Hard-coded id of currently selected item: . JSON version of its record is available from Blacklight on e.g. ??

Metadata associated with selected item should appear here...

Harley MS 3390

Record Id:

040-002049221

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002049221

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000761.0x000342

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 3390

Title:

Suetonius, De vita Caesarum, translated into Italian by Dante Popoleschi

Scope & Content:

This manuscript contains the only surviving copy of an Italian translation of Suetonius' De vita Caesarum (On the Lives of the Caesars), made by Dante Popoleschi (fl. 2nd decade of the 16th century). The text is supplemented with a glossary, containing definitions of classical terms. The work is dedicated to Francis I (r. 1515-1547), king of France.

Contents:

ff. 1r-3v: Preface and Table of Contents;

ff. 4r-320r: Suetonius, De vita Caesarum, translated into Italian by Dante Popoleschi;

ff. 321r-223v: A glossary of classical terms, beginning with amphitheatrum and ending with Veneta factio.

[ff. 113v and 320v are blank].

Decoration:

Full panel borders in colours and gold with foliate decoration, flowers, candelabras, dolphins, etc, and including the salamander, emblem of Francis I, and the crowned coat of arms of the king of France with the collar of the Order of St Michael; title in gold on a blue framed display panel (ff. 1r, 4r). Headings for each emperor written in gold on a blue display panel (ff. 49r, 114r, 155r, 192r, 221v, 256v, 268r, 275r, 285r, 299r, 304v). Initials in colour on a gold ground with flowers, often with a bird (ff. 1r, 4r, 49r, 114r (with a fly), 155r, 192r, 221v, 256v, 268r, 275r (with a fly), 285v, 299r, 304v). Line fillers in red and gold. A few catchwords written on scrolls (ff. 231v, 233v, 249v, 257v, 267v).

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002049221", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 3390: Suetonius, De vita Caesarum, translated into Italian by Dante Popoleschi" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002049221

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 3390 : Suetonius, De vita Caesarum, translated into Italian by Dante Popoleschi

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[3391]/040-002049221

Container:

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

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

Italian

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1515

End Date:

1547

Date Range:

1st half of the 16th century (between 1515 and 1547)

Era:

Access:

Please request the physical items you need using the online collection item request form.

Digitised items can be viewed online by clicking the thumbnail image or digitised content link.

Readers who have registered or renewed their pass since 21 March 2024 can request physical items prior to visiting the Library by completing
this request form.
Please enter the Reference (shelfmark) above on the request form.

If your Reader Pass was issued before this date, you will need to visit the Library in London or Yorkshire to renew it before you can request items online. All manuscripts and archives must be consulted at the Library in London.

This catalogue record may describe a collection of items which cannot all be requested together. Please use the hierarchy viewer to navigate to individual items. Some items may be in use or restricted for other reasons. If you would like to check the availability, contact our Reference Services team, quoting the Reference (shelfmark) above.

User Conditions:

Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript

Physical Characteristics:

Material: Parchment.

Dimensions: 235 x 165 mm (text space: 160 x 100 mm).

Foliation: ff. 334 (+ 1 unfoliated paper flyleaf at the beginning + 1 unfoliated parchment flyleaf at the end)

Script: Humanistic cursive.

Binding: Post-1600. Brown leather with gold tooling; gilt edges.

Custodial History:

Origin: France.

Provenance:

Dedicated to and certainly made for Francis I (r. 1515-1547), king of France: see dedication, combined with his emblem, monogram and arms (ff. 1r, 4r).

Matthew de Varennes (fl. 18th century), London bookdealer, 21 December 1723: bought by Nathaniel Noel for Robert Harley (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 335).

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 ‘21 die Decembris, A.D. 1723’ (f. [i]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), III (1808), no. 3390.

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. 266 n. 3.

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. 157, 336.

Paul Oskar Kristeller, Iter Italicum: Accedunt Alia Itinera: A Finding List of Uncatalogued or Incompletely Catalogued Humanistic Manuscripts of the Renaissance in Italian and other Libraries, 7 vols (London: Warburg Institute; Leiden: Brill, 1963-1997), IV (1989), p. 169.

Marijke Crab, 'Suetonius in Volgare: an Overlooked Italian Translation by Dante Popoleschi (London, British Library MS Harley 3390)', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 80 (2017), 83-99 (passim).

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

Francis I, King of France, 1494–1547
Matthew de Varennes, London bookdealer, fl. early 18th century
Noel, Nathaniel, bookseller, fl 1681, d c 1753
Popoleschi, Dante, Italian translator, fl. 1510-1520
Suetonius Tranquillus, Caius, c 69-after 122,
see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000121029695,
see also http://viaf.org/viaf/89599270

Places:

France