Shelfmark
MS 172
Author
Title
J. de Dondis, Opus planetarii. manuscript
Varying form of title
Title in M. R. James catalogue: Ioannes de Dondis physicus Paduanus de conficiendis horologus omnium planetarum
Publication, distribution, etc.
Northern Italy, between ca. 1425 and ca. 1475.
Physical description
1 volume (iii, 144, ii leaves) : paper, illustrated ; 35 x 24 cm.
Note
Manuscript on paper describing the construction and maintenance of the astrarium or planetary clock of Giovanni Dondi, built between 1365 and 1381 and placed in the library of the castle of Pavia by Gian Galeazzo Visconti.
Note
One of 12 traced surviving manuscripts; a closely similar copy is Bodleian MS Laud misc. 620. See H. A. Lloyd, Giovanni de Dondi's horological masterpiece, 1364 (Limpsfield, 1955); E. Poulle, Giovanni Dondi dell'Orologio, Tractatus astrarii (Geneva: Droz, 2003); Guido Dresti and Rosario Mosello, 'A comparative analysis of twelve manuscripts of Giovanni Dondi's astrarium', Antiquarian Horology, vol. 41, no. 4 (December 2020), pp. 473-504.
Note
According to E. Poulle, the oldest extant copy, probably in Dondi's hand and bearing signs of his second thoughts and corrections, is Padua MS D39; the Eton and Bodleian MSS belong to Poulle's class C, copied from MS Venice 85C, which entirely reproduces the structure and the description of the instrument of the Padua codex, with the addition of a mechanism for calculating the date of the movable feasts and tables for reckoning the sunrise and sunset in Padua.
Note
Folios 1-57 contain diagrams to explain the construction of planetary clocks; the versos are blank except for f. 19v, as are ff. 57v-58v.
Note
The headings and captions of the diagrams are in a clear upright humanistica; the diagrams on ff. 1-20 are numbered 1-51.
Note
Folios 59-155 contain "Opus planetarii Ioanis de dondis fisici paduani ciuis", in three parts: part 1, 25 chapters; part 2, 3 chapters beginning at f. 135; part 3, beginning at f. 138v; ff. 102v and 144v are blank.
Note
Spaces for diagrams in the main text remain blank, the decision to have the diagrams separately on ff. 1-57 instead of mixing them in with the text of part 1 having evidently been taken after the text was written.
Note
On ff. 60-84 the spaces have numbers 1-51, corresponding to the numbers on ff. 1-20.
Note
Many corrections in a hand like the second of the five scribes who wrote the text; Ker notes that the fourth scribe copied a passage on f. 135 that had already been copied by the third scribe on f. 134v.
Note
The guide for the rubricator in the margin of f. 143v is "ordinatio quam feci berto de Padua pro communi horologii".
Note
A table of Auges and Signa phisica lies between the last word of the text and the colophon which reads: Finito libro frangamus ossa magistro. Si non sunt fracta frangamus cum vna staga Finito adi 12 Aprilis hora 21 e meza.
Note
Folio iii is a medieval paper flyleaf; ff. 59-144 have an old foliation, possibly 16th-century, 2-87.
Note
Written space: 255 x 155 mm and on ff. 59-67, 225 x 155 mm.
Note
Layout: 51-53 long lines and on ff. 59-67, 2 columns of 45-48 lines.
Note
No ruling on ff. 59-67 other than faint vertical bounders; full ruling from f. 68.
Note
Collation: 1-5¹⁰ 6⁸ 7 ten, the first leaf missing (ff. 59, 64, 65, 60-3, 66, 67) 8¹⁰ 9⁶ 10¹⁰ 11 nine (ff. 94-102) 12-15⁸ 16¹⁰.
Note
Quires 2-6 signed a-e.
Note
The main text (ff. 59-144) is written by five scribes who seem to have been working contemporaneously, except in quire 16: scribe 1, ff. 59-67v (quire 7); scribe 2, ff. 68-83v, 103-126 (quires 8, 9, 12-14), 136-138v, 143rv; scribe 3, ff. 84-102, 127-134v (quires 10, 11, 15); scribe 4, ff. 135-6; scribe 5, ff. 138v-142v, 144. Notes on ff. 83v, 102 and 134v draw attention to inexact joins at points where there is a change of scribe,
Note
Hands 2-5 are current humanistica in strong contrast with the ugly current hybrida of hand 1; hands 1-3 use only the 2-shaped r.
Note
Spaces for initials and headings left blank.
Note
Secundo folio not recorded by Ker.
Note
Rebound at Eton by Slatter around 1720.
Note
Written in northern Italy.
Note
Former Eton shelfmark: Bl.a.1 (Bo.3.20).
Note
This catalogue record is based on the work of Neil Ker and M.R. James, as cited in the references below.
Citation/references note
Ker, N. R.. Medieval manuscripts in British libraries, v. 2 (1977), p. 770-1
Citation/references note
James, M. R. A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Eton College (1895), 172
Citation/references note
Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae, 1697, 54
Cite as
Eton College Library, MS 172
Additional physical form available
Reproduction available; Bodleian Library; Eton College Library should be contacted for permission to reproduce; SFW 3154
Provenance
Probably bequeathed to Eton by Sir Henry Wotton.
Binding
18th century English calf binding by John Slatter.
Subject
Dondi dall'Orologio, Giovanni, 1318? - 1389 Manuscripts.
Subject
Astronomical clocks Italy Manuscripts.
Added entry--name
Wotton, Henry (), 1568 - 1639 Sir former owner.
Added entry--name
Added entry--place
Italy.
Language code
lat
Identifier
B50134