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Harley MS 2475

Record Id:

040-002048306

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002048306

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000709.0x0003d7

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 2475

Title:

Petrarch, Vita Terentii; Publius Terentius Afer, Comoediae, with prologues and arguments; Sallust, De coniuratione Catilinae and De Bello Jugurthino; Cicero, Orationes; Vegetius, De re militari

Scope & Content:

This manuscript contains a collection of works by Classical authors, including Cicero, Sallust, Vegetius, and the playwright Publius Terentius Afer (b. c. 195/185, d. c. 159 BC), commonly known as Terence.

Contents:

ff. 1r-2r: Petrarch, Vita Terentii (Life of Terence), imperfect at the beginning.

ff. 2r-121v: Terence, Comoediae (Comedies), with prologues and arguments, including:

ff. 2r-21r: Andria.

ff. 21v-43r: Eunuchus.

ff. 43r-63v: Heauton Timorumenos.

ff. 63v-83r: Adelphoe.

ff. 83r-101r: Hecyra.

ff. 101v-121v: Phormio.

ff. 122r-149v: Sallust, De coniuratione Catilinae (On the Catiline Conspiracy).

ff. 150r-198r: Sallust, De bello Jugurthino (On the Jugurthine War).

ff. 198v-217v: Cicero, Orationes.

ff. 218r-265v: Vegetius, De re militari, beginning with a title page.

f. 218v is blank.

Decoration:

11 large initials in colours and gold, some with foliate extensions (ff. 2r, 4r, 45r, 65r, 83r, 86r, 101v, 103v, 122r, 150r, 198v). Puzzle initials in red and blue with penwork decoration (f. 24v, 100v). 1 blue and white initial with red penwork (f. 204r). Small initials in red or blue, some with penwork decoration. Running headers, rubrics, roman numerals, and abbreviations of the protagonists names in red. Paraphs in blue or red.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002048306", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 2475: Petrarch, Vita Terentii; Publius Terentius Afer, Comoediae, with prologues and arguments; Sallust, De coniuratione Catilinae and De…" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002048306

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 2475 : Petrarch, Vita Terentii; Publius Terentius Afer, Comoediae, with prologues and arguments; Sallust, De coniuratione Catilinae and…

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[2476]/040-002048306

Container:

View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1425

End Date:

1449

Date Range:

2nd quarter of the 15th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Material: Paper.

Dimensions: 295 x 210 mm (written space: 195 x 110 mm).

Foliation: ff. 265 (+ 1 unfoliated paper flyleaf at the beginning + 2 at the end).

Framed horizontal catchwords.

Script: Semi-humanistic.

Binding: Post 1600. Brown leather on wooden boards.

Custodial History:

Origin: Germany.

Provenance:

An earlier colophon made in 1297, copied at the end of the text: 'Flavii Vegeti Renati viri illustris liber IIIIus explicit et totum opus per manus actum Parisius a Petro de Passis anno domini MoCC nonagesimo VIIo feria sexta ante festum sancti Io. Baptiste' (f. 265v) (see Mann, Petrarch Manuscripts (1975), p. 270).

Various annotations in 15th-century hands (see Mann, Petrarch Manuscripts (1975), p. 270).

The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts. Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta Cavendish, née Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d. 1785), duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library.

Information About Copies:

Select digital coverage available for this manuscript; see the Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts, https://bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/.

Publications:

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), II (1808), no. 2475.

Nicholas Mann, Petrarch Manuscripts in the British Isles, Censimento dei Codici Petrarcheschi, 6 (Padova: Editrice Antenore, 1975), no. 95.

Charles R. Shrader, 'A Handlist of Extant Manuscripts Containing the De Re Militari of Flavius Vegatius Renatus', Scriptorium: Revue internationale des études relative aux manuscrits, 33 (1979) 280-305 (p. 290).

Richard H. Rouse and Mary A. Rouse, Manuscripts and Their Makers: Commercial Book Producers in Medieval Paris 1200-1500, 2 vols (Turnhout: Harvey Miller, 2000), II, p. 113.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

Petrarca, Francesco, poet, 1304-1374
Sallustius Crispus, Caius, 86BC-c 35BC
Terentius Afer, Publius, 195 BC-159 BC
Tullius Cicero, Marcus, 106 BC-43 BC,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000139322910,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/78769600
Vegetius Renatus, Flavius, c 383-c 450,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000117771731,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/163344563

Places:

Germany