De mulieribus claris

Creator:
Boccaccio, Giovanni, 1313-1375
Published/Created:
Northern Italy
[between 1425 and 1450]
Physical Description:
ff. 82 : paper ; 286 x 210 (194 x 114) mm.
Notes:
Unidentified arms, with "Cretulia" and "Thurj" added on either side, and inscription in the lower margin of f. 2v: "Quid spectas Thurum [with 3 helmets] sunt hec insignia. Thuris/ Donarunt Sacre Iuno Minerua Venus/ Cretulia.
Watermarks: Briquet Tete de boeuf 14717 and similar to Piccard Ochsenkopf XII.123.
Script: Text written in a well spaced gothic bookhand with humanistic features by a single scribe, below top line. Art. 1 and rubrics added in similar script by another hand.
Folio 3r, partial border, of poor quality: in lower margin, a patch of green grass with two women seated, one dressed in red, the other in green and white, supporting a shield with unidentified arms (gules, 3 helmets sable [in outline only]), a later addition. From the patch of grass oak branches with leaves and acorns extend into inner and upper margins. In inner margin, a fox chasing a hare. Folio 80r, a medallion framed in red and pink and four small gold flowers, with an unidentified monogram in gold against blue ground. One pen-and-ink initial, 8-line, blue with pale red penwork. Plain initials alternate in red and blue. Headings in red (ff. 1r-7r only). Many initials touched with red. Guide letters for decorator throughout.
Binding: Fifteenth century, Italy. Parchment stays from contemporary document adhered to inner and outer conjugate leaves of quires. Original wound sewing on three tawed skin, slit straps fastened in channels in flush wooden boards. A primary endband, caught up on the spine, is sewn on tawed skin cores. Remains of red secondary embroidery. The spine is square and lined with tawed skin between central supports. Covered in kermes pink, tawed skin with corner tongues, the sides divided into triangles with right angled and diagonal fillets. Three fastenings, the catches on the lower board and stubs of green fabric straps on the upper board which is cut in to accomodate them. Eight star-shaped bosses on the upper board (one wanting) and five on the lower, each board with four bosses on their spine edges. Inscription on upper cover: "de mulieribus claris". Written in ink on fore edge: "LXXXVIII" with a helmet on each side. Label on lower board wanting.
Purchased in 1954 from C. A. Stonehill by Thomas E. Marston.
Abstract:
Manuscript on paper of Boccaccio, De mulieribus claris, with dedication to Andrea Acciaiuoli.
Topics:
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval
Latin literature, Medieval and modern
Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven
Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Language:
Latin
Genre:
Annotations
Decorated initials
Devices (symbols)
Historiated initials
Illuminations
Manuscripts
Marginalia
Rubrics
Format:
Mixed Material
Content Type:
Archives or Manuscripts
Rights:
The use of this image may be subject to the copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) or to site license or other rights management terms and conditions. The person using the image is liable for any infringement.
Access Restrictions:
Public
Call Number:
Marston MS 62
Orbis Record:
9807205
Orbis Barcode:
39002104683884
Yale Collection:
Beinecke Library
Digital Collection:
General Collection, BRBL, Yale University
oid pointer:
11420364
Citation:
Shailor, B. Catalogue of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Marston MS 62.
Boccaccio, De Mulieribus Claris. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Extent of digitization:
Complete work digitized.
OID:
2021109
PID:
digcoll:3414248