Manuscript on parchment of Livy, Ab urbe condita libri I-X.
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written by a single scribe in round humanistic script., On f. 1r: the initial F historiated with a view of Rome, full-page illuminated border in gold and colors into which are introduced the Trivulzio arms of Milan (paly of 6, or and vert) and a set of unidentified arms (gules, a cross saltire sable). Initials of books, 8-line, of painted gold on background of blue, green and red, and partial floral border., Initial on f. 2r damaged by crease., and Binding: Eighteenth century. Brown leather, gold-tooled, edges marbled and gilt, rebacked, with T. LIVII DECAS PRIMA on spine.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut, New Haven., and Rome
Subject (Name):
Livy.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Latin literature, Manuscripts, Medieval, and History
Manuscript on paper of the Acts of the Apostles and Revelation
Description:
In Greek., Mutilated watermarks consisting of column (?) flanked by fleur-de-lis., Script: Written by a single person in a small neat minuscule script., Initial on f. 1r painted in blue and outlined in red. Illuminated initial on f. 65r in gold, on blue square serving as background; partial border at bottom of page: pink flowers in gold rectangle outlined in black. Running titles throughout., and Binding: Probably ca. 1530. Bruges (?). Sewn on four single, tawed thongs laced twice in and out of pasteboards. The tawed cores of the beaded endbands are also laced twice. Half bands divide the end sections of the spine. The book-block is remarkably clean and the leaves flat. Covered in brown calf with panel stamps of Saint John the Baptist and Saint Michael in arches with a line of dancing figures and a piper in between. Heavily repaired.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment (goatskin) of Publius Vergilius Maro (70-19 B.C.), Aeneis, with the Argumenta of Books 1-12 ascribed to Ovid. Including Summary of Aeneis ascribed to Basilius, one of the Twelve Wise Men; Ps.-Vergilius, prologue to Aeneis; Six verses in praise of Mapheus Vegius (Maffeo Vegio, 1406-1458); Mapheus Vegius (Maffeo Vegio, 1406/7-1458), Book 13 of Aeneis; and Ps.-Octavianus Augustus, Poem in praise of Virgil's Aeneis
Description:
In Latin., Script: Copied by a single scribe writing a careful but somewhat unusual Humanistica Textualis Formata, with lengthened descenders at the bottom line., Very pale red rubrics and running numbering of the Books (on rectos, in Roman numerals); blue paragraph-marks; blue plain initials (2-3 lines) for the Argumenta; white vinestem initials (6 lines) with marginal extensions; on f. 5r (Book 1) 10-line white vinestem initial and full white vinestem border augmented with groups of three gold balls in the outer and lower margins; in the lower section a damaged coat of arms in a wreath, identified as argent, a fess azure., The lower margins of ff. 149, 181 and 192 have been cut and were replaced; in the first case this was done before writing; the upper and lower corners of the leaves are cut; ff. 1-14 have been repaired by pasting pieces of parchment to the damaged edges or corners. There is a triangular incision in the lower part of the outer edges in the large central section of the codex., and Binding: 1904 by Katharine Adams for Sydney Cockerell. Green pigskin over pasteboard; spine with five raised bands and the gold-tooled inscriptions "VERGILI / AENEIS / MS." and "NORTH ITALIAN / 1450". White parchment endleaves. Gilt edges. The preceding binding was purple morocco by Zaehnsdorf.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Virgil.
