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 paper of Summulae naturalium, composed in 1408 by Paulus Nicolettus Venetus O.E.S.A. (1369/72-1429).
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century, England. Blind-tooled brown goatskin with the same gold-tooled title on the spine and both covers: "Summule Naturalium/ Paulus de Venetiis/ M. S. 1373". Bound by Riviere (London) before 1881. Red edges., Brittle. Acidic ink damage with some loss of text., Decorated title page, f. 1r, with border, in black and red ink composed of various decorative devices: in the upper margin a bar border with a central semicircle flanked by stylized scrolls in black and red. In the outer margin, a roundel, black with red and black frame, filled with a flower of 6 petals in red; the roundel flanked by stylized scrolls. In center of lower margin a medallion framed in narrow black and red bands containing a flaming heart pierced by an arrow and an open book, also flanked by stylized scrolls. Numerous decorated initials, 30- to 4-line, black and red with interior designs of lozenges, small flowers, and wavy lines of paper ground. Plain initials and paragraph marks in red. Guide letters for rubricator throughout., Purchased from C. A. Stonehill in 1953 by Thomas E. Marston., Script: Written by several scribes in humanistic cursive script with gothic features, below top line; inital words of each section in gothic bookhand., Watermarks, obscured by text: similar to Harlfinger Chapeau 17 and unidentified ladder., and Worm-eaten; some minor loss of text.
Subject (Name):
Aristotle, Augustinians, and Venetus, Paulus
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Latin literature, Medieval and modern, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, Physics--Early works to 1800, and Scholia