Boccaccio — 1467 (or slightly earlier); Italian, Ferrara

Title

Boccaccio — 1467 (or slightly earlier); Italian, Ferrara

Shelfmark

MS. Holkham misc. 49

Place of origin

Italian, Ferrara

Date

1467 (or slightly earlier)

Language

Italian

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment

Physical extent

i (modern parchment) + 169 + i (modern parchment).

Hands

Fine round Italian bookhand.

Decoration

One miniature, at the bottom of which a coat of arms has been cropped (fol. 5r, lower margin).

With a four-sided border containing the motto and imprese of the patron;.

Nine historiated initials (fols. 20v, 46r, 64v, 80v, 96v, 105r, 118v, 137v, 148r).

Numerous initials in gold and colours.

Lesser initials (one- to three-line) alternately in blue with red penwork, or red with purple penwork.

Binding

Sewn on six cords and bound in wood boards covered with fine purple velvet; the upper cover stamped in gilt with the Coke crest, the spine blank; the joints repaired; in a fitted telescopic leather case also stamped in gilt on the upper cover with the Coke crest, the spine lettered in gilt 'BOCCACCIO | IL DECAMERON | M. S.', and '531' at the bottom.

Provenance

Identifiable as the MS. illuminated for Teofilo Calcagnini (1441–88) of Ferrara, courtier of Borso d'Este, for which Taddeo Crivelli (fl. 1452–76) was paid in 1467.

A three-line inscription at the end of the text has been erased.

The Franciscan monastery of Santo Spirito in Reggio Emilia, with their ex libris inscriptions (17th cent.): 'Di. S. Spirito di Reggio' (fols. 1r, 89r).

Probably acquired by Thomas Coke, Earl of Leicester in Italy between 1714 and 1717; signed by 'Thos. Willm. Coke (1754–1842); formerly Norfolk, Holkham Hall, MS. 531.

Acquired by the Bodleian in 1981