Manuscript on paper (watermarks in gutter) of 1) Petrarch, Boccacii Griseldis historia. 2) Pope Pius II, Epistola. 3) Petrarch, Famil. rerum., 12, 2. 4) Pope Pius II, Bulla retractationum. 5) Pope Pius II, Epistola de fortuna
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written by three scribes in similar styles of informal gothic scripts (batarde influence). Scribe 1) ff. 1r-7r; 2) ff. 7v-14v; 3) ff. 15r-26v., One calligraphic initial, f. 1r, 4-line, blue with white floral motifs; infilled with red penwork floral designs tinted with green; penwork trails into inner margin, with plain green dots. Four initials, ff. 1v, 7v, 10v, 21v, red ink, 6- to 2-line. Paragraph marks in red. Numerous capitals stroked in red; rubrics throughout; explicits underlined in red., and Binding: Twentieth century. Vellum spine (verso of an unidentified manuscript) with "Petrarcae et Aeneae Silvii Epistoles" inscribed; grey-blue paper sides.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Petrarca, Francesco, 1304-1374.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Latin literature, Medieval and modern, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Papal documents
Manuscript on parchment of Leonardo Bruni, Commentaria rerum graecarum (De principatu Graeciae), preceded by Bruni's letter to Angelo Acciaiuolo
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written in round humanistic bookhand by two scribes who use somewhat different physical formats. Scribe I) ff. 1r-16r, written above top line, with initials for paragraphs set apart from the text between outer vertical bounding lines. Scribe 2) ff. 16v-26v, written below top line and leaving blank the final line of written space., Two illuminated initials on ff. 1r and 2r, 5-line and 3-line, gold on blue, green and pale mauve ground with white vine-stem ornament and grey-green dots. On f. 1r vine-stem ornament on blue ground extends into inner margin (3-lines) to form partial border. Possibly by the same artist who executed the initials in Marston MS 257., and Binding: Twentieth century, Italy. Rigid vellum case with a green, gold-tooled label on spine: "L. Bruni De principatu graeciae. Sec. XV".
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut, New Haven., and Greece
Subject (Name):
Bruni, Leonardo, 1369-1444.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Latin literature, Medieval and modern, Manuscripts, Medieval, and History
Manuscript on parchment of Josephus, De bello iudaico, translated into Latin by Rufinus
Alternative Title:
De bello Judaico
Description:
In Latin., Written in bold and elegant early gothic bookhand; some looped flourishes in upper margins contain red dots., Seven initials, 17- to 10-line, in red, filled with red swirling foliage on orange and green grounds, with touches of blue, against irregular grounds of blue and/or orange panels. 6- to 2-line initials, green and/or red with red or green foliate flourishes, set both outside and into text column; initials sometimes incorporate simple facial features. 1-line red initials for rubrics. Rubrics throughout; remains of notes to rubricator., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Brown goatskin, blind-tooled.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Josephus, Flavius.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Jews, History, Latin literature, Medieval and modern, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on paper (watermarks: unidentified mountain) and parchment (inner and outer bifolios, of poor quality) of Boccaccio, De claris mulieribus; translated into Italian by Donato degli Albanzani
Description:
In Italian., Script: Written by three persons in round gothic script: Scribe 1, ff. 1r-33v (except f. 8, replaced in 16th century); Scribe 2, ff. 33v-36v; Scribe 3; ff. 37r-74r. In portions written by Scribes 1 and 2 some elaborate ascenders and descenders in upper and lower margins, touched with red., Initials, 3- to 2-line, in red or blue, sometimes with red penwork. Rubrics throughout. Initial added [date?], f. 2v, to replace one removed: blue, with leafy filler in green outline, and foliage extending down margin and across top and bottom of column, drawn in green, red, and blue., Initial removed from f. 2v; leaf was then reinforced with paper covering f. 2r, col. b (blank). Lower margins of ff. 1, 33 and 37 cut off., and Binding: 19th-20th centuries. Vellum spine and fore-edge strip with marbled paper sides. Label on spine: "Donne Illust. del Boccacc. MS".
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Boccaccio, Giovanni, 1313-1375.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Latin literature, Medieval and modern, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment of 1) Dares Phrygius, De excidio Troiae historia, in the Latin translation ascribed to Cornelius Nepos, followed by the lists of those killed by the heroes on both sides. 2) Geoffrey of Monmouth (Galfredus Monemutensis, d. 1154), Historia regum Britanniae. 3) De origine Normannorum, a short history of Normandy up to Henry I, King of England and Duke of Normandy (d. 1135). The main part of this text derives from Hugh of Saint-Victor (Hugo de Sancto Victore, d. 1141), Excerptiones allegoricae, X, 10 (PL 177.284) and is followed by a short list of Dukes of Normandy. 4) Three unidentified poems on the miracles of St. Benedict, followed by rhymed liturgical prayers to be said in the presence of the relics of the saint, and another poem on St. Benedict. This manuscript, which from the beginning contained all four texts described above, was copied in a Benedictine abbey
Description:
In Latin., Script: Carefully copied by one hand in Northern Gothica Textualis Libraria., Headings and running titles in red, many now poorly legible. Heightening of majuscules in red. Large decorated Romanesque initials, red or green, at the head of artt. 1 and 2; 2- or 3-line plain initials alternately in red and blue and 1-line initials in the same colours in the middle of the text in art. 2; on f. 91r, at the beginning of Book XI, there is a 3-line flourished initial in blue with red penwork, which may be added later. 3-line red plain initial at the beginning of art. 3. 2-line initials in art. 4, of the same kind as in artt. 1-2., and Binding: Eighteenth century. Sprinkled calf over cardboard; the covers have gilt edges.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut, New Haven., Great Britain, Normandy (France), and Troy (Extinct city)
Subject (Name):
Dares, Phrygius. and Benedictines.
