Add MS 8281

MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTION of relazioni, discourses, letters, sermons, and political, philosophical and religious tracts relating to England, France, Spain, Genoa, Cyprus, the Papacy, and Tuscany; circa 1554-1559. Italian and Latin. Copies, 17th cent. The MS. includes an anonymous relazione of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, entitled 'Ritratti del Regno d'Inghilterra' (ff. 202-224), inc. 'La Regina d'Inghilterra è successivamente hereditaria', another copy of which in Add. 8262 (art. g, ff. 402-410v). It also contains a tract (ff. 87-106v) by Lucian relating to royal courts and their intrigues, and the first book (ff. 157-201v) of the Institutiones divinarum et humanarum litterarum by Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator, in Latin. Also included: - (a) treatise relating to the order of ambassadorial precedence between Spain and France at the papal court, probably compiled soon after the reign of Pope Julius III (1550-1555) and attributed to Giacomo Aloisi, n.d. (ff. 2-49v), of which other copies in Add. 8286 (art. 12, ff. 244-259: attributed to Agostino de Craveli, dated 1564), 8354 (art. 11, ff. 240-273v), 48118 (Yelverton MS. 133; art. 3, ff. 65-76), and 48133 (Yelverton MS. 148; art. 16, ff. 439-452); - (b) correspondence between the King of France and the Republic of Genoa relating to the passage of French troups through Genoese territories, n.d. (ff. 50-52v); - (c) relazione of Cyprus, n.d. (ff. 53-80), of which a slightly different version in Royal MS. 14 A XIII (art. 18, ff. 701-718v) and Eg. 1087 (ff. 233-243; previously pp. 488-508); - (d) letter of King Henry II of France to the German states, 1552 (ff. 81-86v); - (e) Avvertimenti by Francesco Guicciardini (1482-1540), n.d. (ff. 107-156v): another copy in Add. 8262 (art. aa, ff. 103-123v), first edition published in Paris in 1576 as Più Consigli et Avvertimenti in materia di republica e privata; - (f) relazione of the Conclave for the election of Pope Pius IV in 1559 (ff. 225-233), inc. 'Nei primi dì che il Cardinal d'Augusta', another copy of which in Add. 48072 (Yelverton MS. 78; art. 4, ff. 110-118); for references to other accounts of the conclave and their copies see description of Add. 8412, art. 18); - (f) correspondence between Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Siena, 1554 (ff. 234-237v); - (g) treatise relating to episcopal visitations, in Latin, n.d. (ff. 238-294); - (h) excerpts from a treatise on the Roman Curia attributed to Tommaso Campeggi, Bishop of Feltre, in Latin, n.d. (ff. 295-304), inc. 'De Custode Cancellariae / Cum dicitur pro cedula Consistoriali'; for Tommaso Campeggi see DBI, 17 (1974), pp. 472-474; - (i) treatise relating to the passions of the human soul, n.d. (ff. 305-371), inc. 'Poichè desideri ch'io ti riduca in un breve trattato'; - (j) discourse relating to Siena written to Cardinal Carlo Carafa by [Giovanni Della Casa (1503-1556), when papal secretary], in 1555-1556 (ff. 372-384v), of which another copy in Add. 16397, f. 2-14v, published from a MS. belonging then to Jacopo Soranzo (MS. 159) in Opere di Monsignor Giovanni Della Casa... (Naples, 1733), t. iv, [part ii], pp. 35-40 (B.L. copies 12227.d.2. and 12228.g.1); for Monsignor Della Casa see DBI, 36 (1988), pp. 699-719; - (k) sermon by Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, Bishop of Arras, held at the funeral of the Emperor Charles V, 1558, Italian translation (ff. 385-409v). Table of contents (ff. 1-1v), added later. Marked '20' in ink at centre of lower edge. Stamp of the Colonna library 'Libraria Colonna' in red on ff. ii, 1, 409v, iii (verso), and verso of blank before f. 305; for the Colonna library stamp see Bragaglia, vol. iii, T 32: circa 1750. From the library of Cardinal Giuseppe Renato Imperiali, according to a note in Evans sale catalogue at lot 284. Owned by Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford, but lacking his armorial bookplate. '284' and 'Tomo XX / A' in pencil in upper right corner of f. ii. Purchased, together with Add. 8262-8280, from R. H. Evans, 8 Dec. 1830, lot 284 (part).

Paper; ff. 409+iv, plus one unfoliated blank after ff. 1, 52, 201, 224, 233, 294, 371, 384, two after f. 304. Old foliation in ink '1-418' (ff. 2-409, iii-iv), including blanks, writing '340-343' for '330-333'. 268 x 206mm. Horizontal catchwords on each leaf. Several Italian hands: same hand for arts. (b)-(c), (g)-(h), (k), and for the tract (ff. 87-106v) by Lucian, as for Add. 8277, arts. (b) and (e), 8279, arts. (g) and (k), and 8280, arts. (k), (p), (u), (v), and the excerpt from Paris de Grassis (ff. 335-420).