Manuscript on parchment of Diogenes Laertius, Vitae et sententiae philosophorum, translated into Latin by Ambrogio Traversari and preceded by his dedicatory letter to Cosimo de' Medici
Description:
In Latin., Script: Main text written in round humanistic bookhand by a single scribe., The decoration consists of a 3/4 border, f. 1r, of intricate white vine-stem ornament curling around thin gold bars (doubled in inner and lower margins) on a blue, green and pale pink ground dotted with white, yellow and blue, and gold balls. Incorporated into the lower border are a medallion (blank) framed by a laurel wreath and two narrow gold bands, a stag, and a putto with multi-colored wings in blue, green and dark red. In the inner margin are two birds in brown, orange and white. Ten illuminated initials, 9- to 4-line, gold on blue, green and pale pink background with white vine-stem ornament. Numerous smaller initials, 3- to 2-line, gold on blue and pink or green and pink grounds with white and gold filigree. Headings in black majuscules. Running headlines, in red, on ff. 1-4 only., Some worming at beginning of text., and Binding: Fifteenth century, Italy. A hybrid Italo-Greek binding. Sewn or resewn (the sewing is too tight to determine with certainty) on five tawed skin, slit straps. Wooden boards which are not flush at head and tail are grooved on the edges. Beaded Western endbands added. Covered in dark brown calf, blind-tooled with a triple cross made up of gilt annular dots and rope interlace in a central panel within concentric frames alternately made up of a beaded zigzag ribbon and feathered rinceau. Similar tools are used on Marston MSS 39 and 68. Spine: bands outlined and panels diapered with triple fillets. Traces of four braid-and-pin fastenings, the pins in the edges of the lower board instead of the upper board as is usual in Greek bindings. "Diogenes ***" is added on the fore edge; "diogenes laergi" is written in batarde on a label under horn at the head of the upper board, possibly added in northern Europe.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Diogenes Laertius. and Medici, Cosimo de', 1389-1464.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, Philosophy, Ancient, and Literature, Medieval
Manuscript leaf, on parchment, mostly complete, containing text from this life of Saint Severinus in eleventh-century script on one side. The verso is a palimpsest, containing an index of canon law in a fifteenth-century humanistic cursive script
Description:
In Latin., Leaf was used in a binding., Layout: double columns of 32 lines., and Script: Carolingian script.
Manuscript on paper of Gasparinus Barzizius (Gasparino Barzizza, 1360-1431), Vocabularium breve
Description:
In Latin., Beinecke MS 897 and MS 898 are parts of the same manuscript., Script: the original text is copied by one hand, writing a small Italian Gothica Hybrida Libraria. The additions are in more rapid executions of the same script; the headings in a more calligraphic form, which may comprise Textualis elements., Watermark: a Trefoil. Parchment stays at the outer and at the inner sides of the quires, made from scraps of various manuscripts. Foliation in ink 17th century (?)., Red headings. Red stroking of majuscules and red paragraph marks on f. 1r only. The text opens with a 5-line red plain initial on f. 1r., and Binding: circa 2000. White limp parchment. Two pairs of white leather ties.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Barzizza, Gasparino, ca. 1360-1431.
Subject (Topic):
Latin language, Glossaries, vocabularies, etc, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on paper of Henricus de Ratisbona, Vocabularius Dictus Lucianus
Description:
In Latin., Script: copied by one scribe in small Gothica Cursiva Currens; the opening lines in low quality Northern Gothica Textualis Formata., Stroking of majuscules, underlining and plain initials in red; this decoration stops after f. 34v (quire III), although space had been provided for the initials. Very large flourished initials or litterae duplices with elaborate penwork in red and green on multiple folios., and Binding: contemporary German binding: yellowish parchment over heavy wooden boards, sewn on four double cords. The upper of the two leather closing straps is preserved, attached to the rear board and closing over a pin in the front board; the lower one is replaced with a “wrap-around” leather strap. On each cover 5 brass bosses. The paper pastedowns are blank leaves with ink frame-ruling for two columns. Numerous white leather tabs. In the upper compartment of the spine a brownish parchment label with the handwritten inscription s. XIX (?) “Vocabularius / MS 1415”; it replaces a similar but earlier label with the same inscription, in the second compartment.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Henricus de Ratisbona.
