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Detailed record for Harley 3997
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| Author |
Horace |
| Title |
Ars Poetica; Odes ; Epistles; Satires |
| Origin |
Italy, Central (Florence) |
| Date |
2nd half of the 15th century |
| Language |
Latin |
| Script |
Humanistic cursive |
| Scribe |
Antonio di Giuliano Calderini |
| Decoration |
Partial border with a large white vine initial in colours and gold and an unidentified coat of arms in the lower margin (f. 3). 8 large white vine initials in colours and gold (ff. 13, 31, 42v, 63v, 75v, 90, 120, 141). Smaller plain initials in red or blue. Rubrics in red. Added drawing in brown ink of a horse and rider (f. 1). |
| Dimensions in mm |
220 x 140 (140 x 75/80) |
| Official foliation |
ff. 164 (+ 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and at the end) |
| Form |
Paper codex |
| Binding |
Post-1600. Mottled brown leather with gold tooling. |
| Provenance |
Unidentified arms of a black St. Andrew's cross on a white shield divided into 4 quadrants, with a single star in the upper quadrant (f. 3).
John Gibson (fl. 1720-1726), dealer; sold to Harley on 22 June 1726 (see Diary 1966; Wright 1972).
The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts, inscribed as usual by their librarian, Humfrey Wanley ‘22 die Junii A.D. 1726’ (f. 1).
Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta, née Cavendish Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d. 1785), duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library. |
| Notes |
ff. 1, 2, 163, 164 are ruled parchment leaves.
ff. 1, 2 have pen trials and various inscriptions in Latin and Italian.
Ruled in hardpoint. |
| Select bibliography |
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: [n. pub.], 1808-12), III (1808), no. 3997.
The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by Cyril Ernest Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), II: 1723-1726, p. 339 n. 16.
Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), p. 162.
Albinia de la Mare, 'New Research on Humanistic Scribes in Florence', in Miniatura fiorentina del Rinascimento, 1440-1525: un primo censimento, ed. by Annarosa Garzelli, 2 vols, ([Florence]: Giunta regionale toscana, 1985), I, pp. 395-574 (p. 482). |
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