Cambridge, University Library, MS Dd.6.84
Diktyon no.: Diktyon 12163
Contents
Language(s): in Greek and Latin
On pp. 1-7 the Greek and Latin texts alternate in the same page; from p. 8 the Greek and Latin texts are presented in parallel on facing pages: the Greek text is written on the leaves' verso, the Latin one on the following recto
TLG 0341.002
The Greek and Latin text are presented in parallel on two columns in the same leaf: the Greek text is written in the left column, the Latin text in the right one.
Physical Description
Collation
The manuscript consists of 9 quaternions and a final quire of 5 leaves, whose structure is difficult to determine. The quires have been sewn very tightly and there is no numbering.
- Quires 1-98 pp. i-142
- Quire 10 pp. 143-152
Condition
Layout
pp. 1-145 The layout is not regular. One single column of 15-25 lines (mostly 20). 125-135 × 80 mm. On pp. 1-7 the Greek and Latin text alternate in the same page; from p. 8 the Greek text is written on the left page, the Latin translation on the right.
pp. [146]-152 Two columns, 25 lines. 130 × 80 mm.
Hand(s)
Both Greek and Latin texts are written by the same western European hand. As the Latin one, the Greek handwriting is characterised by chiaroscuro effects. The Greek script is a minuscule; vertical and diagonal strokes tend to be rounded or sinuous, some forms are traced rigidly, and in general the ductus is slow. The handwriting can be dated to the 17th century.
The text is written in brown ink.
The scribe also wrote some scholia in the margins.
Additions
At p. i the main scribe wrote pen-trials and random annotations: ‘ Die Martis | Key | Pitts 39 | Tucker’ (the last word is repeated several times), ‘S. Conduit’, ‘the foolish’, ‘ JCuno/JPune(?) ’
At p. 1 he writes a brief note about how Helena is said by Lycophron to be τριάνωρ : ‘ Helena a Lycophrone dicitur τριάνωρ quod Theseo Menelao Paridi nupsisset’, then there is a reference to Scaliger (who published a translation of the Alexandra), now difficult to read, and a reference to the page of this manuscript, where the passage concerning this definition is to be found (p. 82)
Binding
Modern western full leather binding over couched-laminate boards. Tooled borders on both boards, traces of green in the edges. Rebacked, with gold tooled shelfmark. Earlier leather labels with shelfmark are glued on the right pastedown.
150 × 101 × 21 mm.
History
The text was copied probably in the first half of the 17th century by a non-Greek person, probably a scholar, from a printed edition of the 16th-17th century.
Provenance and Acquisition
On the left pastedown is glued the engraved bookplate made by John Pine for the Royal Library (1737). The manuscript should therefore have been presented to the University Library in 1715 by George I .
Additional Information
Record Sources
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
-
A catalogue of the manuscripts preserved in the
library of the University of Cambridge, (Cambridge, 1: Dd, Cambridge University Press, 1856)
Funding of Cataloguing
The Polonsky Foundation
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
