Vernacular Culture and Greek Texts in Renaissance Florence: a Database of Florentine Vernacularizations of Greek texts (c. 1460-1500)

Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional de España, 10013

Item

Manuscript copy id

MC0000081 See all items with this value

Translator

Alessandro Braccesi See all items with this value

Work

Delle guerre civili dei Romani See all items with this value

Shelfmark

Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional de España, 10013 See all items with this value

Date

c. early 1490s (before December 1491) See all items with this value

Place

Florence See all items with this value

Seen

No

Material

Parchment See all items with this value

Dimensions and Structure

320 x 220
I + 231 (230) + II' See all items with this value

Foliation

Folios and numbered in ink in the upper right margin (only folios 230-231 are re-numbered in pencil, in the same position).

Ruling

Hard point

Type of script

Three hands
a) fols. 2r-6r: humanist book-hand
b) fols. 7r-v: formal 'cancelleresca all'antica', apparently by a later hand (see below Notes)
c) 9r-231r: humanist book-hand See all items with this value

Annotations

The manuscript is corrected by a contemporary formal humanist cursive hand (see e.g. fols. 22r, 23v, 31r, 42r, 54v, 56r, 98r-v, 129v, 150r-v).
It is also annotated by at least two late 16th-century hands (see e.g. fols. 44-45, 46v, 57v-68). See all items with this value

Decoration

Golden initials included in squares with a blue, green and red background, decorated with golden flouirishing. The ornamental letters are complemented by flowery borders stemming from the left side of the squares. For the decoration of fol. 7 see below Notes.

History of the manuscript

The manuscript belonged to cardinal Francisco Javier Zelada y Rodríguez (1717 -1801), see note on fol. Iv ("Cajon 51 num. 6 Zelada"). It passed to the Catedral de Toledo and then to the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid.

Internal description

Fols. 2r-6r: Alessandro Braccesi, letter of dedication to Gentile Orsini.
Rubric: "Proemio di Alexandro Braccio secretario fiorentino allo illustrissimo signore Gentile Ursino capitano dello exercito del gloriosissimo Ferdinando re neapolitano nella traductione delle guerre civile de' Romani scripte da Appiano Alexandrino". Inc.: "Nissuna cosa e data alla humana societa...". Expl.: "Ma gia e tempo che noi lasciamo parlare al nostro Appiano".

Fols. 7r-231r: Alessandro Braccesi, vernacular translation of Appian's liber Libycus, Syrius, Parthicus and Mithridaticus (based on Pier Candido Decembrio's Latin version).
Rubric: "Delle guerre civili d'Appiano Alessandrino tradotte da Messer Alessandro Braccio. Libro Primo". Inc.: "Il senato e popolo Romano spesse volte contesero insieme...". Expl.: "...dubitando che Antonio non si accordassi con Pompeio a conforti di Cleopatra. Finis laus Deo".

Notes

Fol. 7 appears written by a later hand than the rest of the manuscript. Moreover, its decoration - though similar in style to the other decorative elements in the manuscript - is clearly executed by a different artist, with different colours.
Fol. 7 may have been prepared in substitution of the damaged original folio, with a mymetic imitation of the decoration. The manuscript has been analysed through a digitization. A first-hand inspection may reveal other details and help confirm this hypothesis.

Bibliography

http://bdh.bne.es/bnesearch/detalle/bdh0000043718

Digitized copy

http://bdh-rd.bne.es/viewer.vm?id=0000043718&page=1