Manuscript on paper of Antoninus Pontus (Antonino Ponti from Cosenza, ca. 1600-1650), Rhomitypion. An allegorical treatise in three parts on the past and present state of Rome and Italy, topography, cosmography, geography, etc. Includes a dream vision of heaven and a dialogue between the author and Cato the Censor. Ends with a panegyric in praise of Giovanni Ruffo de' Teodoli, Archbishop of Cosenza (1511-1527), the author's patron. The manuscript is apparently unique and probably an autograph fair copy
Description:
In Latin., Script: Copied by one hand in a slightly uneven upright Humanistica Cursiva Formata. Headings and explicit-incipit formulas in capitals., On f. 2v, painted coat of arms of Giovanni Ruffo de' Teodoli, Archbishop of Cosenza, surmounted by a cross and placed in a floral wreath, above two distychs. At the head of each part a 6-line silver initial (Capitalis), outlined with black ink, on a square red or blue background with silver foliate decoration. A small purple initial in the space for a 4-line initial on f. 4r., At many places the paper is damaged and the reading impaired by the acidity of the ink., and Binding: Original presentation binding: light brown leather over pasteboard. Spine with three raised bands, gauffered and gilt edges. Both covers are decorated with two frames of blind-tooled quadruple fillets surrounding rich gold-tooled frames with in the centre on the front cover the coat of arms of the dedicatee (with six-spoked wheel), on the rear cover a large rosette. Remainders of two pairs of ties.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut, New Haven., and Rome (Italy)
Subject (Name):
Ponti, Antonino.
Subject (Topic):
Allegory, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Laudatory poetry, Latin, Manuscripts, Medieval, Visions, and Description and travel
Manuscript on paper and parchment (trimmed) of 1) Grantz Geantz, a poem explaining the origin of the Giants that occupied England before the arrival of Brutus and the Trojans. 2) A Latin summary of art. 1. 3) Roman de Brut, a chronicle of England from Aeneas to King Edward II (1307-1327). 4) Sequence to the Roman de Brut, dealing with the reign of King Edward III (1327-1377). 5) Unidentified poem in English on the countries and peoples of Asia, Africa and Europe. 6) Account of the relations between Church and State under popes Gregory VII (1073-1085) and Alexander III (1159-1181), and especially of the conflict between King Henry II of England (1154-1189) and Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury
Description:
In Anglo-Norman, English, and Latin., Script: Copied by two hands: Section I is in Gothica Cursiva Antiquior Libraria (Anglicana); Section II, including the explicit formula of art. 3 on f. 118v, is in Gothica Cursiva Libraria (Secretary)., The decoration of Section I consists of 2- or 3-line flourished initials, blue with red penwork. On ff. 1r and 5r (artt. 1 and 3) 5-line flourished initials in the same colours. In Section II art. 4 is decorated with 2-line flourished initials in the same colours but of a different style, with marginal extensions; at the beginning (f. 119r) a 3-line flourished initial in gold with purple penwork; in art. 4 also red headings and red or blue paragraph-marks. Artt. 4-5 are undecorated., and Binding: Twentieth century. Dark blue velvet by C. Lewis. On the spine the 19th-century brown leather title-label has been pasted with the gold-tooled inscription: "LES VEULZ CRONIKES D'ANGLETRE APPELLEZ LE BRUTE - PLUSEURS AUTRES NOUELLES CRONIKES - MS. IN MEMBRANIS". At the bottom of the spine small paper label with printed number 3338. Gilt edges.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut, New Haven., and Great Britain
Subject (Topic):
Anglo-Norman literature, Church history, English literature, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and History
Manuscript on parchment of Roman de la Rose. With Poem on Paris of Troy, added in a later hand (15th/16th century); and Poem including the name of the man for whom the volume was copied, Pierre Louvel
Description:
In French., Script: Written in well-formed batarde by one scribe; art. 1 and some marginal notations in a slightly later hand., Inscriptions in almost every miniature to identify the figures. Sixty-six miniatures, 16- to 12-line, framed in gold, on f. 1r with a cusped arch and a full border of blue and gold acanthus at the corners and midpoints, red and blue flowers, and hair-spray with gold leaves, bounded in red and with a gold bar in inner margin. Other miniatures with 3/4 borders in the same style, some with birds. On f. 1r a 4-line initial, blue with white highlights, filled with red and blue ivy against a gold ground. 3- or 2-line initials, gold, with pink and blue grounds with white filigree. Capital at beginning of each verse stroked in yellow., Borders and miniature on f. 1r rubbed. Black ink hair-spray on many borders smeared., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Rigid vellum case heavily gold-tooled, with a red label. Gilt, gauffered edges. Motto on upper cover: "Nobilis ira." Bound by Bevan.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Guillaume, de Lorris, active 1230. and Jean, de Meun, approximately 1240-approximately 1305.
