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Harley MS 2630

Record Id:

040-002048461

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002048461

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000761.0x000308

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 2630

Title:

Cicero, De amicitia; De senectute; Paradoxica stoicorum; Somnium Scipionis

Scope & Content:

This manuscript contains copies of a number of works by the Roman statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero (b. 106, d. 43 BC): De amicitia (On friendship), De senectute (On old age), Paradoxica stoicorum (Stoic Paradoxes), and the Somnium Scipionis (Dream of Scipio).

Contents:

ff. 1r-26r: Cicero, De amicitia;

ff. 26r-50r: Cicero, De senectute;

ff. 50r-62v: Cicero, Paradoxica stoicorum;

ff. 62v-68v: Cicero, Somnium Scipionis.

Decoration:

4 large white vine initials in gold and colours marking the beginning of each text (ff. 1r (effaced), 26r, 50r, 62v). Numerous coloured initials in red ink. Added musical notation, dating to c. 1500 (f. 35r).

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002048461", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 2630: Cicero, De amicitia; De senectute; Paradoxica stoicorum; Somnium Scipionis" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002048461

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 2630 : Cicero, De amicitia; De senectute; Paradoxica stoicorum; Somnium Scipionis

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[2631]/040-002048461

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:

1450

End Date:

1474

Date Range:

3rd quarter of the 15th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Material: Parchment.

Dimensions: 195 x 130 mm (text space: 150 x 80 mm).

Foliation: ff. 69 (+ 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and at the end + 1 unfoliated parchment leaf after f. 69).

Script: Humanistic.

Binding: Post-1600. 'Harleian' binding of gold-tooled red leather; marbled endpapers.

Custodial History:

Origin: Italy, Central (Florence).

Provenance:

The manuscript was written by the Italian scribe Nicolaus Anastasii Nicolai de Bucellis (de la Mare, 'New Research on Humanistic Scribes' (1985), I, p. 514).

Girolamo da Panzano of Florence, 15th century: given by him to the convent of San Marco, inscription recording the gift, 'Conventui S. Marci de florentia est hic liber quem legavit eidem Hieronymus Panzanus civis flore[n]tinus vir indubitato et doctus et p[ro]bus' (f. 69v).

The Dominican convent of San Marco, Florence: inscription recording the bequest of the manuscript by Panzano (f. 69v, see above), inscribed with its pressmark 'L.i' (ff. 69r, [70]r).

John Gibson (fl. 1720-1726), dealer: sold to Edward Harley on 13 February 1723/4 (Diary (1966), II, p. 273 n. 13; Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 162).

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, inscribed as usual by their librarian, Humfrey Wanley ‘13 die Februarij, A.D. 1723/4’ and 'Oxford B.H.' (f. 1r). 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. 2630.

H. Idris Bell, ‘A Solinus Manuscript from the Library of Coluccio Salutati’, Speculum, 4, 4 (1929, Oct.), 451-461 (p. 453).

The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by C. E. Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), II: 1723-1726, p. 273 n. 13.

Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 154, 162, 265.

Cyril Ernest Wright, 'Manuscripts of Italian Provenance in the Harleian Collection in the British Museum: Their Sources, Associations and Channels of Acquisition', in Cultural Aspects of the Italian Renaissance. Essays in Honour of Paul Oskar Kristeller, ed. by C. H. Clough (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1976), pp. 462-84 (p. 467).

Albinia de la Mare, 'New Research on Humanistic Scribes in Florence', in Miniatura fiorentina del Rinascimento, 1440-1525: un primo censimento, ed. by Annarosa Garzelli, 2 vols, ([Florence]: Giunta regionale toscana, 1985), I, pp. 395-574 (p. 514).

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

Gibson, John, book-dealer, fl 1720-1726
Girolamo da Panzano of Florence, 15th century
Nicolaus Anastasii Nicolai de Bucellis, Italian scribe, 15th century
Tullius Cicero, Marcus, 106 BC-43 BC,
see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000139322910,
see also http://viaf.org/viaf/78769600

Places:

Florence, Italy