Shelfmark
MS 153
Author
Title
Satires [manuscript]
Varying form of title
Title in M. R. James catalogue: Iuvenalis et Persii Satirae
Varying form of title
Title in Ker, MLGB II: Juvenalis; Persius
Publication, distribution, etc.
Florence?, 1400-1500.
Physical description
1 v. : ill. ; 170 x 98 mm.
Language
Written in Latin.
Note
Secundo folio: iratis.
Note
Material: membrane; Gregory's rule (FHHF).
Note
Format: codex.
Note
Written space: 134 x 62 mm.
Note
Number of leaves: iv + 92 + iii.
Note
Collation: 1-9¹⁰ 10².
Note
Quire and leaf signatures and catchwords: there are usually no signatures, although one is inserted for the second quire, next to the catchword. Catchwords written perpendicularly near the gutter.
Note
Page preparation: ruled in dry point; no pricking visible.
Note
Mise-en-page: single columns (25 lines) written in cursive but calligraphic script above the top line. The capital letters at the beginning of each verse are slightly separated from the rest of the text, having their own column traced in hard point. Satire numbers in Arabic numerals at top right corner of written text. Book numbers written in Roman numerals as running headers. Rubrics in capital letters. Juvenal's Satires are foliated in Arabic numerals; Persius' do not include any contemporary foliation.
Note
Decoration: burnished gold initials (2-4 lines) at the beginning of each section (individual satires as well as books), entwined in white vine scroll (bianchi girari) on blue, green and pink background. The bas-de-page on f.1r portrays an angel holding the coat of arms of the Bembo family, surrounded by the same scrollwork used for the initials. Each sentence begins with a capital letter penned in red ink.
Note
Handwriting: humanistic cursive; one scribal hand.
Note
Abbreviation and punctuation: "et" signalled with & ligature; ae diphthong is rendered through an "e" with a cedilla. Puncti; puncti elevati; colons; accents added in red..
Note
Correction: the main scribe corrected some mistakes inter linea or by erasure with knife. Bembo corrected words by adding two dots above words and adding his correction in the margin.
Note
Marginalia, later additions: the volume includes the notes by Bernardo Bembo and at least one other annotator. The last bifolium includes the sketch of a human head and verses in Bembo's hand; a different hand added pen trials and poorly copied Latin verses. Bembo adds a contents list on f.93r. Notes have been erased by knife on f.iii recto.
Formatted contents note
Contents: ff.1r-77v: Juvenal, Satires 1-16 (divided into books); f.78r-v: blank; ff.79r-92r: Persius, Satires; f.92v: blank; f.93r: a list of Juvenal's satires in 16 lines of verse, including folio references; ff.93v-94v: notes.
Citation/references note
N.R. Ker, Medieval manuscripts in British libraries, v. 2 (1977), pp. 763
Citation/references note
M.R. James, A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Eton College (1895), p. 84
Citation/references note
Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae, 1697, 85
Citation/references note
N. Giannetto, Bernardo Bembo: umanista e politico veneziano (Florence, 1985), pp. 309-310
Cite as
Eton College Library, MS 153
Additional physical form available
Reproduction available; Bodleian Library; Eton College Library should be contacted for permission to reproduce; SFW 2534
Provenance
Origin: Italy. Made for and used by Bernardo Bembo, as suggested by the bas-de-page. A.C. de la Mare suggested the volume was written in Florence by a scribe working for Vespasiano da Bisticci (see Ker).
Provenance
Provenance: owned by Bernardo Bembo in the 15th century. 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.6.8.
Binding
18th-century calfskin over pasteboards by John Slatter, c.1715. Covers decorated with blind double fillets to form a border; blind roll to form a panel in the centre of the board with blind tools at its outer corners; gilt roll on board edges. Spine rebacked with four raised bands, decorated with blind tools and roll as well as gilt fillets and titling over red morocco label ("Iuvena & Pers."). Endleaves of modern laid paper and medieval membrane; ff.iii, iv and 93, 94 are medieval pastedowns and flyleaves.
Subject
Subject
Subject
Latin poetry Manuscripts.
Added entry--name
Persius Satires.
Added entry--name
Vespasiano, 1421 - 1498 da Bisticii
Added entry--name
Bembo, Bernardo, 1433 - 1519 former owner.
Added entry--name
Wotton, Henry (), 1568 - 1639 Sir former owner.
Added entry--name
Added entry--place
Italy Florence.
Language code
lat
Identifier
B50119