Manuscript on parchment of Virgil, Aeneis, in an Italian prose abridgement by Andrea Lancia
Description:
In Italian., Script: copied by a single hand writing Southern Gothica Textualis Libraria/Formata (Rotunda). Stroking of the majuscules. 2-line flourished initials with simple penwork at the opening of the chapters. More elaborate flourished initials, 2 to 7 lines, at the opening of the Books. On f. 1r an 8-line littera duplex., and Publius Vergilius Maro (70-19 B.C.), Aeneis, abridgement in Italian prose by Andrea Lancia (c. 1280-c. 1360). This Florentine notary and Dante commentator wrote various Italian translations or adaptations of classical Latin texts. There are occasionally interlinear glosses, more often marginal notes. Pointing hands.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Lancia, Andrea, ca. 1280-ca. 1360. and Virgil.
Subject (Topic):
Epic poetry, Latin, Literature, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on paper of a private compilation. The two well known works entered into the codex deal with magical properties ascribed to certain gems and the supernatural significance of the carving of stones. Together with these formal texts are found other extremely varied materials: procedures for restoring wine which has suffered various accidents, for making glass of different colors, for the early ripening of grapes, for making an ass bray loudly, for frightening dogs, and so forth
Description:
In Latin and Italian., Watermark: unidentified flower-petal., Script: Probably written by a single hand, employing a Gothico antiqua on ff. 1-11r, with a less formal treatment of the same elsewhere, and more cursive writing for the passages in Italian; the writing relatively careful at the beginning, progressively less so until the end., Red ink for most headings, red capitals and paragraph marks, except on f. 11v-12r and 16v-17r, which are without color., Lower margins affected by damp throughout and partly repaired with blank paper., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Paper boards, more recent gilt-stamped label on backstrip.
Manuscript on paper of Apocryphal Gospel Books and Miracles of the Virgin, including 1) Evangelium infantiae; 2) Liber passionis et resurrectionis Iesu Christi; 3) miracle legends about the Virgin
Description:
In Italian., Script: Copied by two scribes. Hand 1, the notary Franciscus Salvator (Francesco Salvatore) from Ventimiglia, copied artt. 1-4 in Gothica Semihybrida Libraria (Mercantesca). Hand 2 copied artt. 5-6 in Gothica Hybrida Libraria/Currens (Mercantesca)., Decoration: Long red headings up to f. 29r (artt. 1-2). In artt. 3-4, space for headings was provided, but they were not executed. Space was reserved for 2-line initials, but these were not executed. Artt. 4 and 5 are undecorated; there are no guide letters for the 1-line initials at the opening of each of these articles, for which space was reserved., and Binding: 20th century, brown leather and wooden boards. Spine has three raised bands.
Manuscript on parchment of a summary of Giovanni Villani's Croniche
Description:
In Italian., Script: copied by a single hand writing Gothico-Humanistica Libraria on the basis of Italian Hybrida. Pale red headings. Flourished initials with penwork and marginal extensions, 2-line up to f. 16r, generally 3-line from f. 16v onwards. On f. 1r 2-line white vinestem initial incorporated into a border corner piece of the same style. In the lower margin two marks of oval seals (?) and the early number or date "1264"., The manuscript contains the Chronicle of Florence up to 1333, being a summary of the Croniche of Giovanni Villani (c. 1280-1348); the most recent edition of the Croniche is by G. Porta (Parma, 1991). The Compendio presented by our manuscript corresponds to Book 1, ch. 38 up to Book 10, ch. 219 of Villani's work. The author of the summary skips the majority of the chapters of the original and summarizes the ones he retains, placing them generally under Villani's headings without much changing the latter., and Binding: Italian binding circa 16th century: brown leather over wooden boards, both covers blind-tooled with fillets making a rectangular frame inscribed with a lozenge, and decorated with rows of stamps. In the center of the lozenge a cross. Spine with four raised bands. Remnants of four brass clasps attached to the rear cover, one at the upper and lower edges and two at the outer edges; five small brass bosses on each cover. On the spine a parchment label with the handwritten 16th century inscription: "Gio: Villan:"
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 fragment, on parchment, containing parts of the text of Novella 8 and Novella 9 of the Second Day of Boccaccio's Decameron
Description:
In Italian., Layout: double columns of 43 lines., Script: early Italian humanist script., and Leaves were originally a conjoint bifolium, but were separated for later use in a binding, with some resultant staining and damage.
