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Detailed record for Burney 259

Author Caius Suetonius Tranquillus
Title De vita Caesarum
Origin Italy (Ferrara? Rome? Naples?)
Date 2nd quarter of the 15th century, perhaps between 1430 and 1440?
Language Latin
Script Humanistic, written 'below top line'
Decoration 1 large white vine initial with partial border incorporating two butterlies and a grasshopper, in colours and gold (f. 1). Large initials unfinished (e.g. ff. 19, 44v), or not started. Guide letters. 1 added partial border, with heraldic arms.
Dimensions in mm 290 x 200 (195 x 115)
Official foliation ff. iii + 150 (ff. [i-iii] and [149*-149***] are flyleaves)
Collation i-xv10 (ff. 1-[149*]).
Form Parchment codex
Binding Post-1600. Typical Askew binding of diced calf, with the usual 'palmette and fleur-de-lys' gilt roll, marbled endpapers and parchment flyleaves; edges gauffered and gilt; rebacked.
Provenance Mario Maffei (b. 1463, d. 1537), of Volterra: his added arms, and the erased remains of the typical inscription, 'De [figli …] Mario […]' (f. 1).
Anthony Askew (bap. 1722, d. 1774), physician and book collector: bound for him; his sale, 7 March 1785, lot 525, bought by Hayes for £3 3s.
Samuel Tyssen (b. 1756, d. 1800), F.A.S.; his sale, 7 Dec. 1801, lot 2737, bought by Burney for £2 12s. 6d.
Charles Burney (b. 1757, d. 1817), D.D., classical scholar.
Acquired by the British Museum as part of Burney’s library from his son Charles Parr Burney in 1818.
Notes Blank spaces have been left, sometimes marked 'gr', for Greek to be inserted.
Select bibliography Catalogue of Manuscripts in The British Museum, New Series, 1 vol. in 2 parts (London: British Museum, 1834-1840), I, part II: The Burney Manuscripts (1840), p. 66.

Alessandro Palma di Cesnola, Catalogo di manoscritti italiani esistenti nel Museo Britannico di Londra (Turin: Roux, 1890), no. 293.

B. L. Ullman, 'Codices Maffeiani', in Studies in the Italian Renaissance (Rome: Edizioni di storia e letteratura, 1955), pp. 373-82 (p. 374, no. 11).

José Ruysschaert, 'Recherche des deux bibliothèques romaines Maffei des XVe et XVIe siècles', La Bibliofilia, 60 (1958), 306-33 (p. 323, no. 28).
Last revised: 05 February 2005


Images
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Initial

f. 1
Initial
Detail

f. 1
Detail
Detail

f. 1
Detail
 
Unfinished initial

f. 19
Unfinished initial
Detail

f. 19
Detail
Unfinished initial

f. 44v
Unfinished initial
 
Detail

f. 44v
Detail

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