Subject (Topic):
Devotional literature, Latin (Medieval and modern), Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Latin literature, Medieval and modern, Literature, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and History
Manuscript on paper of Boccaccio, De mulieribus claris, with dedication to Andrea Acciaiuoli
Description:
In Latin., Watermarks: Briquet Tete de boeuf 14717 and similar to Piccard Ochsenkopf XII.123., 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., 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., and 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.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Boccaccio, Giovanni, 1313-1375.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Latin literature, Medieval and modern, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment (poor quality) of Leonardo Bruni, De primo bello punico, compiled largely from Polybius
Description:
In Latin., Script: Text written by a single scribe in humanistic cursive script, above top line. Marginal notes (mostly proper names and events) added by at least two hands, 15th-16th centuries, with one set added throughout in red by a scribe who also placed Roman numerals for each book in upper margin., One large illuminated initial, 4-line, gold on blue, light green and pink ground with white vine-stem ornament. Initial joined to partial border, white vine-stem ornament on blue, light green and pink ground with white dots and gold balls with penwork extensions in brown ink. Two smaller initials on ff. 23v and 38r, 4-line, gold, outlined in yellow on blue grounds with white highlights. Plain initial, f. 1v, and headings in pale red., and Binding: Nineteenth century, England (?). Quarter bound in red, hard-grained goatskin, gold-tooled, with printed marbled paper sides. Edges spattered yellow and black. Title on spine: "Leonardi Aretini, Commentarii. MS. in membranis".
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut, New Haven., and Rome
Subject (Name):
Bruni, Leonardo, 1369-1444.
Subject (Topic):
Manuscripts, Medieval, History, Military, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Latin literature, Medieval and modern
Manuscript on parchment (palimpsest) of 1) Francesco Barbaro, De re uxoria, with his dedicatory preface to Lorenzo di Giovanni de' Medici. 2) Leonardo Bruni, Oratio Heliogabali ad meretrices. 3) Plato, Crito, the first version of the Latin translation by Leonardo Bruni (1420s). 4) Xenophon, Apologia Socratis, translated into Latin by Leonardo Bruni. 5) The ps.-Virgilian Epistola Virgilii ad Maecenatem written by Pier Candido Decembrio as a young man in 1426; he had difficulty convincing his contemporaries that it was not genuine.
Description:
Binding: 19th-20th centuries, Germany (?). Case bound with leaves from a parchment manuscript (Breviary, France, 1250-1300). On the front pastedown: rubrics for the major feasts and their octaves occurring in late June (John the Baptist, 24 June) through mid-August (Assumption, 15 August), and the beginning of the lessons to be read within the octave of the feast of John the Baptist; on the back pastedown: end of the lessons for Hilarianus of Arezzo (7 August) and beginning of the second lesson for Cyriacus, Largus and Smaragdus (8 August)., Illuminated initial of poor quality, f. 1r, 7-line, gold (almost completely rubbed), with red penwork filigree and small stylized leaves, with some touches of gold. At the top of the page, beneath rubric, arms of the Rustichelli family (per pale, or, a lion rampant sable; or, 4 bars nebuly sable), surrounded by red penwork. Plain initials in red and blue. Headings in red. Some small initials touched with yellow. Off-set impression of eyeglasses on ff. 33v-34r., Purchased in 1957 from H. P. Kraus by L. C. Witten, who sold it in 1959 to Thomas E. Marston., and Script: Written in humanistic bookhand by a single scribe, above top line.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Latin literature, Medieval and modern, Literature, Medieval--Translations, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment of Boethius, De topicis differentiis
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written in compact gothic bookhand by a single scribe, below top line., 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 Binding: Date? Limp vellum case with title, in ink, on spine: "Topica boetij".
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Boethius, -524.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Latin literature, Medieval and modern, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment of Matthew of Westminster, Flores historiarum. Written presumably at the Cluniac priory of St. Saviour, Bermondsey, Surrey
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written in bold gothic textura; x is crossed., Rubrics, often accompanied by notes to rubricator in well formed current Anglicana script. Decorative initials not filled in. Numerous pen trials and crude drawings in margins (e.g., ff. 28r, 46v, 47r, 63r)., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Blind-tooled brown calf with a gold-tooled title. Parchment flyleaves (formerly pastedowns) from a Missal (England, 15th century) much rubbed and worn, and with offset impression from original binding of corner tongues and four attachments. Gothic textura. Fine blue initials with intricate herringbone penwork designs in red. Headings in red; paragraph marks in blue.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut, New Haven., and Great Britain
Subject (Name):
Paris, Matthew, 1200-1259.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Latin literature, Medieval and modern, Manuscripts, Medieval, Missals, and History