Subject (Topic):
French literature, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Romances
Manuscript on parchment of Guido de Baysio, Rosarium decretorum, secunda pars. Missing leaves throughout
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written in elegant round gothic bookhand secundum pecias., One fine miniature, f. 1r, 23-line, without frame, bishop enthroned under baldachin instructing the clergy; two trees at sides; two birds above. In lower margin, a roundel with a portrait of a student, in a blue, pink and white frame, surrounded by spiral foliage and large gold dots. At the end of the volume, f. 212v, a roundel with a portrait of an older man, with a thick red and blue frame with blue, green, and gold dots. Thirty initials, 16- to 12-line (ff. 1r, 15v, 36r, 45r, 47v, 52r, 59r, 64r, 68v, 81r, 92v, 96v, 100r, 103v, 123v, 127r, 129r, 131r, 137v, 156v, 163r, 163v, 166r, 166v, 172r, 174r, 190r, 190v, 193r, 194r), most with a single, some with as many as three figures, bishops, priests, monks, students, and women, either reading, instructing or debating; in one case, f. 194r, a priest celebrating mass (De consecratione). The figures set against navy blue grounds with white filigree; the initials shaded pink, orange, red, blue and green against square gold grounds with white filigree, framed in black, blue or green; curling foliate serifs attached to bar stems in inner or central margin, interrupted by initials in margin, blue, light blue, grey, pink, orange, red, and black, extending full length of margin; with large spiral foliate terminals with gold dots and flourishes in brown ink, often incorporating roundels, some with additional figures or birds. Numerous small, 4-line, flourished initials, red with blue flourishes and vice versa, as well as red and blue alternating paragraph marks throughout. Running titles added along upper edge., Written probably in Bologna from a stationer's exemplar secundum pecias., and Binding: Date? Brown leather over wooden boards, possibly early. Blind-tooled with concentric frames of fillets and a rectangular rope tool. Hearts in a central panel. Four fastenings, the catches on the upper board. Heavily restored.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Guido, de Baysio, d. 1313.
Subject (Topic):
Canon law, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Pecia
Manuscript on parchment (uneven quality, severely trimmed) of a Florilegium comprised of a series of meditations and prayers. The text, apparently a unicum, is a cento of biblical, liturgical, and patristic citations, with some additional material spuriously attributed to St. Bernard. The most important sources are the Song of Songs, the other Wisdom books, the Prophets, and, in the Trinitarian section, Augustine's De Trinitate
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written by three scribes. Art. 19 (ff. 189r-190r) written by Scribe 3 in an informal gothic bookhand, no later than ca. 1300. Scribes 1 and 2 collaborated on the rest of the manuscript: arts. 1, 3-5, 6 (ff. 124r-125r), 9-18 written by Scribe 1 in a neat, but somewhat irregular gothic bookhand, arts. 2, 6 (ff. 125v-132r), 7-8 written by Scribe 2 in an undisciplined gothic bookhand., The manuscript is outstanding for the quality and complexity of its program of illustration. In its original state it included at least fifty full-page miniatures, of which forty-six survive, one-hundred-and-sixty smaller miniatures, and forty-one historiated initials. Twenty-three tinted drawings were added on blank and added folios at a later date (between 1300 and 1350). The decoration is the work of at least three artists. The miniatures, initials, and marginal decoration are the work of two hands, one of whom contributed only two full-page miniatures (ff. 61r and 64r) that depend on the style usually associated with the name of Master Honore. The other, predominant hand works in a flatter, more linear style associated with Northeastern France. Full-page miniatures, in art. 1 only, some divided into two or three registers, in blue or orange frames, surrounded by a narrow gold band, with orange lozenges at the corners, each with an ivy spray, in black ink with five gold leaves; predominantly blue or vermilion tesselated or tooled gold grounds; two (ff. 25r and 55r) with fleurs-de-lis in lozenges. On each text page in art. 1 there is a smaller miniature, 9- to 5-line, with a witness who gesticulates towards the full-page miniature on the facing page; each miniature in a blue and/or pink frame with gold squares in the corners. Almost every folio in arts. 2-18 with at least one small miniature 10- to 5-line, framed as above. Arts. 11 and 14 illustrated almost exclusively with historiated initials, 6- to 4-line, blue, pink and/or orange against grounds of the same colors, with short ivy branches extending from the serifs, many with grotesque terminals., Illuminated initials, 2- to 1- line, in art. 1 only, gold against irregular blue or pink grounds, with white filigree, edged in black, some of the 2-line initials with ivy borders, as above. The borders, especially in arts. 2-18, are populated with grotesques and other marginal illustrations, the majority apparently non-narrative and without reference to the adjacent texts and miniatures, in the same style as the miniatures by the predominant hand. Names of Hebrew letters in art. 12 in red., Lower outer corners cut from ff. 167-192. Marginal decoration on many folios severely trimmed. Gold has flaked off considerably from the full-page miniatures on ff. 13r, 15r, 19r; some flaking of gold on ff. 6v, 18v, 25r, 34r, 44r, 51r., and Binding: ca. 1966. Bound in two volumes (I: ff. 1-96; II: ff. 97-192) in native tanned vermilion Nigerian goatskin, by J. Greenfield, without any adhesive touching the bookblock itself. Previously bound in brown leather in a single volume.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Devotional literature, Latin (Medieval and modern)., Exempla, Fathers of the church, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment of 1) Rudimenta grammatices (Grammatica latina secundum Donatum). 2) Disticha Catonis
