Boethius, De consolatione philosophiae, with glosses and commentary; Germany (?), c. 1438

Title

Boethius, De consolatione philosophiae, with glosses and commentary; Germany (?), c. 1438

Shelfmark

MS. D'Orville 153

Date

1438

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Paper folded in quarto. The 'original' volume has three watermarks (a) fols. 1-88, letter T(Tau)/St Anthony's cross (cf. Piccard Kreuz I.47-51); (b) fols. 89-124, two-headed heraldic eagle (cf. Briquet 230, Etain, 1429) (c) fols. 125-132, anchor with cross. The inserted sheets apparently have other watermarks, one of which (fol. 26) is quadruped (?dog/fox; perhaps cf. Piccard Vierfüssler VIII.1540, used in 1450)

Physical extent

i + ii (medieval paper) + 132 (107 + 25) + i (medieval paper) + i (fols. 7, 9, 11, 13-14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 40, 49, 51, 60, 63, 65, 69, 72, 74, 77 are inserted leaves of various sizes)

Hands

Current cursive script. The main text probably in one hand, the gloss and commentary perhaps in more than one other hand.

Headings in textura.

Decoration

No colour. Large decorative initials, in plain brown ink, for the first three books (fol. 1r, 29v, 58r); spaces left blank for most other large and small initials.

Binding

Sewn on four bands and bound in pasteboards covered with brown paper, with uncoloured parchment spine and brown leather corners; the spine inscribed at the top ‘Boethius | MS.’ and at the bottom ‘D’O.’

Acquisition

From whom the collection was purchased almost intact in 1804 by the Bodleian Library. Former Bodleian shelfmarks: ‘X. 1. 5. 6’ (printed on paper label on spine).

Provenance

Perhaps from the Orange College of Breda (Collegium Auriacum te Breda), whose books passed, c. 1684, to:

The library of the House of Orange-Nassau: recorded in the 1686 catalogue (The Hague, KB, 78 D 14) and shelflist (of which only an 18th-century copy is known: Merseburg, Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Oranishches Archiv, Rep. 64 R.I No. 15); included in the 1749 auction at The Hague (see A. D. Renting, A. S. Korteweg, et al., The seventeenth-century Orange-Nassau library: the catalogue compiled by Anthonie Smets in 1686, the 1749 auction catalogue, and other contemporary sources (Utrecht, 1993), pp. 510–11 no. 2573); catalogue p. 266 lot 23, bought by:

Pieter de Hondt (1696–1764), printer, publisher, and bookseller of The Hague.

Jacques Philippe d’Orville (1696-1751), classical scholar (on whom see SC, iv, pp. 37–38, and Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek, iv, cols. 1043–46); listed in the catalogue of his library, MS. D'Orville 302, fol. 24r; inherited by his son Jean, thence to the latter’s son, also named Jean; sold to:

J. Cleaver Banks:

Title

Colophon 'Explicit Boecius de Consolacione philosophie Anno que [?] xxxviij', i.e. 38 Hen. vi= 1459-60?

Shelfmark

MS. D'Orville 153

Summary

The text is accompanied by copious notes often written on inserted leaves.

Some grammatical notes are on fol. ii.

Date

written in 1460 (?), in England

Language

Latin

Physical facet

On paper

Physical extent

134 Leaves