Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.9.26
Diktyon no.: Diktyon 12043
Contents
Language(s): Greek and Latin
Ed. C. Reedijk, The poems of Desiderius Erasmus, Leiden 1956, no. 75
The dedication is dated 17 November 1503
Ed. P.S. Allen, Opus epistolarum Desiderii Erasmi Roterdami, Oxford 1906, no. 177
Ed. Libanius. Aliquot declamatiunculae Graecae, eademque Latinae, per Desiderium Erasmum Roterodamum, Lovanii 1519
Ed. Libanius. Aliquot declamatiunculae Graecae, eademque Latinae, per Desiderium Erasmum Roterodamum, Lovanii 1519
Ed. Libanius. Aliquot declamatiunculae Graecae, eademque Latinae, per Desiderium Erasmum Roterodamum, Lovanii 1519
TLG 2200.005
f. 49v is blank
TLG 2200.006
TLG 2200.006
ff. 57r-63v, [vii] recto-[viii] verso are blank
Physical Description
Modern foliation in pencil, in Arabic numerals, in the upper margin right, from 1 to 63: [i]-[vi] + 1-63 + [vii]-[viii].
Collation
The manuscript consists mainly of quaternions. Quire 2 is a bifolium of parchment. The quires have been sewn tightly and are not numbered, therefore the collation has been reconstructed on the basis of the watermark positions. Quire 9 is a quaternion missing the last leaf (with no loss of text).
- 2 later endleaves ff. [i]-[ii]
- Quire 16 ff. [iii]-[vi], 1-2
- Quire 22 ff. 3-4
- Quire 36 ff. 5-10
- Quires 4-88 ff. 11-50
- Quire 98-1 ff. 51-57
- Quire 106 ff. 58-63
- 2 later endleaves ff. [vii]-[viii]
Condition
Layout
A single column of 14-15 lines (15 in the Greek part). 130-140 × 80 mm.
Hand(s)
ff. 34v-49r, 50r-56v Hand A: the texts have been written by Desiderius Erasmus (Bernardinello 1979, no. 61; see also Garrod 1950, p. 10), in a minuscule script slanting to the right, characterized by the presence of ornamental hooks at the end of uprights. The text is written in a brown ink. Titles and some initials are written in red. For the titles, the scribe used a majuscule script.
The Latin texts on ff. 2v, 3v-34v have been also written by Erasmus.
Decoration
On f. 3v, in the centre of the leaf, with the text written around it, is painted a shield, coloured in blue, with trompe l'oeuil arms of Nicholas Ruistre, on a crozier, surmounted by a scroll with the motto ‘ Aequo animo’; three mice run on the left edge of the shield.
On f. 4r there is a brown and gold acanthus initial on a square ground coloured in pink and grey. On f. 11v there is a zoomorphic initial (dragon) painted in blue, gold and brown, on a square ground coloured in pink. On f. 35r there is a golden and brown initial on a square ground coloured in blue.
Thick initials in red ink, see e.g. f. 50r; filled with lines in red ink on ff. 32r, 54v.
The text ends in form of a cross on ff. 49r and 56v; in the form of a chalice on ff. 31v, 54r.
Additions
On the left pastedown is written, in pencil, the shelfmark, ‘ R.9.26’.
On f. [i] recto there is a note, in pencil, concerning the donation of the manuscript; a note on the same topic, in brown ink, on f. [iii] verso (see Acquisition).
On f. [iii] recto is written, in black ink, the shelfmark ‘ R.9.26’.
On f. 1r there are notes by Abraham Ortelius, in brown ink, about the manuscript, its contents and history:
- ‘ Declamationes tres, prima Libanii Sophistae, reliquae incerti authoris. Ab Erasmo Roterodamo Latio donatae.’
- ‘ Scriptus est liber manu ipsius interpretis, Domini Erasmi Roterodami nempe. Constat hoc mihi Ab. Ortelis.’
In the upper margin, left, of f. 3v is written the shelfmark, ‘ R.9.26’
Binding
Western binding, leather cover over couched-laminate boards; blind tooling on the boards' edges. Parchment on spine, where there are a gold tooled title, ‘ Declamat. | Libanii | Etc. ’, and three paper labels with the shelfmark, ‘ R’, ‘ 9’, ‘ 26’. 210 × 140 × 16 mm.
There are scratches on the cover.
History
The manuscript was copied by Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1467-1536)Erasmus, Desiderius, -1536 in Louvain in 1503: this date occurs at the end of the presentation letter (17 November 1503, see f. 11r), and in the final rubric of the first text (November 1503, see f. 26v). Since also the following texts were written by the same hand on the same paper, it can be assumed that they were copied in the same period.
Provenance and Acquisition
The manuscript was owned by Nicolas Ruistre (d. 1509) , bishop of Arras, to whom the copy was dedicated.
After Le Ruistre's death in 1509, the manuscript may have returned briefly to the hands of Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1467-1536)Erasmus, Desiderius, -1536 ( Garrod 1950, p. 9).
It was later owned by the cartographer Abraham Ortelius (1527-1598) , see his note on f. 1r, ‘ Constat hoc mihi Ab. Ortelis’. Ortelius collected autographs by Erasmus ( Garrod 1950, p. 10).
After Ortelius's death in 1598, the manuscript passed to his nephew Jacobus Colius (Jacob/James Cool/Cole) , see note on f. 1r, ‘ Jacobi Colii Orteliani 1598’.
After Cole's death in 1628, the manuscript was given to his nephew, Abraham Bush ( Garrod 1950, p. 10).
The manuscript was donated to Trinity College by Hugh Peters (1598-1660) , a preacher of Dutch origin, chaplain in England during the Civil war, and minister of the church of Salem in New England, who studied in Cambridge as member of Trinity College; see a modern note in pencil on f. [i] recto, ‘ Given by Hugh Peters 1657’, and an earlier one, in brown ink, on f. [iii] verso, ‘ Me sibi vendicat Bibliotheca Collegii Trinitatis in Academia Cantabrigiense ex dono Domini Hugonis Petri. A.D. 1657’. On the same leaf is pasted the Trinity College bookplate.
Additional Information
Record Sources
Availability
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Bibliography
-
The western manuscripts in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge: a descriptive
catalogue, James, M. R. (Cambridge, 2, Cambridge University Press, 1901)
Libanii opera, Vol. V, Declamationes I-XII, , (Lipsiae, B.G. Teubner, 1909)
Libanii opera / recensuit Richardus Foerster. Vol. VIII, Progymnasmata ; Argumenta
orationum demosthenicarum. Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana, , (Lipsiae, Teubner, 1915)
Repertorium der griechischen Kopisten, 800-1600. I. Grossbritannien Veröffentlichungen
der Kommission für Byzantinistik, Gamillscheg, ErnstHarlfinger, Dieter (Wien, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie
der Wissenschaften, 1981)
Erasmus and his English patrons The Library, Garrod, H W (4, 1-13, 1949)
Autografi greci e greco-latini in Occidente, Bernardinello, S. (Padova, CEDAM, 1979)
Catalogue of dated and datable manuscripts c. 737-1600 in Cambridge libraries, Robinson, P.R. (Cambridge, D.S. Brewer, 1988)
A catalogue of western book illumination in the Fitzwilliam Museum and the Cambridge
colleges Illuminated manuscripts in Cambridge, Morgan, Nigel J.Panayotova, Stella (London, Harvey Miller, 2009)
Funding of Cataloguing
The Polonsky Foundation
Digital Images
Abbreviations
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