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Harley MS 2634

Record Id:

040-002048465

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002048465

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000761.0x00030c

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 2634

Title:

Titus Maccius Plautus, Comoediae, with prologues and arguments

Scope & Content:

This manuscript contains copies of a number of Latin comedies written by the Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus (b. c. 254, d. 184 BC): Amphitryon, Asinaria (The One with Asses), Captivi (The Captives), Curculio (The Weevil), Casina, Cistellaria (The Casket), Epidicus and Aulularia (The Little Pot).

The final text in the manuscript is a copy of De poetis, a poem enumerating the principal Latin comics in order of merit, written by the Roman literary critic Volcatius Sedigitus (fl. c. 100 BC).

Contents:

ff. 1r-22r: Titus Maccius Plautus, Amphitryon;

ff. 22r-39r: Titus Maccius Plautus, Asinaria;

ff. 39r-57v: Titus Maccius Plautus, Captivi;

ff. 58r-71r: Titus Maccius Plautus, Curculio;

ff. 71r-86r: Titus Maccius Plautus, Casina;

ff. 86r-94v: Titus Maccius Plautus, Cistellaria;

ff. 95r-107r: Titus Maccius Plautus, Epidicus;

ff. 108v-124v: Titus Maccius Plautus, Aulularia;

ff. 125v-126r: Volcatius Sedigitus, De poetis, followed by a list of the Latin comics mentioned in the text.

ff. 107v-108r, 125r, and 126v are ruled but unwritten.

Decoration:

Large white vine initial in colours and gold at the beginning of the 1st comedy (f. 1r). Large initial in red with blue and red pen-flourishing at the beginning of each subsequent comedy (ff. 22r, 39r, 58r, 71r, 86r, 95r, 109r). Smaller initials in blue or red with pen-flourishing in the other colour.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002048465", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 2634: Titus Maccius Plautus, Comoediae, with prologues and arguments" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002048465

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 2634 : Titus Maccius Plautus, Comoediae, with prologues and arguments

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[2635]/040-002048465

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:

1474

Date Range:

2nd quarter of the 15th century-3rd quarter of the 15th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Material: Parchment.

Dimensions: 195 x 130 mm (written space: 130 x 75 mm).

Foliation: ff. 126 (+ 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 1 unfoliated ruled leaf after f. 126 + 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the end).

Script: Semi-humanistic.

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

Custodial History:

Origin: Probably northern Italy.

Provenance:

Added annotations throughout in various 15th-century hands.

Nathaniel Noel (fl. 1681, d. c. 1753), bookseller, employed by Edward Harley for buying books and manuscripts chiefly on the Continent, where his agent was George Suttie: sold to Edward Harley on 18 January 1723/4 (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), pp. 253-54).

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 ‘18 die Januarij, A.D. 1723/4’ (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. 2634.

The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by Cyril Ernest Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), II: 1723-1726, p. 241 n. 4.

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. 253-54.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

Noel, Nathaniel, bookseller, fl 1681, d c 1753
Plautus, Titus Maccius, Roman playwright, c 254-184 BC

Places:

Northern Italy