Manuscript on paper of Benedetto Cotrugli (Benedictus de Cotrullis, c. 1410-1469), De navigatione liber (Della navigazione). After the prologue in Latin addressed to the Doge and the Senate of Venice, the author, quoting countless Biblical, ancient, medieval and Renaissance authors and drawing largely on his own experience, discusses the oceans and seas, islands, ports, the history of ship-building and navigation, weather, and astronomy. At the end, he includes portolano maps and describes the coast of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea
Description:
The author, born in Ragusa (Dubrovnik), was a businessman and humanist, from 1451 onwards in favour at the Court of Naples. His Della mercatura e del mercante perfetto, written in 1458, was for a long time considered his only surviving work. Our manuscript, written during his lifetime and no doubt under his supervision or by his hand, is the only existing manuscript of Della navigazione and it is unfinished, missing most of its illustrations and the end of the text., In Italian., Script: Written by one hand in Humanistica Cursiva close to Humanistica Textualis. Headings and opening words of chapters in pale red capitals., Heightening of majuscules and paragraph marks in pale red up to f. 10r. Space for 2- or 3-line initials at the opening of all chapters, the initials not executed. Illustration largely missing; the few that have been executed are crudely drawn., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Yellowish parchment over cardboard. Marbled paste-downs.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Cotrugli, Benedetto, d. 1468.
Subject (Topic):
Astronomy, Medieval, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Italian literature, Manuscript maps, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Navigation
Manuscript on parchment roll, consisting of five skins pasted together, of an untitled list of 267 courses mentioning distances between two places and the bearing according to a 32-point compass, in Venetian dialect
Description:
In Italian (Venetian dialect)., Script: Written by one scribe in black ink except for five lines in red; of these lines 145 and 171 are no entries, but rubrics introducing the sections dealing with the Sea of Azov and the islands of the Aegean Sea respectively. The handwriting is a small Southern Gothica Textualis Libraria under Cancelleresca influence; the latter is most apparent in the shape of the letter g and in the horizontal approach strokes at the top of the ascenders., The majuscules are heightened in red., and Damp stains have damaged and even obliterated some parts of the text, especially in its first section.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut, New Haven., and Italy
Subject (Topic):
Manuscripts, Medieval, Description and travel, and Manuscript maps