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written in round gothic bookhand by a single scribe., Historiated initial, f. 1r, 11-line, pink against blue ground with a half-length portrait in profile of the author, dressed in red and green robes and a red hat against parchment ground with brown penwork. Foliage serifs, green, blue and red extending into inner and upper margin to form partial border. In center of lower margin, blank shield for coat of arms, flanked by stylized foliage, blue and red. In outer margin, small patch of green with boy or man sitting under a tree (visible under ultra-violet light). One illuminated initial on f. 11r, 8-line, pink against blue ground filled with stylized foliage, blue, green and red. Plain initials in red. Small initials touched with yellow., The entire manuscript is well worn, affecting the text; f. 1r is badly rubbed and stained., and Binding: Twentieth century, England (?). Quarter bound in brown, blind-tooled calf over wooden boards.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Donatus, Aelius.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Latin language, Grammar, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Stoics
Manuscript on parchment (trimmed) of Bible in irregular order; 3 Ezra and Baruch completely omitted as well as many prologues. The text includes chapter divisions introduced in the revision of Stephen Langton, either within text or in margins. With Index of Hebrew names generally attributed to Stephen Langton
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written in a small gothic textura, ff. 1-210v above top line, ff. 210r-420v below top line, by several scribes., Fine historiated and ornamental initials. Historiated initials for most books and some prologues, 12- to 4-line (without ascenders or descenders), blue, brown, orange, green, pink and gold with leafy and geometric designs, many with long bar and/or dragon ascenders and descenders; foliate vine serifs, some inhabited with animals or grotesques, against gold grounds; framed in thin bands of green and gold., All other books and prologues with ornamental vine-scroll initials; 32- (f. 182v) to 4-line, some incorporating men, animals and grotesques. Initials for chapters, 6- to 2-line, red or blue or divided red and blue with blue and/or red penwork flourishes, some with feather-like designs. Chapter numbers, running titles alternating red and blue letters or numbers. Helical line fillers, in red. Remains of instructions to rubricator., Lower margin of f. 1 cut away; red ink has bled in certain sections of text. Trimmed, with some loss of marginalia., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Gilt edges. Brown, hard-grained goatskin, blind-tooled with a gold-tooled title. Bound by H. Stamper.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Langton, Stephen, d. 1228.
Subject (Topic):
Versions, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on paper (thick, coarse) of Lives of the Saints, preceded by accounts of events in the Bible from both the Old and New Testaments. Folios 51 and 61 interchanged in rebinding
Description:
In Italian., Watermarks: similar in design to Briquet Ciseaux 3708 dated Genoa, 1465., Script: Written by several scribes in unruly mercantesca script, above top line. Script becomes smaller and tighter toward end of codex., Crudely executed title page, f. 1r, consisting of floral and foliage motifs in upper margin, scroll around column in inner margin, and, in outer margin, scroll around column terminating in elongated arm with text on the scroll (much rubbed and stained). In lower margin a coat of arms (damaged; probably: or, two columns gules); the letters B and C on either side in the bases of columns in inner and outer margins. The decoration of title page in bright red and green. Plain initials (some with simple foliage designs), headings, paragraph marks, pointing hands, and hands holding crosses or symbols of passions of martyrs (e. g., gridiron for Laurence), all in bright red, green, and/or black., Folio 1 damaged; no loss of text., and Binding: Nineteenth century, Italy. Rigid vellum case with two red labels on spine: "Trattati di storia sacra" and "Manuscritto 1360".
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Christian hagiography, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Italian literature, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on paper of 1) Juvenal, Satirae I-XVI. 2) Persius, Prologue followed by Satirae I-VI.
Description:
In Latin., Watermarks: similar to Briquet Tete de boeuf 14873., Script: Written in humanistic script by a single scribe., Six illuminated initials in blue or green, 6- to 5-line on gold rectangular grounds (ff. 1r, 20r, 32v, 45v, 59r, 76r); smaller initials, in blue, for the remaining satires., and Binding: Sixteenth century (?). Vellum stays and vellum reinforcement of own end leaves. Resewn on three slit straps bound in wooden boards covered in brown leather, blind-tooled, with two catches on the upper board. Too heavily restored to tell much about the binding.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Juvenal.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Satire, Latin
Manuscript on paper of 1) Juvenal, Satirae I-XVI. 2) Unidentified commentary on the sixteen satires of Juvenal. This extensive commentary, written in the same hand as the text, draws upon some of the earlier scholia as well as works of later scholars. 3) Miscellaneous passages on the nature of tragedy, satire, comedy, plus a short life of Juvenal
Description:
In Latin., Watermarks similar to Briquet Tete de boeuf 14874., Script: Written by a single scribe in a well spaced informal batarde for the main text and in a very small cramped batarde for surrounding notes., Crude illuminated initial, 9-line, on f. 1r; red initials, 3-line, at beginning of remaining satires. First letter of each verse stroked in red (ff. 13r-61r); some lines underlined in red., and Binding: Twentieth century. Cloth boards.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Juvenal.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, Satire, Latin, and Scholia
