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Burney MS 231

Record Id:

040-002237112

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

032-002236305

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000001311.0x000117

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Burney MS 231

Title:

Aurelius Victor, De Viris Illustribus; Pliny the Younger, Letters (imperfect)

Scope & Content:

Contents:

ff. 1r-16r: Aurelius Victor, On famous men, attributed to Pliny, (‘Plinii secundi Veronensis de viris illustribus liber incipit feliciter.’)

ff. 17r-86r: Pliny, Letters, imperfect, lacking 2.10.6-2.10-15 (from 'saltem quo magis' to 'nimium est enim'), due to the loss of a leaf after f. 33.

Decoration:

5 large and small white vine initials, in colours and gold (ff. 1r, 17r, 27v, 67r, 75v), the first three with partial borders, the first two incorporating birds and clambering putti. Small initials alternately red or blue. According to the unpublished notes of A. C. de la Mare at the Bodleian Library, the MS is decorated by the illuminator of Bodleian, MS. Auct. F. 1. 12 (see also Pächt and Alexander Illuminated manuscript (1970), no. 268), which was written for Vespasiano da Bisticci in 1459. Spaces left for headings, a few of which are supplied in bright red.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Burney Manuscripts

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002236305
040-002237112

Is part of:

Burney MS : Burney Manuscripts

Burney MS 231 : Aurelius Victor, De Viris Illustribus; Pliny the Younger, Letters (imperfect)

Hierarchy:

032-002236305[0226]/040-002237112

Container:

View / search within Archive / Collection: Burney MS

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

One volume.

Digitised Content:

Languages:

Greek, Ancient
Latin

Scripts:

Greek
Latin

Start Date:

1450

End Date:

1474

Date Range:

3rd quarter of the 15th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript

Physical Characteristics:

Material: Parchment.

Dimensions: 320 x 230 mm (text space 215 x 135 mm), in 34 lines. Ruled in ink.

Foliation: ff. iv + 91 (ff. i-iv and 88-91 are flyleaves). Burney pagination 1-171.

Collation: i-iii¹⁰ (ff. 1-30), iv^10-1 (4th leaf missing; ff. 31-39), v-viii¹⁰ (ff. 40-79), ix^8? (ff. 80-87).

Script: Humanistic, written 'above top line'; Greek supplied expertly. Scribe: Ser Leonardo di Giovanni Tolosani da Colle.

Binding: Post-1600. Burney binding of polished brown leather; the edges speckled green and red; the joints repaired.

Custodial History:

Origin: Central Italy, (perhaps Florence).

Provenance:

Signed by the scribe 'LEO' IO' (f. 86r); identified as Ser Leonardo di Giovanni Tolosani da Colle (b. 1430, d. 1497) (see de la Mare 1985, p. 510) .

Unidentified owner: this manuscript or Burney MS 230 was apparently lot 53 in the anonymous 'Sicily' sale: Sotheby's, 19 April 1817, bought by Burney.

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.

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=1471&CollID=18&NStart=231].

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. 61-2.

Alessandro Palma di Cesnola, Catalogo di manoscritti italiani esistenti nel Museo Britannico di Londra (Turin: Roux, 1890), no. 290.

Illuminated manuscripts in the Bodleian LIbrary, Oxford, ed. by Otto Pächt and J. J. G. Alexander, 3 vols (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1966-1973), II (1970), no. 268.

R.J. Tarrant and M.D. Reeve, 'De viris illustribus' in Texts and Transmission: A Survey of the Latin Classics, ed. by L.D. Reynolds (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983), pp. 151-52.

A. C. de la Mare, 'New Research on Humanistic Scribes in Florence', in Minatura fiorentina del rinascimento, 1440-1525: un primo censimento, ed by A. Garzelli and A. C. de la Mare, Inventari e cataloghi toscani, 18-19, 2 vols ([Florence]: Giunta regionale toscana, 1985), I, pp. 395-421 (p. 510).

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

Colle, Leonardo, of Florence, scribe, 1430-1497
Plinius Caecilius Secundus, Caius, also known as Pliny the Younger, 61-c 113
Victor, Sextus Aurelius, Roman historian and politician, c 320-c 390