Comoediae

Item Information

Title:
Comoediae
Creator:
Terence
Scribe:
Master of the Ottoboni Livy
Illuminator:
Ricciardo, di Nanni, active 1430-1480
Former owner:
Celotti, Luigi, approximately 1768-approximately 1846
Former owner:
Phillipps, Thomas, Sir, 1792-1872
Former owner:
Ascherson, C. S. (Charles Stephen), 1877-1945
Binder:
Cockerell, Douglas
Auctioneer:
Sotheby's (Firm)
Former owner:
Bernard Quaritch (Firm)
Former owner:
Maggs Bros.
Date:
[1465?–1475?]
Format:
Manuscripts
Books
Genre:
Illuminations
Manuscripts, Latin (Medieval and modern)--Italy
Manuscripts, Medieval--Italy
humanistic scripts
Location:
Boston Public Library
Rare Books Department
Collection (local):
Medieval and Early Renaissance Manuscripts (Collection of Distinction)
Places:
Italy > Tuscany (region) > Firenze (province) > Florence
Extent:
210 leaves : parchment ; 144 x 82 (89 x 42) mm bound to 15 cm
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/70799087m
Terms of Use:
No Copyright - United States icon No Copyright - United States
No known copyright restrictions.
No known restrictions on use.
Place of origin:
[Italy]
Language:
Latin
Table of Contents:
1. fol. 1r: Epitaphium Terentii.
2. fol. 1r-34r: Andria, with argumentum.
3. fol. 34v-71v: Eunuchus, with didascalia, argumenta, and prologue.
4. fol. 71v-107v: Heuton timorumenos, with argumentum and prologue.
5. fol. 107v-142r: Adelphi, with argumentum and prologue.
6. fol. 142r-178v: Phormio, with didascalia, argumenta, and prologue.
7. fol. 178v-209r: Hecyra, with didascalia, argumenta, and prologue.
8. fol. 210: blank.
Notes:
Ms. codex.
Title devised by cataloger.
Origin: Copied in Florence in the late 1460s or early 1470s by a scribe that A.C. de la Mare calls "The Master of the Ottoboni Livy." The decoration in this manuscript is substantially similar to illuminated initials and borders attributed to Ser Ricciardo di Nanni. Ricciardo di Nanni and his workshop contributed to other manuscripts copied by the Ottoboni Livy Master, including the Vatican Library's Vat.lat.1743. A number of similar initials are found in dated manuscripts copied by Andrea de' Medici while incarcerated at the Stinche prison in Florence. Posited date range of the present manuscript reflects these similarities.
Notes (ownership):
Provenance: Belonged to Abbé Luigi Celotti, his sale (Sotheby's, 14 March 1825, lot 284) to Sir Thomas Phillips (Phillips' numbers 977 and 2737 on front flyleaf). Later to Charles Stephen Ascherson (his bookplate at front), whose collection was purchased by Quaritch ca. 1944. Included in Quaritch's 1975 catalog 951 (item 51) to Francis G. Mooney, thereafter by descent. Early prices at front, modern dealer's codes at back.
Notes (acquisition):
Immediate source of acquisition: Purchased from Maggs in August, 2023.
Purchase; Maggs; 20230824; 2023.55.
Notes (object):
Collation: v (i-iii modern parchment, iv-v, original pastedown and flyleaf) + fol. 210 + ii (modern parchment) ; I-XXI¹⁰ ; catchwords in lower-right corner of final versos. Later (18th-century?) black ink foliation in upper-right margins, those numbers used here for reference.
Layout: Single column, 24 lines, bounding and writing lines ruled in drypoint.
Script: Written in a humanist minuscule in brown ink with red rubrics.
Decoration: Illuminated initial with a half border of white vines and gold bezants into the margins, an unfilled emblem in the lower margin. Four-line illuminated initials on grounds of blue, green, and pink, at the beginning of each play.
Binding: Bound in brown calfskin paneled in gilt, signed by Douglas Cockerell and dated 1902.
Notes (bibliography):
Bibliography: de la Mare, Albinia C. "New research on humanistic scribes in Florence." In Miniatura fiorentina del rinascimento 1440-1525: Un primo censimento, edited by A. Garzelli, 550. Florence, 1985.
Notes (language):
In Latin.
Identifier:
06_01_018841
Call #:
RARE BKS MS q Med.295
Barcode:
39999092211943