Manuscript on parchment of 1) Dante Alighieri, La Commedia secondo l'antica vulgata. 2) Bosone de' Raffaelli da Gubbio, "Capitolo" on the Divine Comedy, in 64 terzine. 3) Iacopo Alighieri, "Divisione" of the Divine Comedy in 50 terzine (thus of the B group).
Description:
In Italian., Script: Written in round gothic script., Very fine initials and borders. Three historiated initials, each with a personification with attributes. Each initial with a full border of fleshy acanthus, blue, orange, olive green, pink, grey and gold, with tooling; birds in lower margin of ff. 1r and 54r; on f. 1r a coat-of-arms, in lower margin: azure, a chevron or, between two roses in chief argent, a mount of 6 in base argent, probably of the Bini family, Florence. 3-line initials, red or blue, with mauve or red penwork with long intricate flourishes often extending the length of the page. Opening text of Inferno adjacent to the initial of f. 1r in display capitals with penwork panels in brown ink. Capitals on the beginning of each stanza stroked in yellow. Rubrics throughout., and Binding: Sixteenth century. Sewn on five double supports attached to wooden boards. The spine is square with well defined bands and red and green endbands. Covered in dark brown goatskin, blind-tooled in mudejar style in two sets of concentric frames; DO.IOAN.DE gold-tooled in the center of one, BORGA in the other. Trace of two fastenings. Gilt edges. Restored.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321. and Dominicans
Subject (Topic):
Manuscripts, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Italian poetry, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Scholia
Manuscript on parchment (palimpsest: written over an unidentified canon law text, 1250-75) of Epitome of Aristotle's Ethics translated into Italian by Taddeo d'Alderotto (ca. 1235-1295).
Description:
In Italian., Script: Written in a calligraphic notarial hand with tall ascenders and strongly looped forms of letters d and b, above top line., Spaces left for decorative initials remain unfilled., and Binding: ca. 1900, England or U.S.A. (?). Quarter bound in orange goatskin with a gold-tooled label on spine ("Aristotle. Ethica, in Italian. XIVth Century") and marbled paper sides. Edges gilt.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Alderotti, Taddeo, 1223-1295. and Aristotle.
Subject (Topic):
Ethics, Italian literature, Literature, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment of Fatti di Cesare, Italian adaptation of the French prose romance Li fait des Romains
Description:
In Italian., Script: copied by one hand in Southern Gothica Semitextualis Libraria. The first word of a Book, after the (planned) initial, is written in Gothic majuscules., There are guide letters and space has been reserved for 2-line initials (3-line at the beginning of a Book), but only a few of these have been executed (plain initials with the simplest penwork decoration, by a later hand); the large fancy black initial at the beginning of the Prologue is equally a later addition made by an unexperienced hand. There are neither headings nor other decoration., and Binding: the binding is lost. The quires are sewn on four double white leather thongs.
Manuscript on paper, written in two stages. Part II was copied in the mid-14th century (before 1369) in Tuscany, possibly in Pisa. Part I was copied by Niccolo di Giovanni Cinuzi da Siena in Ferrara, Italy, by 1 Sept. 1415. Part I: Boccaccio, Filostrato. Part II: Articles 2-35 and 38-39 consist of a collection of Italian canzoni by various authors as well as anonymous poems. Artt. 36 and 37 are fragments of Petrarch, Rerum vulgarum
Description:
In Italian., Watermarks: Part I: similar to Briquet Monts 11678. Part II: similar to Briquet Ciseaux 3737., Script: Part I (ff. 1r-78v): Written by a single scribe in a bold upright notarial script. Part II (ff. 91r-110v): Written in a clear notarial script by a single scribe; later writers have added the initials, offset in margins, for the major sections of text (sometimes inaccurately) and the notes on ff. 109v-110v., Crude drawings include a falconer with birds, f. 103v, and a ghost (?), f. 103r., The pattern of stains suggests the two parts were originally bound separately. Stained throughout; some ink blotches affect text., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Brown calf over wooden boards, blind-tooled. Red-brown, gold-tooled label. Parchment reinforcements between quires.
