Add MS 8595

Collection of 59 Original Ordinances of the Naval Council of Venice under the leadership of naval commander Andrea Pisani; 1716-1718. Italian, Latin and Portuguese. Signed. The ordinances cover 7 June 1716 to 26 Sept. 1718, during the war against the Ottoman Empire which ended with the Peace of Passarowitz between Austria and Turkey on 21 July 1718. Venice maintained its dominion on Corfu, but lost the Peloponnese to the Turks. Inc. (f. 1) '7 Giugno 1716. I. di Corfù / Ridotti d'ordine dell'Illustrissimo et Eccellentissimo Signor Andrea Pisani', expl. (f. 244v) 'perche secondo i tempi più facilmente possano sostenersi ne'i Bordi / ... Daniel Dolfin (last autograph signature)'. Some ordinances are interspersed with related reports signed by Marshal Johann Mathias von Schulenburg (1661-1747), Captain of Corfu (ff. 92-94, 99-100, 210-215, 235), Marco Loredan, Provveditore straordinario of the Venetian Navy (ff. 53-55, 75-76, 183-183v), and other Venetian officers (18 documents in total). The MS. also contains a report (ff. 137-137v) from a French officer de S. Vicente, in Latin, and a report (ff. 138-138v) from the Portuguese Admiral Count of Rio Grande in Portuguese, followed by its Italian translation (ff. 139-139v). A final note gives an account of the contents (f. 245): 'Processi verbali originali delle Sedute della Consulta dell'Armata da Mar in Levante da Giugno 1716 al ottobre 1818 (sic). Sono sedute no: 59 colle sottoscrizioni di pugno de' Membri Veneziani, ed Alleati, analoghe scritture del Conte di Schulenburg et varj altri, il tutto autografo'. For von Schulenburg’s archive and papers in Venice and Hannover see A. Nanetti, Il fondo archivistico Nani nella Biblioteca Nazionale di Grecia ad Atene. Euristica documentaria sulla Morea Veneta (Venice, 1996; Oriens graecolatinus, 3), p. 30, n. 25. The MS. is described by C. Foligno, ‘Codici di materia veneta nelle biblioteche inglesi’, in Nuovo Archivio Veneto, n.s., 6, t. xii (1906), pt. ii, no. cxli, pp. 340-341, and listed in Palma di Cesnola, no. 329, p. 23. Owned by Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford, but lacking his armorial bookplate. '360' in pencil in upper margin of f. 1 and upper left corner of f. 245v. Purchased, together with Add. 8636, 8637, 8638, 8641 and 8642, from R. H. Evans, 8 Dec. 1830, lot 360 (part).

Paper; ff. 248, plus 29 interleaved blanks throughout. Composite volume. Modern pencil foliation 1-245 (followed here), repeating nos. 9 and 71 twice and omitting one leaf after f. 98. 297 x 205mm (with several items of smaller size). Each ordinance numbered at its beginning with an Arabic number in the upper left corner. First three ordinances also labelled on the verso of last leaf: 'consulta prima, consulta 2^a'. One unnumbered ordinance (ff. 225-227 and a blank) inserted within ordinance no. 56 (ff. 223-224v, 228). Guilford binding of quarter vellum with decorated paper covers over pasteboards.