Herodotus, Histories, Book I and alphabetical list of verbs and their syntax

Title

Herodotus, Histories, Book I and alphabetical list of verbs and their syntax

Shelfmark

MS. Holkham Gr. 90

Date

15th c. (ca 1460–1475).

Language

Ancient Greek (to 1453)

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Paper. Watermark, cf. ‘colonne couronnée’, Briquet 4412 (Siena 1465, Siena 1467–1476, Venice 1476- 1477).

Physical extent

iii + 221 leaves + iii foliated as 222–224.

Hands

It has been proposed that the scribe was an anonymous Cretan, responsible for many other mss. belonged to Pietro da Montagnana. Cf. Gamba, Pietro Da Montagnana: La Vita, Gli Studi, La Biblioteca Di Un Homo Trilinguis, PhD. thesis, 29 January 2016, pp. 247–255.

Decoration

Decorative large head-pieces in red, preceding the two sections of the MS (fols 1r, 162r). Also selective initials (fols 1r, 162r, 172v).

Binding

Holkham binding of red leather, with Coke family ostrich crest in gilt in the centre of the upper cover The counter-plates are also covered in leather, decorated in gold with a two-edged frame and floral elements in the corners. Date: early nineteenth century. Rebound by John Jones of Liverpool (worked for Holkham 1816–1823). The spine lettered in gilt: HERODOTI/ HISTORIAE/ GR.//M.S./ SÆC. XIV./; in pasted black leather: MS. /HOLKHAM/ Gr. 90

Provenance

Ownership Notes: Fol. 1r (right side in the corner, black ink): signature of Thomas William Coke. Latin notes passim, in hand of Pietro Floriani da Montagnana 15, † 1478. http://incunables.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/provenance/record/2498 This MS alongside MSS Holkham Gr. 84, 103 and BL Additional MS 47674 were bequeathed to the Monastery of San Giovanni di Verdara in Padua by Pietro da Montagnana. See on BL Additional MS 47674, T. C. Skeat, 'Manuscripts and Printed Books from the Holkham Hall Library, part II: The Manuscripts', British Museum Quarterly 17 (1952) 25–33 (no. 8), R. W. Hunt, ‘Pietro da Montagnana: a Donor of Books to san Giovanni di Verdara in Padua’, Bodleian Library Record 9 (1973) 17–22 and N. G. Wilson, From Byzantium to Italy. Greek Studies in the Italian Renaissance, London, 2017, p. 130. For a discussion of Montagnana’s annotations on Holkham Gr. 90, see E. Gamba, Pietro Da Montagnana: La Vita, Gli Studi, La Biblioteca Di Un Homo Trilinguis, PhD. thesis, 29 January 2016, PhD. thesis, 29 January 2016, Università degli Studi di Padova, passim and esp. pp. 89, 95, 96, 126, 168, 244, 251, 284.