Gianotto Sachetti
Description:
In Italian and Latin., Script: In spite of the very uneven script, probably copied by one hand hesitating between Southern Gothica Textualis and Semitextualis Libraria/Formata., Headings in red, often missing. Initials with guide-letters: 1-line plain initials alternately red and blue; 2-line flourished initials in red with purple penwork and blue with red penwork; those on the first pages are 3- or 4-line. On f. 1r 11-line historiated initial on gold background containing a profile portrait of Jacopone da Todi with nimbus and holding medallion with the "Jesus"-monogram; the initial has floral extensions in the inner margin. In the lower margin a coat of arms (made illegible by means of black paint) in a wreath., and Binding: Ancient limp parchment. At the top of the spine in 17th-century handwriting: "Imni di F. Jacopone. M.S. D.27" ; at the bottom the shelfmark "T 1 15".
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Jacopone, da Todi, 1230-1306. and Franciscans.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Italian poetry, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Religious poetry, Italian