Dante — 14th century, third quarter; Italian, North (?), Genoa (?)

Title

Dante — 14th century, third quarter; Italian, North (?), Genoa (?)

Shelfmark

MS. Holkham misc. 48

Place of origin

Italian, North (?), Genoa (?)

Date

14th century, third quarter

Language

Italian

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Parchment of variable quality, the hair-and flesh sides often very different; the lower edges at the start of the book very ragged, and patched with other pieces of parchment before being decorated; the parchment of the Inferno section is generally inferior to that which follows.

Physical extent

iii (paper) + 74 + iii (paper) leaves.

Hands

Written in a rounded Italian gothic script by more than one scribe, below top line, apparently with a change of hand at the start of Purgatorio.

Decoration

Rubrics in red introduce each canto; initial letters of verses stroked in red.

One historiated initial depicting Dante sitting asleep on a hillside at the start of the Inferno (p. 1).

A large 'puzzle' initial in red and blue with red and purple penwork at the start of Purgatorio and Paradiso (pp. 57, 113); three-line initials in red with purple penwork to each canto, one of them in red with fine penwork in brown ink (p. 141).

The lower border of every page with coloured drawings, occasionally using gold, illustrating the text; figures and scenes usually identified by inscriptions in red ink; the final page with an almost uncoloured ink drawing, possibly of Dante presenting his work to a dignitary with a retinue.The miniatures of the three main textual sections appear to have been decorated by different artists.

Binding

Typical Holkham binding of green straight-grained tanned sheepskin over millboards, with the Coke crest as a gold-tooled centrepiece at the centre of the left board (British Armorial Bindings: Coke, Thomas William, 1st Earl of Leicester (1754-1842), stamp 03); the spine gold-tooled 'COMMEDIA | DI | DANTE || MS. | DEL.SEC. | XIV.', and, at the bottom, '51[4]'.

Conserved 2021; spine-folds of quire I repaired, quires I-III and XI-XI resewn, left board reattached.

Provenance

One or more inscriptions are erased at the end of the text, perhaps partly in red ink.

Occasional annotations and corrections to the text in early Italian hands, including whole omitted verses (e.g. at the end of Canto 18: 'Di quella soza ...'; p. 28).

Bookplate of 'THOMAS WILLIAM COKE' (1754–1842) (upper pastedown), and signed 'Thos. Willm. Coke.' (p. ii); inscribed by his friend William Roscoe (1753–1831) 'The designs in this curious M.S. have great merit, when considered with reference to the very early period at which they were produced. [signed] W.R.' (p. iii); inscribed 'Cat. 2.' (p. 153) and '2' (p. 1, top gutter corner) in 19th-century pencil; formerly Norfolk, Holkham Hall, MS. 514, inscribed with this number in pencil (p. iii).