Cicero — 1441; Italian, Florence

Title

Cicero — 1441; Italian, Florence

Shelfmark

MS. Bywater adds. 1

Place of origin

Italian, Florence

Date

1441

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment

Physical extent

v (two 19th-cent. parchment flyleaves, with a two-leaf letter on paper inserted between them; followed by an original parchment flyleaf) + 141 + ii (19th-century parchment flyleaves).

Hands

Written in a fine humanistic script, attributable to Jacopo da Udine (see under Provenance).

Decoration

Headings in reddish ink.

Each of the three books with a fine 7- or 8-line illuminated white vine-stem initial, the letter in gold, the vine-stems against a green and reddish ground, the whole on a blue field, with foliate extensions into the margins, each with a bird, the first two also with a butterfly: Book I (fol. 1r): inhabited by a putto wielding a spear (Sotheby & Co., 1972, pl. facing p. 19). Book II (fol. 44r): inhabited by a reclining (?) cherub. Book III (fol. 103r): with no figure. The decoration is now attributed to Bartolomeo di Antonio Varnucci (1410 (?) - 1479) (cf. references under MS. Buchanan c. 1) by A.C. de la Mare, who formerly attributed it to Battista di Biagio Sanguini (c. 1392–1451).

Binding

Sewn on five bands, and bound in gilt-tooled blue-green leather over rather thick pasteboards (?), by Charles Lewis between 1821 and 1827 (see under Provenance); a pattern of marks near the gutter of fol. v recto suggests that a previous sewing was on four bands.

Acquisition

Bequeathed to the Bodleian in 1984.

Provenance

Signed and dated by the scribe, identifiable as Jacopo da Udine (on whom see Alexander and de la Mare, 1969, p. xxvii n. 2), Florence, 30 April 1441: 'Iacob scripsit Florentiae... Pridie kl. Maias M.cccc.xli.', followed by a four-line poem (also found in MS. Canon. class. lat. 309; see Walther, 1963–69, no. 32412; Sotheby & Co., 1972, reproduction on p. 19).

Marginal notes in various humanistic hands.

Guido Lolli or Loglio of Reggio, 16th century (on whom see Girolamo Tiraboschi, Biblioteca Modense: o Notizia della Vita e delle Opere degli Scrittori Natii degli Stati del Serenissimo Signor Duca di Modena III (Modena, 1783), 95–100): signed 'Guido Lolgius', fol. v recto.

Giovanni and Giulio Saibante of Verona: this book does not bear the usual marks found in manuscripts from the Canonici collection, yet was sold by Celotti in the Canonici-Saibante sale at Sotheby's, 26 Feb. 1821 and two following days, lot 113; bought by Drury for £9.

Rev. Henry Drury (1778–1841), of Harrow, bound for him by Charles Lewis: his inscription on fol. i recto; sold by Evans, 1827, lot 1202; bought by Longman.

Samuel Butler, Bishop of Lichfield (1774–1839): an inserted letter is signed 'S. Lichfield' (fols. ii-iii).

Sir Henry Halford, Bart. (1766–1844): given c. 1838 by Butler to Halford, his doctor.

Bernard Quaritch?: inscribed with a 19th-century price-code: 'a/a/-' (this would represent £5 5s in Quaritch's 'King Alfred' pricecode).

Rt. Hon. Lord Cottesloe, 'by descent'; sold at Sotheby & Co., 10 July 1972, lot 27.

Miriam Tomkinson (d. 1986), 1973, with her bookplate.