De casibus vivorum illustrium in French : [manuscript]
Creator
Boccaccio, Giovanni, 1313-1375
Contributor
Laurent, de Premierfait, -1418, translator Firmin-Didot, Ambroise, 1790-1876, former owner Dorman, Rushton M., former owner Hoe, Robert, 1839-1909, former owner Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery. Manuscript. HM 936
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Description
Title from printed catalog. Support: Parchment. Script: Bâtarde. Layout: Originally quires of eight, only ten surviving intact: 2-3 (ff. 3-18), 18 (ff. 103-110), 22-24 (ff. 124-147), 29-31 (ff. 174-197) and 34 (ff. 211-218). Missing 58 leaves, 1 quire after f. 116, and several quires at the end with consequent disruption to the text. Catchwords horizontally in the inner margin beyond the bounding line. Traces of signatures on ff. 127, 150, 157 suggest a system composed of roman numerals for both quires and leaves; the signature on f. 200 indicates a letter and number system. Crosses on ff. 7, 51, 136 and 144 show first leaf after middle of quire. 2 columns of 42 lines ruled in pale red ink, single bounding lines; some pricking visible in outer margins. Decoration: Ninety-three illuminations (ca. 93 x 75 mm.) by more than one artist (compare, for example, ff. 85 and 155), in a rather coarse style with preference for heavy, dull colors, contrasted with a sharp yellow. Other Decoration: Delicate partial borders in gold frames of acanthus leaves, flowers, strawberries and pomegranates to the left of each illumination; 3-line initials, blue or rarely pink, on gold cusped ground; 1-line initials in chapter lists, and paragraph marks, gold on alternating blue or pink ground; initials in the text washed with yellow; ribbon line fillers parted pink and blue; rubrics and, after f. 30v, running headlines in red. Assigned Date: s. XV3/4. Incipit: //D[rubricator's error for "L"]e deluge des eaues que dieu fist sur terre ou temps de noe pour la vengence des pechiez des hommes. Explicit: //Apres doncques que Alboinus roy des lombars//. Laurent de Premierfait's second translation of Boccaccio's De casibus virorum illustrium; modern edition of Book 1 only, Laurent de Premierfait's Des cas des nobles Hommes et Femmes, Book I, translated from Boccaccio, a critical Edition based on Six Manuscripts, by P. M. Gathercole (Chapel Hill 1968). See also C. Bozzolo, Manuscrits des traductions françaises d'oeuvres de Boccace, XVe siècle (Padua 1973) 178-79, listing this manuscript. Input into Digital Scriptorium by: C. W. Dutschke, 7/30/2012. Cataloged from existing description: C. W. Dutschke with the assistance of R. H. Rouse et al., Guide to Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Huntington Library (San Marino, 1989). Bound by Duru, 1854, in brown morocco; marbled endpapers; gilt edges. HM 936. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
Kings and rulers--Poetry--Early works to 1800 Illuminations (Painting) France 15th century. (aat) Decorated initials France 15th century (aat) Translations (rbgenr) Manuscripts (documents) (aat)
Source
Manuscripts, Huntington Digital Library
Provenance
Monogram"S.S." linked by a cord in the border, f. 1. Said to have belonged to a Duke of Orleans (see below, Cat. 1909) but there is no evidence in the manuscript to support this. Belonged to Ambroise Firmin Didot (1790-1876); at that time the manuscript had 234 leaves and began: //merusement regarder ces deux viellars qui e peine povoient parler qui avoient este faiz sans ouvrage de nature . . . (I, 2); his Catalogue illustré (Paris 1884) 6:45-46 n. 39, sold to Tumin. Acquired by Rushton M. Dorman of Chicago; his sale, Leavitt, New York, 5 April 1886 n. 23*. Belonged to Robert Hoe: Cat. (1909), p. 9; his sale, Anderson, New York, 1912, pt. II, n. 2429 to Sessler. Precise source and date of acquisition by Henry E. Huntington unknown.
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