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Harley MS 4883

Record Id:

040-002050726

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002050726

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000859.0x000191

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 4883

Title:

Aristotle, Politica,and Pseudo-Aristotle, Oeconomica,with prefaces and letters by Leonardo Bruni

Scope & Content:

Contents:

ff. 1r-2r: Leonardo Bruni of Arezzo (Leonardo Aretino), preface to Aristotle, Politica, rubric: 'Leonardi Aretini proemium in libros politicorum', incipit: 'Inter moralis discipline precepta.'

ff. 2r-122v: Aristotle, Politica, in the Latin translation by Leonardo Bruni of Arezzo (Leonardo Aretino), rubric: 'Politicorum Aristotelis liber primus Leonardus Aretinus traduxit', incipit: 'Quoniam videmus omnem civitatem esse.'

ff. 123r-123v: Leonardo Bruni of Arezzo (Leonardo Aretino), dedicatory letter to Cosimo 'il Vecchio' de' Medici preceding Pseudo-Aristotle, Oeconomica, rubric: 'Leonardus Aretinus epistula ad Cosmum medicum civem clarissimum florentinum in transmissione hyconomice', incipit: 'Pretiosa sunt interdum parvi corporis.'

ff. 123v-130v: Pseudo-Aristotle, Oeconomica, in the Latin translation by Leonardo Bruni of Arezzo (Leonardo Aretino), rubric: 'Hyconomica Arestitonelis (sic) de gubernagione (sic) rey familiaris ex greco in latinum traducta per leonardum Aretinum ad Cosmum florentinum liber primus incipit', incipit: 'Res familiaris et res publica.'

ff.131r-132r: Leonardo Bruni of Arezzo (Leonardo Aretino), dedicatory letter to Pope Eugene IV (d. 1447): preface to Aristotle, Politica, rubric: 'Ad sanctissimum ac beatissimum dominum Eugenium papa quartum prefacio Leonardi Aretini in librum politicorum', incipit: '[L]ibros politicorum multis ad me vigilijs.'

ff. 132v-133r: Leonardo Bruni of Arezzo (Leonardo Aretino), letter to the Priori of Siena, rubric: 'Epistula Leonardi Aretini ad dominos Senenses per dono libri politicorum', incipit: '[M]agnifici et potentes domini.'

ff. 133r-133v: Berto Ildobrandini, Chancellor of the Republic of Siena, Letter on behalf of the Priori of Siena to Leonardo Bruni of Arezzo, rubric: 'Dominorum Senensium Responsiva domino Leonardo Aretino per Bertum Yldibrandinis', incipit: 'Spectabilis ac clarissime vir accepimus.'

Decoration:

9 large white vine (bianchi girari) initials in gold and colours, at the beginning of the preface and books in Aristotle's Politica (ff. 1r, 2r, 14r, 32r, 50r, 67r, 88v, 96v, 115r). Coat of arms in the lower margin supported by 2 winged putti and surrounded by white vine decoration (f. 1r). 3 large white vine initials (in a different hand) at the beginning of the preface and books in Pseudo-Aristotle's Oeconomica (ff. 123r, 123v, 127r). Spaces for initials left blank (ff. 131r, 132v). Display script in red.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002050726", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 4883: Aristotle, Politica,and Pseudo-Aristotle, Oeconomica,with prefaces and letters by Leonardo Bruni" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002050726

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 4883 : Aristotle, Politica,and Pseudo-Aristotle, Oeconomica,with prefaces and letters by Leonardo Bruni

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[4882]/040-002050726

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:

1451

End Date:

1452

Date Range:

1451-1452

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 310 x 210 mm (text space: 205 x 120 mm).

Foliation: f. 1* + 133 (+ 7 unfoliated flyleaves: 1 paper flyleaf at the beginning and 1 after f. 1* and 2 unfoliated parchment and 3 paper flyleaves at the end; f. 1* is a modern paper flyleaf).

Script: Humanistic. Written by Lodovico Petroni, except f. 75 which appears to be a singleton, possibly added in the late 15th century to replace a missing folio.

Binding: British Museum/British Library in-house binding. Remains of the previous binding (gold- and blind-tooled dark brown leather) pasted on the inside covers.

Custodial History:

Origin:

Italy (Siena?).

Provenance:

Lodovico Petroni (Ludovicus Petronius) (b. 1409, d. 1478), of Siena, humanist, senator of Rome from 1451, written by him for his own use between 1451 and 1452: his arms (f. 1r; see Wright 1972 and Wright 1976), and colophons 'Libri Aristotelis de re. p. expliciunt quod politicorum opus inscribitur exscripsit lodovicus petronius eques et iure consultus; quod exorsus v^o Nonas Martii quinquagesimo tandem die absoluit. Quo tempore amplissimum gerere magistratum Brevi opus ingens explevit curande rei p. non defuit. Principium Fine m.ccccli.finis principio M.cccclii.' (f. 122v), and 'Finis finiti 3 Julij mcccclii' (f. 130v).

Annotated throughout in a 15th-century hand.

John Gibson (fl. 1720-1726), dealer; sold to the Harleys on 17 June 1721 (Diary 1966).

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 ‘17 Junij 1721' (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.

Administrative Context:

Italy (Siena?).

Information About Copies:

Select digital coverage available for this manuscript, see Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/welcome.htm.

Publications:

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-1812), III (1808), no. 4883.

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. 113 n. 7.

Joseph Soudek, ‘Leonardo Bruni and his Public: A Statistical and Interpretative Study of his Annotated Latin Version of the (Pseudo-) Aristotelian Economics’, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History, 5 (1968), 51-136 (esp. p. 106).

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, 274-75.

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. 464).

Andrew G. Watson, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts c. 700-1600 in The Department of Manuscripts: The British Library, 2 vols (London: British Library, 1979), no. 818.

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. 181.

Censimento dei codici dell’epistolario di Leonardo Bruni, ed. by Lucia Gualdo Rosa, 2 Vols (Rome: Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo, 1993), I, p. 154, pl. 85.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

Aristotle, philosopher, 384 BC-322 BC
Bentinck, Margaret Cavendish, duchess of Portland, née Harley, collector of art and natural history specimens and patron of arts and sciences, 11 Feb 1715-17 Jul 1785,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000115857160,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/2356861
Bruni, Leonardo, Italian humanist, 1370-1444,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000121442279
Gibson, John, book-dealer, fl 1720-1726
Harley, Edward, second earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts, 2 Jun 1689-16 Jun 1741,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000108078249,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/160524259
Harley, Henrietta Cavendish, Countess of Oxford and Mortimer, née Holles, patron of architecture, 4 Feb 1694-9 Dec 1755,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000030125833,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/6045563
Harley, Robert, first Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, 5 Dec 1661-21 May 1724,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000083423906
Petroni, Lodovico, Italian humanist, 1409-1478