Subject (Topic):
Epic poetry, Classical, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Latin poetry, Medieval and modern, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment of 1) Bible in the usual order with some prologues. 2) Index of Hebrew names generally attributed to Stephen Langton. 3) Chapters 25-29 of the Testament of the 12 Patriarchs. Written for Cardinal Niccolo Albergati
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written in rounded gothic bookhand., The Bible is a splendid example of the Italian late gothic illuminated manuscript. The decoration consists of two very richly illuminated pages (f. 5r, Genesis; f. 272r, Psalms), thirteen small miniatures (ff. 1r, 570v-576v), and 79 historiated initials, 7 to 10-line (not including ascenders or descenders) at the beginning of every book of the Bible, the sections of the Psalter, and a few prologues. The miniatures are in thin gold or yellow frames. The historiated initials are composed of acanthus, mauve, blue, pink, orange, and/or green. At least four artists collaborated in the illustration and decoration of the codex. On virtually every folio, recto and verso, are elaborate bar borders, in margins and/or between text columns, full or half-length, gold, blue, green, pink, and/or orange with white filigree, some with curling acanthus, leafy midpoints and terminals with acanthus and hair-spray extension. On folios with miniatures or initials, more elaborate borders (full borders on ff. 1r, 5r): curling hair-spray with gold dots and trefoil leaves, spikey ivy, pink, blue, orange and green flowers, putti, insects, birds, grotesques and, on f. 348v, a marginal scene, lower left corner, a fowler chasing rabbits., Ornamental initials (5 to 6-line) at the beginning of the prologues in red, blue, orange, and/or green, acanthus infilled red with white filigree against irregular gold grounds; gold against cusped pink and blue backgrounds with white filigree; some rinceaux initials in Franco-Flemish style, pink or blue with white highlights against cusped gold grounds. 2 and 1-line initials, gold on red and blue grounds with white filigree. Running titles in alternating red and blue letters or in gold against red and blue rectangular grounds with white filigree. Line fillers (ff. 617r-682r) in red, blue and/or gold. Chapter numbers in red or blue. Rubrics throughout., First two leaves slightly creased., and Binding: 19th-20th centuries. A painted design under the gilt fore edge. Red velvet binding.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Langton, Stephen, -1228.
Subject (Topic):
Versions, Vulgate, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment (poor quality) of 1) Herman de Valenciennes, Bible. 2) Herman de Valenciennes, L'Assomption de Notre Dame. Often found, as here, following the poem on the Bible by the same author. 3) Petrus Alphonsus, Disciplina clericalis, followed by three moral precepts. 4) Poem in Anglo-Norman on Genesis. 5) Robert de Ho, Les Enseignements de Robert de Ho. 6) Extract from the romance Partenopeus de Blois. 7) Vie de saint Eustache. 8) Letter of Prester John to Emperor Manuel Comnenus, tr. into Anglo-Norman verse by Raoul d'Arundel; this is the earliest translation of the letter (ante A.D. 1200), and the only one known in French verse. 9) Guillaume le Clerc, Bestiaire. 10) Notes on the influence of the moon. 11) Le voyage du Chevalier Owen au purgatoire de saint Patrice. 12) Wace, Roman de Brut. Some 15th-century glosses, in Middle English and Latin, occur in the text
Description:
In Anglo-Norman and Latin., Script: Written by 6 scribes in large gothic bookhand. Scribe 1: ff. 1r-75r, 111r-130v, 153r-183v (characterized by decorative descenders in final line of text); Scribe 2: ff. 75r-97v (z with small horizontal crossbar); Scribe 3: ff. 98r-110r, 131r-152v, 189r-201v, 212v-216v (exaggerated ascenders in top line of text); Scribe 4: ff. 184r-188v; Scribe 5: second column of f. 201v (crude script); Scribe 6: ff. 202r-212r, 216v-224v (poorly formed)., 4-line initials, divided blue and red (ff. 111r, 153r, 189r), with penwork in red and blue or red only. 3- and 2-line initials, red with blue penwork or vice versa (quire VI lacks flourishes on initials). Paragraph marks in red or blue; some rubrics at beginning of articles. 1-line initials stroked with yellow or red. Ink drawings in margins include King Arthur (f. 189r)., Early repairs with parchment throughout; no loss of text. Waterstains, ff. 221v-224r. Rubbing on f. 224v has caused some loss of text in col. a., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Diced red/brown calf, gold-tooled.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Anglo-Norman poetry, Bestiaries, Christian poetry, French, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Romances, Anglo-Norman
Manuscript on parchment (trimmed) of 1) Tacitus, Annales XI-XVI. 2) Tacitus, Historiae I-V. Possibly written for Alfonso II, Duke of Calabria, King of Naples
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written by two scribes; Scribe 1) ff. 1r-126r in a neat, slightly rounded gothic bookhand; Scribe 2) ff. 126v-218v, in a neat humanistic bookhand., Full border, f. 1r, attributed to Nicola Rapicano: white vine, infilled blue, red, and green, with white dots; framed and divided into panels by thin gold bands, the inner frame with a second band in two shades of purple, with white highlights. Outer and lower margins divided by band of fruit, in the outer margin, black with gold highlights, in the lower margin, red with green and gold highlights; divided into sections and at corners by English frets, infilled blue or green with white dots. In center of outer margin, a medallion after a classical coin or cameo, bust of a man in profile with a laurel wreath against a blue ground with fine white filigree; in center of lower margin, coat of arms of Alfonso II, Duke of Calabria, King of Naples (quarterly, first and fourth paly of 4 or and gules [Aragon], second and third argent, a cross potent sable [Calabria]), in a gold and purple quatrilobe frame, a gold diadem above, against a blue ground, as above, supported by four putti. Putti, birds (including a large peacock, center of inner margin), insects, and a bowl of fruit, symmetrically arranged in corners and around swags, often overlapping or passing behind decorative elements. Both inner and outer frame broken by text and marginalia, suggesting that the border is a later addition. Two lines of gold capitals open the text on f. 1r. On f. 136v, a 5-line white vine initial, gold, infilled red, green, and blue, against a blue ground, of inferior execution compared to f. 1r. Two 3-line initials, ff. 25v and 40v, gold or blue with purple or red penwork; each with guide-letters for illuminator., and Binding: Between 1890 and 1900, or 20th century. Dark brown goatskin, blind-tooled with rope work interspersed with copper colored dots in Italian style (15th century) by Leon Gruel (active under his own name between 1891 and 1923).
