Manuscript on parchment of John Chrysostom, Sermo de dignitate humanae originis, translated into Latin by Ambrogio Traversari. The text is preceded by a dedicatory letter, here directed to Rene d'Anjou (King of Sicily and Naples, 1435-42).
Description:
3 large initials of modest quality, 8- to 7-line, gold on blue or blue and red grounds with white dots and white vine-stem ornament. 1 smaller initial, 3-line, gold on red and blue ground with white dots. Plain initials in blue and red, one in gold, some with penwork flourishes in red. Rubrics throughout. Paragraph marks in red or blue. Guide letters for initials., Binding: Fifteenth century, Italy. Original sewing on three tawed skin, slit straps laced through tunnels in the edge to channels on the outside of beech boards and nailed. Beige and white chevron endbands are sewn on tawed skin cores laid in grooves on the outside of the boards. The spine is lined with green tawed skin between supports. Covered in brown, originally tan, calf with corner tongues, blind-tooled with a triple cross in a border of rope interlace. Spine: sewing bands defined and panels diapered with triple fillets. Two truncated diamond catches with a flower in a circle on the lower board, the upper one cut in for the red fabric straps attached with star-headed nails., Purchased from Giuseppe (Joseph) Martini of Lugano by H. P. Kraus, who sold it in 1957 to Thomas E. Marston., and Script: Written by a single scribe in humanistic cursive script, below top line.
Subject (Name):
John Chrysostom, Saint, -407 and Traversari, Ambrogio, 1386-1439
Subject (Topic):
Catechetical sermons, Fathers of the church, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Literature, Medieval--Translations, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Sermons--Early works to 1800
Manuscript on parchment of a collection of anonymous sermons, mostly drawn from the Italian Homiliary.
Description:
Attractive pen-and-ink drawings throughout the manuscript, in red, though much of manuscript now stained. Folio 1r with a partial border formed of fantastic beasts, dragons and grotesques. Other drawings in margins include a fantastic bird, f. 9r; a dragon with a human head issuing forth stylized scrolls, f. 40v; a scroll inhabited by a fantastic bird, f. 49r; a lizard-like creature, its tail forming a partial border, f. 53r; a grotesque, f. 73v. Several drawings in the lower margin have been trimmed. Plain initials in red, some with penwork scrolls or simple flourishing. Headings and underlining of Biblical passages in red., Binding: Nineteenth century (?), Italy (?). Brown leather case with title, in ink, on spine: "Homil. in Evangel". Fragment of an unidentified 13th-century Latin document (monastic register?) bound in as second front flyleaf., and Script: Written in a nice large early gothic script, above top line.
Subject (Topic):
Homiliaries, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, Sermons, Latin, and Sermons--Early works to 1800