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Harley MS 2771
- Record Id:
- 040-002048602
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002048602
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000761.0x000029
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 2771
- Title:
-
Cicero, Orator; De claris oratoribus
- Scope & Content:
-
This manuscript contains two works by the Roman statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero (b. 106, d. 43 BC): Orator, his last work on rhetoric, written three years before his death, and De claris oratoribus (On famous orators), a history of Roman oratory.
The anonymous scribe of the manuscript was also responsible for Vatican Lat. 1613, Florence, Biblioteca Laurenziana 54, 29, and Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS E. D. Clarke 25.
Contents:
ff. 1r-24v: Cicero, Orator;
ff. 25r-56r: Cicero, De claris oratoribus.
f. 56v is blank.
The manuscript features a later addition:
f. 57r-v: a leaf with notes and calculations in Italian, referring to Livorno and Florence.
Decoration:
2 large white vine initials in gold and colours (ff. 1r, 25r). Doodled faces added in the margin (f. 7r).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002048602", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 2771: Cicero, Orator; De claris oratoribus" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002048602 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 2771 : Cicero, Orator; De claris oratoribus - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[2772]/040-002048602
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- 1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- Languages:
- Italian
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1429
- End Date:
- 1441
- Date Range:
- c. 1430-c. 1440
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Material: Parchment.
Dimensions: 285 x 185 mm (written space: 200 x 120 mm).
Foliation: ff. 57 (+ 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves and 2 parchment flyleaves at the beginning + 1 unfoliated parchment flyleaf after f. 56 + 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the end).
Script: Humanistic.
Binding: Post-1600. 'Harleian' binding of gold-tooled red leather; marbled endpapers.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Central Italy (Florence).
Provenance:
According to unpublished notes by A. C. de la Mare at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, this manuscript was made in Florence c. 1430-1440.
Franciscus and Rubertus de Leonibus, brothers and sons of Franciscus Rubertus, 15th century: inscribed, 'Hic liber ?est mei francisci & ruberti fratres & filii francisci ruberti de leonib[u]s hoc ?aut i[n] mei memo[r]iam feci.' (f. 57v).
Added notes and calculations in Italian, referring to Livorno and Florence (f. 57r-v).
John Gibson (fl. 1720-1726), dealer: probably sold to the Harleys on 9 November 1721 (Diary (1966), p. 121 n. 7; 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.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. 2771.
The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by Cyril Ernest Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), I: 1715-1723, p. 121 n. 7.
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. 162, 222.
Howard M. Nixon, Five centuries of English bookbinding (London: Scolar Press, 1978), p. 138.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)
- Names:
- Gibson, John, book-dealer, fl 1720-1726
Tullius Cicero, Marcus, 106 BC-43 BC,
see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000139322910,
see also http://viaf.org/viaf/78769600 - Places:
- Florence, Italy