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut, New Haven., and Rome
Subject (Name):
Alfonso II, King of Naples, 1448-1495. and Tacitus, Cornelius.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Latin prose literature, Manuscripts, Medieval, and History
Manuscript on paper (sturdy; staggered thumb holes at bottom of leaves) of Antiphons for suffrages. With liturgies and offices for various occasions. Written during the 16th century presumably for Franciscan use and supplemented during the 17th century; the second portion may have been added for use of the Reform Congregation of the Spanish Discalceates of which Peter of Alcantara was the founder
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written by two scribes in a large round gothic bookhand. 1) ff. 1r-43v (16th century); 2) ff. 44r-50r (17th century). Scribe 2 attempts to replicate the work of Scribe 1, but uses 5-line staves rather than 4-line., Decoration for ff. 1r-43v: initials, with foliage designs, in rectangular frame, often with ground uncolored; colors range from vibrant blue, yellow, and orange to olive green and dark purple. Initials for ff. 44r-50r, of similar design, with more subdued shades, and no frames., and Binding: Seventeenth century. Vellum stays, contemporary paper flyleaves and pastedowns. Original sewing on five supports attached to very thick, square wooden boards. Beaded and colored endbands. Red edges. Covered in brown calf (cow?) reinforced at spine with additional leather and straps nailed to the boards. Traces of a strap and pin fastening. Vellum label with notation "Antiphonar. Com. sanctorum" nailed to lower board. The badly warped upper board is reinforced with two strips of wood placed vertically on the upper surface.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church and Franciscans.
Subject (Topic):
Liturgy, Antiphonaries, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Introitus for the Mass for the feast of two or more martyrs outside of Eastertide, to be inserted into a Gradual
Description:
In Latin., Script: copied by two hands, both writing Southern Gothica Textualis Formata with Spanish features. Hand A copied the four upper lines on f. 1r in a regular handwriting; hand B copied all the rest over erasure in a more artificial handwriting, which is of exceptionally large size on f. 1r. Musical notation in black nota quadrata. Red rubrics in the four upper lines on f. 1r. A large cadel D on the verso (“Deus”). F. 1r has rich decoration in a style influenced by Ghent-Bruges illumination: large historiated initial (2 staves + 2 lines of text) with the seated Virgin and the naked Christ child standing on her lap; at right a soldier in armour holding a lance (an illustration of the “Miracle of the Knight of Cologne”). Full architectural border subdivided in niches containing personages; in the left-hand border Sts. Andrew, Paul, Philip, and James the Less; in the lower section Jeremiah and Zechariah, flanking a central panel containing two angels holding a cloth displaying the Five Wounds of Christ with the motto “Miserere mei”; in the right-hand border four angels holding trumpets; in the top section a row of roses between twisted branches., and Originally the text, beginning with the initial, was that of the Antiphon “Sacerdos et pontifex”, sung at Vespers on the feast of a confessor bishop. It was erased and replaced with the current text, which is the Introitus for the Mass for the feast of two or more martyrs outside of Eastertide. The rubric at the top of the page and the initial were not erased, although they did not fit any longer the text. So the leaf originally was part of an Antiphonary, but it was removed and rewritten to be inserted into a Gradual.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Liturgy, Antiphonaries, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript roll, on parchment, in a single hand, illuminated, containing the "Arma Christi" poem and other prayers, in Dutch, including prayers ascribed to Popes Sixtus IV and Alexander VI. The prayers are preceded by a rubric instructing readers to kneel as they recite the prayers in order to obtain an indulgence
Description:
In Dutch., Layout: single column of text., Script: gothic., Decoration: Rubricated. Initials in red or blue. Large miniature at head of roll containing a bust of Christ wearing a crown of thorns, displaying his stigmata, and surrounded by the "arma Christi" (also known as the Instruments of the Passion). On a blue ground in gold frame. One large decorated initial immediately below miniature. Text accompanied by decorated borders on both sides., and Binding: section of leather sewn to top of scroll. Accompanied by seventeenth-century? fabric case with fabric and metal appliqués.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut, New Haven., and Netherlands
