Shelfmark
MS 128
Author
Title
On the art of building [manuscript]
Varying form of title
Title in M. R. James catalogue: Leonis Baptistae Alberti De re aedificatoria libri X
Varying form of title
Title in Ker, MMBL: L. B. Albertus, De re aedificatoria
Varying form of title
De re aedificatoria
Publication, distribution, etc.
Florence?, 1450-1500.
Physical description
1 v. : initials ; 330 x 214-6 mm.
Language
Written in Latin.
Note
Secundo folio: completis convallibus.
Note
Material: membrane endleaves and ff.228, 239 ; the rest is Italian paper (5 vertical chainlines). Folios iii-v and 1-227 present a watermark of a hat very closely resembling Briquet, Les Filigranes, nr. 3387, which was circulating between 1464-1475. Folios 229-238 present a watermark of scissors very closely resembling Briquet, Les Filigranes, nr. 3668, which was circulating between 1454-1462.
Note
Format: codex.
Note
Written space: ff.iii-v, 1-227 are c.210 x 115 mm; ff.229-235 are 243 x 135 mm.
Note
Number of leaves: ii + 242 + i.
Note
Collation: 1-23¹⁰ 24¹². Quires are sometimes supported by blank membrane guards.
Note
Quire and leaf signatures and catchwords: quire numbers noted in Arabic numerals at the bottom centre of first folio recto. Catchwords written in the bottom right corner of last folio verso perpendicularly to the main text.
Note
Page preparation: ruled in dry point; no pricking visible. Folios 236-238 are blank but have been ruled.
Note
Mise-en-page: single columns written in a cursive script above the first ruled line. Folios iii-v, 1-227 present 30 lines with the exception of f.70v which has 40; folios 229-238 present 41 lines. Book numbers as running headers. Rubrics at the beginning of the proem and main text only. Most books begin or end with a capitalised incipit/explicit. Paragraph signs. Signposts at folios 1-46 (books 1 to 3).
Note
Decoration: burnished gold initials (6-11 lines) at the beginning of each book, entwined in white vine scroll (bianchi girari) on blue, green and pink background.
Note
Handwriting: humanistic cursive; three scribal hands. Scribe A completed folios iii-v, 1-227 and scribe B folios 229-235. Bernardo Bembo copied folio 70v.
Note
Abbreviation: sparse. Diphthong æ indicated as e with cedilla.
Note
Correction: incorrect individual words are underlined with a dotted line and have an interlinear correction. Missing text inserted in the margin or inter linea.
Note
Marginalia, later additions: Bernardo Bembo annotated the manuscript throughout, adding corrections, signposts, notes and maniculae in black, yellow or purple ink. His list of contents with folio reference is at f.i verso.
Formatted contents note
Contents: ff. iii recto-v verso: proem to De re aedificatoria; ff.1-221v: De re aedificatoria; ff.222-228v: blank; ff.229r-235r: fragment from Book 9 of De re aedificatoria (begins imperfectly: "primus cuius radix unitas..." and ends with "...his studiis litterati"); ff.235v-239v: blank.
Citation/references note
N.R. Ker, Medieval manuscripts in British Libraries, v. 2 (1977), p. 748
Citation/references note
M.R. James, A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Eton College (1895), p. 58
Citation/references note
Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae, 1697, 4
Citation/references note
C.-M. Briquet, Les filigranes: dictionnaire historique des marques du papier dès leur apparition vers 1282 jusqu'en 1600 (Leipzig, 1923), vol. 1, p. 224
Citation/references note
C.-M. Briquet, Les filigranes: dictionnaire historique des marques du papier dès leur apparition vers 1282 jusqu'en 1600 (Leipzig, 1923), vol. 2, p. 236
Citation/references note
C. Grayson, "Un codice del De re aedificatoria posseduto da Bernardo Bembo" in Studi su Leon Battista Alberti by C. Grayson, ed. P. Claut (Florence, 1998), pp. 119-127
Citation/references note
N. Giannetto, Bernardo Bembo: umanista e politico veneziano (Florence, 1985), pp. 328-329
Cite as
Eton College Library, MS 128
Additional physical form available
Reproduction available; Bodleian Library; Eton College Library should be contacted for permission to reproduce; SN 0957.01
Provenance
Origin: Italy. Cecil Grayson suggests that Bembo commissioned it in Florence, as the fragment at folios 229-235 comes from a copy that Alberti had personally corrected (cited in Giannetto, p. 329).
Provenance
Provenance: acquired by Bernardo Bembo (1433-1519), whose arms appear at the bottom of f.iii recto. 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. Former ECL shelfmark: Bl.4.1.
Binding
?16th-century red calfskin over wooden board. Covers decorated with blind triple fillets to form concentric borders; blind roll to form additional inner borders; centrepiece with rope pattern; evidence of former clasps on all four margins; remaining damage on lower cover suggests these were shell-shaped. Spine with four raised bands, decorated with blind transversal fillets and gilt titling on orange label ("Albertus de re aedificat."). Textblock even; fore-edge shows ink inscription in capitals: "•Leo:Bapt•Albertvs• architectvs" with two flower decorations on each side; it indicates the book was stored or intended to be stored on its front. Endleaves of pre-modern membrane; upper pastedown has detached, exposing the inner upper wood board.
Subject
Alberti, Leon Battista, 1404 - 1472 De re aedificatoria.
Subject
Architecture Manuscripts.
Subject
Humanism in architecture Manuscripts.
Added entry--name
Bembo, Bernardo, 1433 - 1519 former owner, annotator.
Added entry--name
Wotton, Henry (), 1568 - 1639 Sir former owner.
Added entry--place
Italy Florence.
Language code
lat
Identifier
B50085