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 in 2 volumes of a rhyme concordance (rimario) to the vernacular poetical works of Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374), arranged in an approximate alphabetical order
Description:
In Italian., Script: copied by one scribe in rapid Gothico-Humanistica Cursiva., Watermark: Anchor within a circle, Briquet 586-589., and Binding: 16th century. Venetian de luxe bindings, brown morocco over pasteboard. The covers are bordered with blind-tooled and gold-tooled fillets; gold-tooled corner pieces and in the center gold-tooled coat of arms with two lilies of the Fugger family. On the front cover of vol. 1 are the gold-tooled vowels "A" and "E", on the front cover of vol. 2 the vowels "I", "O" and "V", referring to the content of both volumes. Gold- and blind-tooled spine with three raised bands. Red and green headbands. Gilt and gauffered edges. Marks of four pairs of ties.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Petrarca, Francesco, 1304-1374.
Subject (Topic):
Concordances, Italian poetry, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on paper (polished) of Scholia on Hesiod, Works; the text breaks off abruptly at the end of the commentary for line 755, where Scribe 2 has finished the final 12 lines begun by Scribe 1.
Description:
In Greek., Watermarks: Briquet Ancre 592 and similar to Briquet Arbalete 744, Tete de boeuf 14867 and Harlfinger Ancre 83., Script: Written in two distinct hands. Scribe 1 was responsible for the commentary and left ample space to supply the text of Hesiod; he did not complete his task. Scribe 2 supplied the first two verses of each Hesiod passage under discussion, wrote the final twelve lines of commentary contained in the codex (ff. 68v-69r), and added the heading and initials in red. All the additions of Scribe 2 are in a darker ink and bolder style of writing; he is the same scribe as that in MS 257, and as Scribe 3 in MS 290 and Scribe 1 in MS 490., Two headpieces in black ink (ff. 1r, 9r); heading and two initials on f. 1r in red., and Binding: 18th-19th centuries. Paper case, "alla rustica". The name of Tzetzes is still legible on front cover. Both the style of binding and the hand on the front cover are the same as those for Beinecke MS 290.
Manuscript on paper of Scholia in Oppiani Librum Primum here attributed to Theodore Magister, preceded by the life of Oppian and perioche of his work; portions of the text of Oppian are quoted as lemmata
Description:
In Greek., Watermarks: similar to Briquet Ancre 558 and to Harlfinger Ancre 78., Script: Written by 3 scribes. Scribe 1 (ff. 1r-35v) writes in an elaborate minuscule with heavy vertical strokes and uses a pen which gives considerable shading. Scribe 2 (ff. 36r-65v) writes a minuscule which slants to the right, and has shading similar to that of Scribe 1. Scribe 3 (ff. 66r-84v) writes in an upright minuscule with little shading., Headpiece, 2-line initial and heading on f. 3r in dark red., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Brown calf, blind-tooled.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Oppian, active 2nd century.
Subject (Topic):
Didactic literature, Greek, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Scholia
Manuscript on paper of a play in five acts, written for an audience of nuns by a Dominican friar. The only surviving manuscript containing this text
Description:
In Italian., Script: the original text copied by a single hand, writing Humanistica Cursiva. The changes and additions are written in Humanistica Cursiva Currens under Gothic influence., Play (Commedia) in five acts, in verse, about S. Catherine of Alexandria, written for an audience of nuns (see the frequent allusions to Christ as “sposo celeste”) by a Dominican friar whose initials are F.N.F. There are many important changes and additions by a slightly later, rapid hand., and Binding: early paper binding.
Manuscript on paper of Titus Maccius Plautus (c. 254-184 B.C.), Stichus, in an Italian adaptation in verse
Description:
In Italian., Script: copied by one hand in Humanistica Cursiva., Written in campo aperto in one narrow column of mostly seven 6-line strophes on the page., No decoration. There are numerous pointing hands with exaggeratedly long forefingers, generally accompanied by the name of a character., and Binding: loose grey paper cover.
Manuscript on parchment and paper of the Alfonsine Tables, a scientific work on astronomy, executed on parchment and decorated, but unfinished, to which paper leaves have been added at a not much later date, and the text completed, probably by a scholar
Description:
In Latin., Watermarks: 1) ladder in a circle with star at top, two varieties, similar to Briquet 5920; 2) eagle displayed within a circle, similar to Briquet 203., Script: Four scribes have written the manuscript: (1) the professional, humanistic hand of the parchment section; (2) the rapid, partly illegible cursive hand of the paper leaves; (3) a late humanistic hand which has supplied "radices" in red and brown inks in the lower margins of ff. 33-38; (4) a hand that filled in the numerals on the whole of f. 63r and a part of f. 36v, distinguishable by his numeral "7"., In the parchment section, headlines and part of the writing in red (the sixth place in each table is outlined in yellow glair, except in the table on f. 57r, where the ninth, fifteenth, and twenty-first places are outlined in blues). Longitudinal spaces between columns of the tables in the parchment section, ff. 38v-42v, 53r, and 61r-70v, have been decorated with arabesque patterns of vines, leaves, and flowers in great variety and usually in differing combinations of glair and blue, but the work has been left unfinished toward the end of the section. No illustration., and Binding: Modern. Blue morocco, gilt, matching slipcase of straight-grained blue morocco, by R. Wallis, original gilt edges.
Manuscript on paper (one leaf) of Three poems. MS 352, f. 88 from a larger volume, may be Benivieni's working copy, since words and verses have been added and deleted throughout; all three columns on both recto and verso have been struck out. The three poems were once thought to be the autograph works of Lorenzo de' Medici
Description:
In Italian., Script: Written in a vigorous notarial script., Leaf is mutilated and has been repaired extensively., and Boxed.
