Add MS 8598

Andrea de' Gatari: Chronicle of Padua and the house of Carrara from 1318 to 1425; 1560. Italian. The chronicle was begun by Andrea's father, Galeazzo, who covered the years 1318-1389. It was continued to 1407 by another son of Galeazzo, Bartolomeo, and finally concluded with the death of Marsilio da Carrara in 1425 and embellished by Andrea de' Gatari, who completed his text in 1454. The present MS. begins with the original text by Galeazzo (ff. 1-293), followed by the repetition of his last chapters in the version revised by Andrea (ff. 293-303v); ff. 303v-518v contain Andrea's chronicle. Inc. (f. 17) 'Era in la nobil Citta di Padua', expl. (f. 518v) 'per misera et rea sorte ebbe fine'. The text is preceded by an alphabetical index (ff. 2-16v). The MS. is described by C. Foligno, ‘Codici di materia veneta nelle biblioteche inglesi’, in Nuovo Archivio Veneto, n.s., 6, xi (1906), pt. i, no. liv, pp. 182-183. The chronicle, of which Add. 15112 is a slightly different version and Add. 8583 a compendium, has been published as Chronicon Patavinum Italica Lingua Conscriptum by L. A. Muratori (ed.) in Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, xvii, 1730, coll. 1-944 (with the original text by Galeazzo flanked by the revised version by Andrea on coll. 1-754). Two decorated frontispieces (ff. 1 and 17) and eight coloured full achievements of arms of the da Carrara and della Scala families (ff. 19v, 21, 29, 30v, 33, 36, 38v, 40), rubricated headings marked by blue ink paragraph signs, one- to two-line capital initials in red ink, names and other notable words in red ink within the text. Copied by Aliduse Buzzacarini between 20 July and 4 November 1560 (title and colophon, ff. 1 and 518v). Later annotations on final leaves highlighting mention within the text of Piero da Pernumia and the da Vigonza and Camposanpiero families (ff. 519, 520v, iii); pen-trials mentioning the names of Antonio Corner on f. 521v. 18^th-century note of five further numbered MSS. of the chronicle on f. ii. Armorial bookplate of 5th Earl of Guilford, with shelfmark L/17/D (f. i). '321' in pencil at the left of Guilford's shelfmark. Purchased, together with Add. 8583, 8599, 8600 and 8601, from R. H. Evans, 8 Dec. 1830, lot 321 (part).

Paper; ff. iii+521. Contemporary Arabic foliation in ink, 1-510 (beg. f. 17) in upper right corner, nos 81-88 omitted after f. 80 (text complete). 209 x circa 152mm. Gatherings mostly of eight leaves with horizontal alphabetic signatures in lower right corner of the first leaves of each gathering and horizontal catchwords in lower right corner of every page. 16^th-century gilt-tooled leather covers from the original binding pasted onto the inner face of the British Museum binding.