Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

A catalogue of Western manuscripts and papyri at Cambridge University Library, the Fitzwilliam Museum and selected Cambridge colleges

Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 1880.13

Diktyon no.: Diktyon 77987

Contents

Introduction: This quire is part of a collection of fragments bought by Cambridge University Library from Constantin von Tischendorf's heirs in 1876. It contains a part of George Koressios's Dialogue with a Latin teacher ; the text is continued in Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 1880.16 . Add. 1880.13 and 1880.16 were originally part of the same manuscript, together with another of Tischendorf's fragments, Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 1880.17 . Georgios Koressios, native of Chios and renowned theologian, was lecturer in Greek at the University of Pisa from 1609-1615 and is known for his dispute with Galileo Galilei about floating bodies. Dr Erika Elia

Language(s): Greek and Latin

Koréssios, Geṓrgios, Dialogue with a Latin teacher
Rubric: f. 1r Γεωργίου Κορεσσίου τοῦ Χίου διάλεξις μετά τινος τῶν Λατινικῶν διδασκάλων
Incipit: f. 1r Ἄριστον μὲν ἂν εἴη συνᾴδουσιν ἡμῖν τῷ κυρίῳ
Explicit: f. 11v τὰ μὲν τῶν ἁγίων ῥητὰ, ὕστερον ἐξετάσωμεν, νῦν δὲ λέγω, ὡς||

The text was printed by Nikodemos Metaxas, presumably in Constantinople around 1627, Τοῦ μακαριωτάτου πατρὸς ἡμῶν Μελετίου Ἀρχιεπισκόπου Ἀλεξανδρείας, Λιβύης, Πενταπόλεως, Αἰθιωπίας, καὶ πάσης γῆς Αἰγύπτου Περὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς τοῦ πᾶπα ὡς ἐν εἴδει έπιστολῶν; it ends at p. 7 l. 39

The manuscript exhibits a text which is in some parts different from the published one; the attribution of the dialogues to the two persons is not always the same, moreover the passages in Latin are not translated into Greek, as it is the case in the edition.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: ff. 1-11 Western paper, folded in quarto. Watermark: Circle crossed and surmounted by a line ending with a cross, countermark ‘bV’ with clover ( ca. 55 × 30 mm. ) in the gutter. No exact parallels have been found yet in the main repertories.
Extent: Fragment (quire) 11 leaves., 200 × 145 mm.
Foliation: Modern pencil foliation, in Arabic numerals, in the top right hand corner, recto: 1-11.

Collation

The quire is a sexternion, with a leaf missing between ff. 1-2, without loss of text. A stub remains, f. [1a].

  • Quire 112-1 ff. 1-11

Condition

The leaves are in good condition. There are some yellow stains at the edges and a tear on f. 11. The quire is now sewn into a white paper cover.

Layout

One column, 19 lines (21 on the last verso). 160 × 100 mm.

Hand(s)

ff. 1r-8v l. 18, 9r ll. 16-19, 10r l. 4-10v lin. 6, 11v ll. 18-19 Hand A: a script datable to the 17th c., an informal small minuscule, slightly slanting to the right, characterized by ornamental hooks at the end of uprights.

ff. 8v l. 18-9r l. 16, 9v-10r l. 3, 10v l. 7-11v l. 18 Hand B: a contemporary hand, which exhibits forms similar to hand A, but rounder and larger. This hand is present also in Cambridge, University Library, Add. 1880.17, f. 1r.

Additions

The leaf is marked on f. 1r with the current classmark and the former classmark T.29 (i.e. Tischendorf 29).

In the upper margin of f. 11v a later hand copied the first words written on the leaf.

History

Origin: The quire was written probably in the 17th century.

Provenance and Acquisition

Owned by the Biblical scholar Constantin von Tischendorf (1815-1874) .

Bought by the University Library from Tischendorf's executors in 1876.

Additional Information

Record Sources

Description (2020) partly draws on an unpublished description by R.V. Kerr, under-Librarian at Cambridge University Library, and P. Easterling, Hand-list of the additional Greek manuscripts in the University Library, Cambridge, in: Scriptorium 16, 1962, pp. 302-323: 315.

Availability

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card. For information on eligibility and admissions procedures, see Joining the Library). For further enquiries, and to confirm the availability of the manuscript, please contact the Special Collections Reading Room.

Bibliography

    Hand-list of the additional Greek manuscripts in the University Library, Cambridge Scriptorium, Easterling, Patricia E. (16, 2, 302-323, 1962)

Funding of Cataloguing

The Polonsky Foundation

Digital Images

Cambridge Digital Library

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