Shelfmark
MS 87
Author
Title
Comedies [manuscript]
Varying form of title
Title in M. R. James catalogue: Plauti comoediae octo
Varying form of title
Title in Ker, MMBL: Plautus
Publication, distribution, etc.
Italy, 1425-1475.
Physical description
1 v. : initials ; 250 x 165 mm.
Language
Written in Latin.
Note
Secundo folio: Propte[re]a pacem.
Note
Material: membrane; Gregory's rule (FHHF).
Note
Format: codex.
Note
Written space: 160 x 105 mm.
Note
Number of leaves: iv + 116 + i.
Note
Collation: 1-11¹⁰ 12⁶.
Note
Quire and leaf signatures and catchwords: medieval Arabic numerals in bottom right corner of each leaf of first quire, and barely visible on quire 11 -- probably trimmed out in the other quires. Quires 11 and 12 instead show letters as leaf signatures on its top right corners. Catchwords.
Note
Page preparation: ruled in ink and dry point. No pricking visible.
Note
Mise-en-page: single columns (28-37 lines) of verses written in a set script. Each line begins with a capitalised letter, all of which fit in one ruled column. Minor initials sit outside (to the left of) the ruled grid for the text. Rubrics are sometimes written in capitals and sometimes they are also written in blue; some begin further to the right than the text lines (as if "indented"). The initials of the plays' characters are written in red and appear in the margin, in a similar way to minor initials, although none have their own ruled column; sometimes they appear mid-line. Running headers in red have mostly been trimmed out. Later plays have a more compact aspect, as the ruling grid hosts a higher number of lines.
Note
Decoration: decorated initials in gold on blue, yellow and green background at the beginning of each play, usually with foliage infills in white (but not bianchi girari) with zoomorphic details. Minor initials in red or blue, which sometimes present pen flourishes. Each catchword has been decorated in ink and often accompanied by sketches of animals or zoomorphic figures. Occasional elongated descenders on last ruled line in quires 9 and 10.
Note
Handwriting: littera antiqua, presenting "m" on its side looking like number 3. The aspect of writing varies across the quires, starting out formally and becoming more rapid in later quires, although not always progressively so. There are also variations in the executions of letters such as "g" and "d". It is possible that multiple scribes worked on this manuscript.
Note
Abbreviation and punctuation: use of & and Tironian nota; ÷ for "esse". Puncti and puncti elevati.
Note
Correction: missing text added in the margins, and occasionally inter linea, by the scribe(s). Mistakes also corrected in the margin, sometimes by readers.
Note
Marginalia, later additions: at least two annotators have commented on this manuscript (see also Giannetto, p. 286). One is Bernardo Bembo, who adds comments and maniculae sporadically and adds notes on the final two leaves of the manuscript, which include some verses on the best classical playwrights taken from Aulus Gellius' Noctae Atticae (Book 15, chapter 24) and a verse from Plautus: "Tu primus sentis, nos tamen praenoscimus" (Asinaria, 61 -- see Giannetto, p. 286). These two final leaves also include Greek and Arabic phrases.
Formatted contents note
Contents: f.1r: Plautus' epitaph; ff.1r-22r: Amphitruo; ff.22v-39v: Asinaria; ff. 39v-58r: Captivi; ff. 58r-70v: Curculio; ff.70v-83r: Casina; ff.83v-90r: Cistellaria; ff.90v-100r: Epidicus; ff.100r-112r; ff.112v-115r: blank; ff.115v-116r: post-medieval notes. The same 8 plays and in the same order as BL, Royal MS 15 A xviii, which also includes the quote from Nottae Atticae here at f.115v.
Citation/references note
N.R. Ker, Medieval manuscripts in British libraries, v. 2 (1977), pp. 700-701
Citation/references note
M.R. James, A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Eton College (1895), p. 30
Citation/references note
Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae, 1697, 106
Citation/references note
C.H. Clough, "The Library of Bernardo and Pietro Bembo", Book Collector 33 (1984), pp. 305-331
Citation/references note
N. Giannetto, Bernardo Bembo: umanista e politico veneziano (Florence, 1985), pp. 286-827
Cite as
Eton College Library, MS 87
Additional physical form available
Reproduction available; Bodleian Library; Eton College Library should be contacted for permission to reproduce; SFW 2534
Provenance
Origin: Italy; possibly northern regions such as Lombardy or Veneto, given the style of writing.
Provenance
Provenance: bought by Bernardo Bembo in Padua in January 1456 (f.iv recto: "Emptus Patauii, dum studerem leg[es], 1456 idib[us] Ianuariis"). A partially erased ex libris is also on f.iv verso: "codex [...] Bernardi Bembi". It was very likely brought to Eton by Sir Henry Wotton, who acquired part of Bembo's library when it was sold in Venice during one of his stays.
Binding
18th-century calfskin over pasteboards by John Slatter, c.1715. Covers decorated with blind double fillers to form a border; blind roll to form a panel in the centre of the board with blind tools at its outer corners; gilt dotted roll on board edges. Spine with seven raised bands, decorated with blind fillets and gilt titling over red label ("Plautus"). Endleaves of modern paper and pre-modern parchment; ff. iii and 116 were the original pastedowns. Repairs done by R.L. Day.
Subject
Subject
Latin drama (Comedy) Manuscripts.
Added entry--name
Bembo, Bernardo, 1433 - 1519 former owner.
Added entry--name
Wotton, Henry (), 1568 - 1639 Sir former owner.
Added entry--name
Added entry--name
Day, R. L. binder.
Added entry--place
Italy.
Language code
lat
Identifier
B50014