Add MS 6028

'HISTORIA AUGUSTA': an Italian humanist manuscript, probably from Rome, of the 'Historia Augusta', lives of Roman emperors traditionally assigned to six different authors of the late third to early fourth centuries A.D.; mid 15th cent. Latin. Origin: Italy. The text is incomplete, ending in the life of Probus, ch. xix, 'effronduit misi deinde per omnes additus' (f. 180v): the scribe has added a colophon, with the word 'finis' at the foot of the page. The text was first printed in 1475. For a modern edition see Scriptores Historiae Augustae, ed. E. Hohl, Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana, Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin (1971), 2 vols. For other MSS. of the text see Add. MSS. 12015, 19904, and Harley MSS. 2658, 4121. See also O. Desbordes and J.-P. Callu, 'Le Quattrocento de l'Histoire Auguste', Revue d'Histoire des Textes, xix (1989),

pp. 253-273. Marginal annotations chiefly in red, some Greek, by Ludovico Carbone (d.1485). The ex libris excised on f. 180v is probably that of Carbone. 'E' or 'J', possibly an early library mark, ff. ii, 1: this mark also occurs in Burney 187. 'No. 1301. C.', 17th-18th cent., f. i. Arms with crest of the Sacrati family of Ferrara, foot of f. 1, added after the main decoration of the MS. Purchased in 1810.

Vellum (f. i paper); ff. ii+181. Sec. fol. 'datica Traianus eum prime'. 325 x 215mm. Gatherings of 10. Catchwords regular, ff. 10v-170v. Signatures, some trimmed: small letters a-s and arabic numerals 1-5, generally on top right-hand corners of first five folios of all quires; a second similar series, b-k, begins in quire x in bottom right-hand corners. Single columns. One formal Italian humanist hand. Text finishes at the end of final quire, f. 180v, no catchword. Decorated initial and half-border, f. 1, with roundel bearing arms set in border at foot. Decorated initials at the beginning of each life. Initials in gold, borders and initials bear white vine-stem decoration washed with gold, in back-grounds of red, blue and green. Shelf-title, lower edge.