Merchant's commonplace book

Description

Title: Merchant's commonplace book
Published / Created: [between 1350 and 1400]
Publication Place: Venice
Abstract: Manuscript on paper. Includes notes on arithmetic and accounting for merchandise; a romance of Tristan; list of spices; astronomical and astrological information; charms and prayers; recipes; extracts in Venetian; and poems
Description: In Italian and Latin.
Watermarks: similar to Briquet Fruit 7372-76, Briquet Cheval 3564, and Briquet Fruit 7341.
Script: Written by a single scribe in a neat notarial hand, through f. 67v. Notes added by various hands of 14th-15th centuries.
Drawings of ships, towers and merchants in ink, with added yellow, brown, green, red and blue; many diagrams. Crude 2- and 1-line initials in red, with guide-letters for rubricator showing beneath; headings in red.
Repair of f. 1 with later paper; some loss of text. Repairs at outer edges on this and other folios do not affect text.
Binding: 18th-19th centuries. Rigid vellum case with paste paper back endleaf and pastedowns. Central fold of each bifolium has been reinforced with a strip of parchment.
Provenance: Belonged to Giuseppe (Joseph) Martini of Lugano; purchased from his estate by H. P. Kraus, ca. 1948. Sold in 1957 by Kraus to Thomas E. Marston, who presented it to the Beinecke Library in 1967.
Extent: ff. 69 + i : 280 x 215 (220 x 160) mm.
Extent of Digitization: This object has been completely digitized.
Language: Italian
Latin

Genre: Early works to 1800
Commonplace books Italy To 1400
Manuscripts, Medieval Italy 14th century
Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Material: paper ;
Resource Type: unspecified
Subject (Geographic): Connecticut
New Haven.
Venice (Italy)
Subject (Topic): Accounting
Arithmetic
Astrology
Astronomy, Medieval
Formulas, recipes, etc
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval
Italian literature
Manuscripts, Medieval
Merchants
Prayers
Tristan (Legendary character)
Economic conditions
Subjects: Accounting
Arithmetic > Early works to 1800
Astrology > Early works to 1800
Astronomy, Medieval
Formulas, recipes, etc > Early works to 1800
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval
Italian literature > To 1400
Manuscripts, Medieval > Connecticut > New Haven
Merchants
Prayers > Early works to 1800
Tristan (Legendary character)
Venice (Italy) > Economic conditions > To 1797
Italy > To 1400
Italy > 14th century
Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library

Access: Public
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Citation: Merchant's Commonplace Book. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.