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Harley MS 5204

Record Id:

040-002051048

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002051048

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000859.0x0002d3

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 5204

Title:

Marcus Tullius Cicero, Somnium Scipionis; Macrobius, Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis; with added Latin verses by Petrarch

Scope & Content:

This manuscript contains a copy of the Somnium Scipionis (Dream of Scipio), the sixth book of De re publica by the Roman statesman and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero (b. 106, d. 43 BC). It is followed by a commentary on the text by the Roman author Macrobius.

The volume features marginal and interlinear annotations through, written in a variety of different hands, including that of the Italian poet Francesco Petrarca (b. 1304, d. 1374), who also added a four-line Latin verse at the end of the text.

Contents:

ff. 1r-4v: Marcus Tullius Cicero, Somnium Scipionis, written in Latin, beginning, 'Cum venissem in africam...'

ff. 4v-67v: Macrobius, Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis, written in Latin, beginning, 'Inter platonis et ciceronis libros quos de re publica...'

The manuscript features a number of later additions:

f. 1r: A notarial inscription by Bartholomeus da Forli, added after 1458.

f. 67v: A notarial inscription by a certain 'Franciscus', added after 1458.

f. 68v: An added four-line poem in Latin, written by Francesco Petrarca and signed by him, 'franciscus .p.', the text beginning, 'Somnia narrantem celum stellasque docentem...'

ff. 69r-70v are blank.

Decoration:

Simple initials in red, occasionally with some penwork decoration.

Blank spaces left for diagrams and maps (ff. 41r, 44r, 51r, 53r, 55r).

Manicules.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002051048", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 5204: Marcus Tullius Cicero, Somnium Scipionis; Macrobius, Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis; with added Latin verses by Petrarch" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002051048

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 5204 : Marcus Tullius Cicero, Somnium Scipionis; Macrobius, Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis; with added Latin verses by Petrarch

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[5204]/040-002051048

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:

1150

End Date:

1199

Date Range:

2nd half of the 12th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Material: Parchment.

Dimensions: 190/200 mm x 110/120 mm (written space: 145 x 70 mm).

Foliation: ff. 70 (+ 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves and 2 unfoliated parchment flyleaves at the beginning and 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the end); ff. 69-70 are parchment flyleaves.

Collation: Mounted on modern paper guards.

Script: Protogothic.

Binding: British Museum in-house. Red half-leather binding, with the Harleian arms gold-stamped on the upper and lower covers. Rebound 20 September 1966.

Custodial History:

Origin:

Italy.

Provenance:

Francesco Petrarca (b. 1304, d. 1374), Italian poet and humanist: added a four-line poem, subscribed with 'franciscus .p.' (f. 68v) his annotations through the manuscript.

Sozomeno of Pistoia (b. 1387, d. 1458), studied at the University of Padua in 1407-13, belonged to the Poggio group of humanists at Florence, where he held the chair of Poetry and Rhetoric: annotations in his hand through the manuscript; recorded in a list of his books following his death (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), pp. 368-69; Mann, Petrarch Manuscripts (1975), p. 493).

Two notarial inscriptions, added after 1458 (see Wright, 'Manuscripts of Italian Provenance' (1976), p. 468), one by Bartholomeus da Forli (f. 1r), the other by a certain 'Franciscus' (f. 67v).

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; purchased through the bookseller John Gibson (fl. 1720-26); the manuscript probably arrived at the library in June 1726 (see Wright, 'Manuscripts of Italian Provenance' (1976), p. 468).

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.

Publications:

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), III (1808), no. 5204.

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. 274, 368-69.

Michele Feo, 'Inquietudini filologiche del Petrarca: il luogo della discesa agli inferi', Italia medioevale e umanistica, 17 (1974), p. 147, 156.

Albinia C. de la Mare, The Handwriting of the Italian Humanists (Paris: OUP for Association Internationale de Bibliophilie, 1973), pp. 10, 97 n. 3.

Nicholas Mann, Petrarch Manuscripts in the British Isles (Padua: Editrice Antenore, 1975), p. 493.

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. 468).

B. Munk Olsen, L’Étude des auteurs classiques latins aux XIe et XIIe siècles, 3 vols (Paris: Centre national de la recherche scientifique, 1982-1989), I (1982), p. 216 no. C. 252.

Giancarlo Savino, 'Nomenclatura codicologica nell'inventario della libreria di Sozomeno', La bibliofilia : raccolta di scritti sull'arte antica in libri, stampe, manoscritti, autografi e legature, 86 (1984), pp. 173-78.

Irene Ceccherini, Sozomeno da Pistoia (1387-1458) : scrittura e libri di un umanista (Florence: Leo S. Olschki , 2016), no. 18, pp. 116-119.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

Gibson, John, book-dealer, fl 1720-1726
Petrarca, Francesco, poet, 1304-1374
Theodosius Macrobius, Ambrosius, c 370-c 435,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/000000011624565X,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/39387062
Tullius Cicero, Marcus, 106 BC-43 BC,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000139322910,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/78769600
Zomino [Sozomeno] da Pistoia, humanist and cleric, 1387-1458,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000002525047,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/66823116

Places:

Italy