Subject (Topic):
Latin language, Glossaries, vocabularies, etc, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on paper. The compiler of this unidentified world chronicle cites as sources Sallust, Suetonius, Josephus, Orosius, Macrobius, Eusebius, Origen, Eutropius, Sigebertus, Hugh of Fleury, and many others. The chronicle concludes at the end of the twelfth century; the date of composition is given in the final section as 1183 in the reign of Frederick Barbarossa (1155-90). The text of the manuscript is continuous, with no book and few chapter notations
Description:
Written in the middle of the 15th century, perhaps ca. 1456 when the codex was given to John Capgrave by Jacobus de Oppenheim. Capgrave was elected in August of 1455 to another 2-year term as head of the English Augustinian Province. In 1457 he resumed his literary interests, including work on a universal chronicle from the beginning of the world until the year 1417; this endeavor resulted in the Chronicle of England produced ca. 1462., In Latin., Script: Written by three scribes. Scribe 1) ff. 1r-105v, 60 lines of text written in a small and even, slightly rounded gothic bookhand. Scribe 2) ff. 105v-110v (end of quire XI), 112r-114r, 40 lines of text in a small notarial hand with some shading of descenders. Scribe 3) ff. 111r-v, 114r-405r, 55-58 lines of text in a dark gothic script characterized by fine hair-lines and curved flourishes over the letter i., Decoration changes according to scribe. Scribe 1: Guide-letters for initials never supplied. Rubrics (in upright gothic), paragraph marks and initial strokes in red. Scribe 2: Rubrics (ff. 105v-110v only) in same hand as preceding section; rubrics for ff. 112r-114r as for Scribe 3. Paragraph marks and initial strokes in red. Guide-letters for initials never supplied. Scribe 3: Decorative initials (signalled by guide-letters), in red, with protruberances and hair-lines. Notes to rubricator in inner and outer margins. Rubrics (beginning f. 111r) in same hand as text; paragraph marks, often exaggerated, in red., and Binding: Fifteenth century (Italian?). Sewn on four tawed slit straps laced into wooden boards. Covered in brown goatskin, blind-tooled with concentric frames of alternating fillets and rope interlace, the central panel filled with interlace. Four fastenings, the catches on the lower board, the straps, now wanting, attached with seven star-headed nails. Parchment strips from unidentified manuscripts reinforce center of each gathering. Remains of a paper or vellum label with lettering in ink near head of lower board and trace of a chain base at the tail. Heavily restored.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Latin literature, Medieval and modern, Manuscripts, Medieval, and World history
Probably one of two hundred plates issued in bound volumes entitled: Liber Veritatis di Claudio Gellee Lorenese. Rome: Francesco Bourlié, 1815., Title supplied by cataloger., Publication information based on that of the bound volumes., Plate numbered "38" in lower right corner., and Watermark: P.M.
Graphite drawing of Diana rising from her bed, surrounded by her attendants
Description:
Title devised by curator., On mount, in pencil in an unknown hand: "From the Chaloner Smith Collection. Autograph at back. C. Maratti, engraved.", Inscribed in lower right corner of image: "Carlo Maratti.", On verso of drawing, written in pencil in an unknown hand: "Carlo Maratti--Horace Walpole's Collection 1822.", In another unknown hand on verso of drawing: "C. Maratti.", Watermark: IVilledary., Formerly housed as part of the SH Contents collection., Possibly one of the drawings described by A.T. Hazen in his Catalogue of Horace Walpole's library, no. 3567-3569., and Not in Manuscript Catalogue of 1763.
