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Burney MS 132

Record Id:

040-002237013

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

032-002236305

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000001311.0x0000b4

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Burney MS 132

Title:

Gaius Julius Caesar, Commentaries, with the continuations

Scope & Content:

Gaius Julius Caesar, De Bello Gallico in seven books (ff. 2r-91v), followed by book VIII (ff. 92r-106v) by Aulus Hirtius; De Bello Civili (ff. 106v-178r); followed by continuations attributed in antiquity to Caesar: De Bello Alexandrino (ff. 178r-202r); De Bello Africo (ff. 202r-231r); De Bello Hispaniensi (ff. 231r-245r).

Decoration:

Decorated with a large gold initial with white vine-stem ornament and a butterfly (f. 2r), then gold small initials with rudimentary white vine-stem ornament at the beginnings of books and other sections (ff. 18r, 26v, 33v, 42v, 56v, 66v, 92r, 92v, 105r (x2), 106v, 130v, 145r, 198v, 202r, 231r). The decoration of f. 1r and the border of f. 2r perhaps contemporary with the binding: f. 1r with an elaborate architectural monument, with the Visconti arms at the top (argent, a serpent vert, crowned, swallowing a child gules, surmounted by a coronet); in the centre of the design a tablet inscribed in red capitals ‘C: Ivl. Cæsaris / Commentaria / ex dono’, and at the base a pile of military paraphernalia; f. 2r with an added border incorporating a large dragonfly, and two helmets with Visconti crests. This later decoration is closely paralleled in Burney MS 32, and Phillipps MS 249 (the latter sold at Sotheby’s, 25 Nov. 1969, lot 471, and pl. 19), in both of which the Visconti arms are surmounted by an ecclesiastical hat (with one, two, three, and three tassels to each side).

Two or more lines left blank before each book for headings.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Burney Manuscripts

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002236305
040-002237013

Is part of:

Burney MS : Burney Manuscripts

Burney MS 132 : Gaius Julius Caesar, Commentaries, with the continuations

Hierarchy:

032-002236305[0127]/040-002237013

Container:

View / search within Archive / Collection: Burney MS

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

Paper codex

Digitised Content:

Languages:

Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1425

End Date:

1449

Date Range:

2nd quarter of the 15th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript

Physical Characteristics:

Material: Paper.

Dimensions: 290 x 200 mm (text space 190 x 120 mm).

Foliation: ff. i + 246 (ff. i and 246 are flyleaves, f. 1 is parchment).

Collation: i⁸⁺¹ (ff. 2-10), ii-xxviii⁸ (ff. 11-235), xxix-xxx¹⁰ (ff. 236-245).

Script: Humanistic cursive, written 'above top line'.

Binding: Post-1600. Italian(?) polished red-brown morocco; the covers blind-tooled; the spine gilt; lettered ‘Cæsaris / Commentarii / M. SS.’ in gilt capitals (cf. Burney MS 32); 18th century.

Custodial History:

Origin: Italy, N.? or N. E.?

Provenance:

A member of the Visconti family, second half of the 18th century, perhaps Cardinal Eugenio Visconti (b. 1713, d. 1788) (cf. Pellegrin 1955, p. 365): added family emblems (including a burning branch from which hang two water-buckets, and a child in the mouth of a serpent) in the added decoration of ff. 1r and 2r.

Charles Burney (b. 1757, d. 1817), D.D., classical scholar.

Acquired by the British Museum as part of Burney’s library from his son Charles Parr Burney in 1818.

Administrative Context:

Italy, N.? or N. E.?

Information About Copies:

Select digital coverage available for this manuscript; see the Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts, [http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/record.asp?MSID=1415&CollID=18&NStart=132].

Publications:

Catalogue of Manuscripts in The British Museum, New Series, 1 vol. in 2 parts (London: British Museum, 1834-1840), I, part II: The Burney Manuscripts (1840), pp. 49-50.

Élisabeth Pellegrin, La bibliothèque des Visconti et des Sforza, ducs de Milan, au XVe siècle, Publications de l'Institute de recherche et d'histoire des textes, 5 (Paris: C.N.R.S., 1955), p. 365.

Virginia Brown, The Textual Transmission of Caesar’s Civil War, Mnemosyne Supplement, 23, (Leiden: Brill, 1972), p. 56. [Listed among the codices recentiores].

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

Hirtius, Aulus, c 90-43 BC
Julius Caesar, Gaius, 100-44 BC,
see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000382473815,
see also http://viaf.org/viaf/286265178
Visconti, Family