Gherardo, da Cremona, 1113 or 1114-1187, translator Pierleone, da Spoleto, -1492, former owner Gunsaulus, Frank W. (Frank Wakeley), 1856-1921, former owner
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Description
ff. 1-218v. [Ptolemy]. [Almagest]. Incipit: Bonum scire fuit quod sapientibus non deviantibus visum est. Explicit: Finit dictio undecima almagesti ptolomei pheludiensis. Anno domini millesimo ducentesimo septuagesimo nono A littera dominicali anno cicli solaris undecimo bissextili tercio lunari quarto decemnovenali septimo concurrente quarto epacta 6 scriptus est liber....et abbreviationem arrogantiam et collaudationem. Item iam sequitur et honestum est ut ponamus hic finem libri. Explicit almagesti. Latin. Other creator(s): Gerard of Cremona, translator. Text proceded by prologue ("Quidam princeps nomine albuguafe in libro suo quem scientiarum electionem et verborum nominavit pulchritudinem dixit...") and chapter list. Ptolemy, Syntaxis Mathematica or Almagest, in the translation of Gerard of Cremona, first printed in Venice by Petrus Liechtenstein, 1515. See Aristoteles Latinus 379; F. Carmody, Arabic Astronomical and Astrological Sciences in Translation (Berkeley and Los Angeles 1956) 15; P. Kunitzsch, Der Almagest; Die Syntaxis Mathematica des Claudius Ptolomäus in arabisch-lateinischer überlieferung (Wiesbaden 1974), this manuscript cited pp. 91, 384. Frequent marginalia in a contemporary hand, possibly that of the scribe; occasional fifteenth century marginalia which may be in the hand of Pier Leoni (e.g. ff. 20, 24, 40, 52v). ff. 219-270v; f. 271r-v blank. [Astronomical tables]. Latin. Twenty astronomical tables connected to the appropriate places in the text by tie marks. A version of the 14th table, ff. 241-258, the"tabula stellarum fixarum," printed in C. H. F. Peters and E. B. Knobel, Ptolemy's Catalogue of Stars, A Revision of the Almagest (Washington 1915) 27-50; due to error in Gerard of Cremona's translation (Peters and Knobel, 14), the latitudes of 60 and odd degrees have been rendered as 300 and odd degrees (here, ff. 242, 243r-v); those on f. 242 have been corrected in a near contemporary hand. Title supplied from printed catalog. Support: Parchment. Script: Littera textualis. Layout: 1-17¹² 18¹⁴(through f. 218) 19¹² 20¹²(-11 after f. 240, with no loss of text) 21-22¹² 23⁸(-7, 8). Quires signed in arabic numerals on last verso bottom center and occasionally on the first recto. 34 long lines, ruled in fine lead with wide lower margins. Span folios: ff. 1-271v. Decoration: Opening historiated initial, f. 1, 6-line, depicts the prince Abu 'l-Wafâ' holding an armillary sphere and discoursing with a scholar. Other Decoration: 5- or 4-line initials, after f. 2 set outside the written space, in white-patterned pink or blue on ground of the other color, infilled with colored trilobe leaves or biting animal heads, with cusped bar border inhabited by drolleries (rabbit and hound; lion; bird). Numerous geometrical projections in the margins in red, green, black, and yellow ink. Copied in Southern France in 1279 according to the date on f. 184 (part of the explicit of Book 11). Assigned Date: s. XIII4/4. Input into Digital Scriptorium by: C. W. Dutschke, 7/10/2012. 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, s. XVI (?), in limp parchment, remains of 2 leather fore edge ties; edges stained yellow; title on the spine in a decorative gothic hand, "Almagestum Ptolomaei cum tabulis. Manuscritt."; endpapers renewed. Same binding on HM 1035. HM 65. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
Astronomy--Early works to 1800 Mathematics, Greek Marginalia (Annotations) (aat) Historiated initials France 13th century. (aat) Decorated initials France 13th century. (aat) Manuscripts (documents) (aat)
Source
Manuscripts, Huntington Digital Library
Provenance
Erased inscriptions at the top of ff. ii, 1. Belonged to Pier Leoni (d. 1492), physician to Lorenzo de' Medici; n. 111 in the inventory of his books compiled in 1582 and published by L. Dorez,"Recherches sur la bibliothèque de Pier Leoni, médecin de Laurent de Médicis," Revue des Bibliothèques 7 (1897) 81-106. Identified by J. Ruysschaert,"Nouvelles recherches au sujet de la bibliothèque de Pier Leoni médecin de Laurent le Magnifique," Bulletin de la classe des lettres et des sciences morales et politiques de l' Académie royale de Belgique, ser. 5, 46 (1960) 37-65. Probably belonged to the Jesuit College in Rome, some of whose books passed to the Vatican Library in 1912. At the same time approximately 27 of their manuscripts were sold to the bookdealer W. Voynich, including HM 65. Handwritten bookdealer's notice in French, n. 58, on inside of front cover. Belonged to the Chicago theologian and book collector Rev. Frank W. Gunsaulus (1856-1921); letter addressed to him by Prof. E. J. Goodspeed dated 25 February 1916 in Huntington files.
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