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Harley MS 2727
- Record Id:
- 040-002048558
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002048558
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000761.0x0001e3
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 2727
- Title:
-
Quintus Curtius Rufus, Historia Alexandri Magni
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
ff. 1r-182r: Quintus Curtius Rufus, Historia Alexandri Magni (History of Alexander the Great).
[f. 182v is blank].
Decoration:
1 historiated white vine initial with the head of a king (Alexander), with the white vine forming a partial border. The white vine border features 2 butterflies, 1 bird, and winged putti supporting a wreath where possibly some armorial motif once featured but has been erased (f. 1r). 6 large initials in gold on a coloured panel at the beginning of each book (ff. 20r, 54r, 96v, 120v, 147v, 167v).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002048558", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 2727: Quintus Curtius Rufus, Historia Alexandri Magni" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002048558 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 2727 : Quintus Curtius Rufus, Historia Alexandri Magni - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[2728]/040-002048558
- 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:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Material: Parchment.
Dimensions: 240 x 175 mm (text space: 155 x 100 mm).
Foliation: ff. 1* + 182 (+ 1 unfoliated paper flyleaf at the beginning + 1 unfoliated parchment flyleaf after f. 1* + 2 unfoliated parchment flyleaves and 1 unfoliated paper flyleaf at the end); f. 1* is a paper flyleaf glued to the recto of a parchment flyleaf.
Script: Humanistic.
Binding: Post-1600. Armorial binding, polished brown leather with gold-stamped arms of Charles Nicolas Le Clerc de Lesseville. Speckled edges.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Italy, Central (Florence).
Provenance:
The manuscript has been attributed to 'MB' or 'M. D. B.', probably identifiable as Martinus Berardi de Balneo S. Marie (see de la Mare, 'New Research on Humanistic Scribes' (1985), I, p. 512).
Charles Nicolas Le Clerc de Lesseville (b. 1679, d. 1749), seigneur de Saint Leu: his armorial binding.
Alexandre Bouteroue, 1696: inscribed, 'Alexander Bouteroue' followed by a crossed-out date with the year 1696 (f. 1*v).
Paul Vaillant (b. 1672, d. 1739), London bookseller: sold to Edward Harley on 11th April 1720 (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 335 and Diary (1966), p. 37 n. 5).
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 ‘11 Aprilis 1720' (f. 1*r). 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. 2727.
The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by C. E. Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), I: 1715-1723, p. 37 n. 5.
André Boutemy, 'Un manuscrit rémois peu connu du British Museum: les Evangiles d'Eller (Ms. Harley 2826)', Scriptorium, 23 (1969), 1-12 (p. 2).
C. E. Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 78, 217, 335.
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. 512).
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)
- Names:
- Curtius Rufus, Quintus, Roman historian, Late 1st century
Le Clerc de Lesseville, Charles-Nicolas, Seigneur de Saint Leu, 1679-1749
Vaillant, Paul, bookseller, of London; nephew of Isaac Vaillant, 1672-1739 - Places:
- Florence, Italy