Subject (Name):
Jesus Christ and Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Passion, Dutch, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Indulgences, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Religious life and customs
Manuscript on parchment of 1) Le livre de Lancelot du Lac, part III. 2) La queste del Saint Graal. 3) La mort au Roy Artus
Description:
In French., Script: Written in elegant gothic textura by one scribe, with a few interlinear corrections in later hands (14th and 15th centuries)., The decoration of this lavishly illuminated manuscript consists of seventy-seven large column miniatures, fifty-one smaller miniatures, and thirty-six historiated initials. Miniatures and historiated initials by at least two artists, the scale and quality of whose work distinguish the manuscript from contemporary and most fourteenth-century Arthurian manuscripts., Large miniatures, 12- to 11-lines, one column, framed and usually divided into two registers by thin bands, gold, red and/or blue with white highlights, edged in black, sometimes with arched canopies, often with architectural elements protruding (a few frames composed of thicker bands); figures in black pen against burnished gold (occasionally with painted gold diaperwork), blue or black grounds; chief colors: light blue, dark blue, grey, light brown, white, maroon, with some orange, green and gold. Borders on folios with large miniatures of a variety and inventiveness that defy strict classification: gold, red, and blue bands, edged in black, also running between, below and/or above text columns, terminating in dragons, dragon or human heads, groteques or, most commonly, floral spirals, some with frets, blue and red with white highlights and orange and green dots, against gold, blue and/or maroon cusped grounds, often with pinwheel-like projections. The borders are populated with magnificent grotesques and marginalia in the same style as the miniatures, many of them of a narrative or satirical character; some of these incorporate coats of arms., Small miniatures, 5- to 6-line, 1/2 text column, often with a 2-line initial inserted in upper right corner, otherwise as above, with border decoration on a smaller scale and unattached to miniature. Historiated initials, 5-line (letters without ascenders or descenders) to 13-line, red and/or blue, with geometric motifs in paler shades of red and blue, white, with touches of orange, against gold grounds, edged in black, with long dragon and floral serifs, as above, against cusped gold grounds; figures in same style as miniatures, against gold grounds., Illuminated initials, 3- to 1-line, gold, with globular serifs, edged thickly in black, against irregular red and blue grounds, also edged in black, with white floral filigree or heraldic birds, in white; flowers touched in with orange. On folios without miniatures (except ff. 2v-8v), a thin gold band runs along the left side of each text column, interrupted by initials, with a thin red pen-line on either side; adjacent, to the left, a column of I's each 3-line and blue and red alternately, with small spiral and curlicue flourishes, terminating in large flourishes in red or blue on alternate openings, each with pinwheel-like arms projecting from a central spiral with small petals and flourishes in blue and red; design of the terminal flourishes varies from one gathering to another; some with naturalistic leaves and flowers or fleurs-de-lis; terminals on ff. 1v-2r by the same hand as penwork initials on those folios. Line-fillers of varying design: two pairs of blue and red tapering bands, heraldically arranged and joined at center by red flower; undulating red line with red and/or blue balls under and over each crest and trough; red zigzag with blue infilling and spiral flourishes at terminals; alternating red and blue flowers; red and blue dots, etc., Some folios stained; f. 253 slashed in margin; f. 361 cut right across and glued together., and Binding: 2003. Full alum-tawed goatskin. See conservation treatment report for full description. Former binding stored in separate box: 18th century. Light brown calf blind- and gold-tooled. Sewing holes in inner margins.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Arthurian romances, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
