AVENZOAR, JOHN OF DAMASCUS; S. XIV 1/4

Title

AVENZOAR, JOHN OF DAMASCUS; S. XIV 1/4

Shelfmark

Merton College MS. 229

Place of origin

Italy, Bologna

Date

S. XIV 1/4

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Parchment

Physical extent

333 leaves of parchment prepared in the Italian manner (v + 328) The edges retrimmed, affecting marginalia and running heads, and spattered with red. The lower margins of fols. 223 and 250 excised.

Hands

A single large, proficient Bolognese gothic rotunda bookhand.

Decoration

Bolognese, mutilated passim. Major initials in colours and gold with borders: f. 1 C enclosing the bust of a doctor, on a squarish gold ground, with 2-sided border, the lower limb mutil., perhaps removing heraldry. On f. 93 a similar initial has been excised, leaving only the top and bottom of the 3-sided border. The same on f. 283, leaving the 3-sided border intact. Smaller initials in the same style, without gold, those on fols. 50v, 78v, 87v, and 211v with busts of physicians;

blue initials flourished in red, red initials flourished in blue or violet; red or blue paraphs. In the margins opposite historiated initials is pencilled the instruction ‘pennello’ (‘painting’).

Binding

Standard Merton s. xvii, repaired, rebacked and resewn on four bands; formerly chained from the usual position. Fols. i-ii, 328 are paper binding leaves, the first from the same book as in MS 166. Fols. iii, 327 are modern paper blanks. The outermost parchment leaves were pastedowns in an earlier binding. There was formerly a brass chain-staple near the foot of the front foredge.

Provenance

Made in Bologna.

On f. iv are partly-erased early inscriptions: a long one of 2–3 lines ‘[... xxii ... ] Land’ Petri de colle vallis c[ ... ]’. Further down is ‘Land’ de colle vallis’.

On f. vv ‘Liber Theiser albumeron in practica medicine ex dono domini Ricardi Fitz James nuper Cicestrensis episcopi et custodis istius collegii cuius anime propicietur Deus amen’, in the usual untidy humanistic hand. For Fitzjames, warden 1483–1507, see MS 9.

Inside the front board is a sheet of paper with titles, s. xvii, and ‘P. 2. 12. Art:’, canc. and replaced with ‘N. 3. 10 (CCXXIX)’ in red; the College bookplate. ‘12’ is inked on the foredge.