Homer, Iliad (Books I-XII) with prologue of Eustathios and hypotheses, gloss, comments and epimerisms by Porphyry (Books I-IX); Batrachomyomachia with interlinear glosses

Title

Homer, Iliad (Books I-XII) with prologue of Eustathios and hypotheses, gloss, comments and epimerisms by Porphyry (Books I-IX); Batrachomyomachia with interlinear glosses

Shelfmark

MS. Holkham Gr. 83

Date

Mid 14th c. (possibly between 10 April (1346?) and/or after 19 May 1346, see fol. 182r on marginalia above).

Language

Ancient Greek (to 1453)

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Paper. Watermarks: cf. ‘Etendard’ Briquet 5980 (d.1340) ‘cercle’, Briquet 2941 (d. 1357), ‘Demi-Boef’, Briquet 2727 (d. 1370), 2730 (d. 1380), 2733 (d. 1371).

Physical extent

iii + 189 leaves (fol. 181 is an additional leaf added much later (19th c.), fol. 190 has a note pasted on it: Bernardi Canisiani Alberti filii καὶ τῶν φίλων nο 42. + iii fols at the end foliated as 190–192.

Hands

One main scribe. Additional later (possibly of 15th c.) hand on fols 58r-64v.

Decoration

Decorative initials in red ink at the beginning of Rhapsodies and Batrachomyomachia.

Binding

Holkham binding of brown leather, with Coke family ostrich crest in gilt in the centre of the front cover; Date: early nineteenth century. Rebound possibly by John Jones of Liverpool (worked for Holkham 1816–1823). Fol. 60 has been bound upside-down. The spine lettered in gilt: /HOMERI/ ILIAS/ PARS. I./; in pasted black leather: MS. /HOLKHAM/ Gr. 83.

Provenance

Part of Collection of Leo Strozzi in Rome or Florence, according to Montfaucon, Diarium Italicum, p. 248.

Ownership Notes: fol. iir Left upper side in black ink: signature of Thomas. William. Coke; fol. 1r: illegible, crossed out upper-case letters possibly with owner’s name: DAMIO…. fol. 190r: Bernardi Canisiani Alberti filii καὶ τῶν φίλων nο 42. Bernardo Canigiani (1524–1604) was active in Florence. See Dizionario Bibliografico degli Italiani, 18, Rome, 1975, pp. 86–89, http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/bernardo-canigiani_(Dizionario-Biografico) (accessed 26.09.19), http://www.accademicidellacrusca.org/scheda?IDN=1866 (accessed 26.09.19). A similar ex-libris: ’Bernardi Canisiani Alberti filii’ can be found in a MS copy d. 1498 of ed. Lorenzo d’Alopa, Apollonii Argonautica, Milan 1496 from the library of Cardinal Pietro Bembo. M. Danzi, La biblioteca del Cardinal Pietro Bembo, Genève. 2005, p. 152, no. 26. On the edition of Lorenzo d’Alopa see http://incunables.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/record/A-361. (accessed 26.09.19).

Catalogue Nrs: paste down and fol. i(v) in pencil: MS. Holkham Gr. 83, fol. iir: No. 265 (subscr. 265) D2B1; Olim Holkham Hall, Libr. of the Earl of Leicester, 264.