Cambridge, University Library, MS Ii.5.44
Diktyon no.: Diktyon 12199
Contents
Physical Description
2[*]-4[*] + 1-85 | 85a-d | 86-143 + [5*]
Modern foliation in pencil in Arabic numerals in the top right-hand corner, recto: the first three endleaves are numbered from 2 to 4; the parchment leaves were numbered from 1 to 147 (the 1858 catalogue refers to this numbering), then Henry Bradshaw struck out the numbers from 86 onwards, replacing them with the sequence 85a-d for the inserted quire, and 86-143 for the second part of the original manuscript.
Collation
1-118 | 11*4 | 12-168, 178+1, 186
Condition
In fair condition, with occasional spots and wormholes.
Binding
20th-century couched-laminated board binding, sheepskin with blind embossing reused from previous boards (probably 16th- or 17th-century) as part of rebinding by J.P. Gray and Son of Cambridge, 1959 (see left pastedown). Leather strips with tooled titles from previous bindings are glued to the front pastedown . Title (‘Aristoteles Ethica &c.’) and shelfmark tooled in gold on spine.
301 × 238 × 50 mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
The manuscript probably belonged to the library of Baldassar Migliavacca , who seems to be responsible for the restoration of quire 11*.
John Moore (1646-1714) , bishop of Ely: no. 981 (front pastedown) in the handwritten supplementary list of Moore's manuscripts, now CUL Oo.7.50.2, compiled by Thomas Tanner (1674-1735) after the publication of Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ (1697).
Presented to the University Library in 1715 by George I (1660-1727) : donation bookplate engraved by John Pine (1690-1756) in 1736 on the front pastedown.
Part 1: core manuscript [Cambridge, University Library, MS Ii.5.44, ff. 1r-143v]
Contents
Language(s): Greek with few notes in Latin
TLG 0086.022
- Book 1: ff. 1r-15v
- Book 2: ff. 15v-30v
TLG 0086.010
- Book 1 (α): ff. 30v-38r
- Book 2 (β): ff. 38r-44r
- Book 3 (γ): ff. 44r-52v
- Book 4 (δ): ff. 52v-60v
- Book 5 (ε): ff. 60v-69r
- Book 6 (ζ): ff. 69r-74v
- Book 7 (η): ff. 74v-84r
- Book 8 (θ): ff. 84r-87v
- Book 9 (ι): ff. 87v-94v
- Book 10 (κ): ff. 94v-102v
TLG 0086.009
- Book 1 (α): ff. 102v-107r
- Book 2 (β): ff. 107r-115v
- Book 3 (γ): ff. 115v-121r
- Books 4-6 (δ-ϛ) titles: f. 121r
- Book 7 (ζ): ff. 121r-131v
- Book 8 (η): ff. 131v-134v
TLG 0086.029
- Book 1 (α): ff. 134v-136v
- Book 2 (δεύτερος): ff. 136v-143v
Physical Description
Collation
The manuscript consisted originally of 18 quaternions. The last leaf of quire 18 was cancelled in all likelihood at the time of the making of the volume, so the first, loose leaf (f. 137) was then attached to quire 17. The outermost folios of each quire are reinforced by a strip of paper.
- Quires 1-118 ff. 1r-88v (the second bifolia of quires 4, 6, 8, 9, 10 have been cut out and substituted in their second half by the copyist; quire 11*, ff. 85ar-dv, is inserted after the fifth bifolium of quire 11, f. 85)
- Quires 12-168 ff. 89r-128v
- Quire 178+1 ff. 129r-137v
- Quire 186 ff. 138r-143v
Leaf signatures in Latin letters for quires from a to s, and Arabic numerals for bifolios in pencil in the lower right-hand corner of the rectos, by Henry Bradshaw (1831-1886), along with a note on the collation on the rear pastedown.
Condition
Layout
ff. 1r-143v: written space 200 × 135 mm. Main text always 26-27 lines per page. Pricked in the outer margins. Ruled in brown-redish ink, type Leroy 00D1 .
Hand(s)
Hand A: The manuscript is written by Nikolaos (RGK I 327), as stated in the colophon, in an informal mixed minuscule script, below top line, upright in brown ink for the text and in red ink for titles. His minuscule follows the models of the typical scriptures of the Terra d'Otranto.
The circular-shape letters and and elongated alphas are filled in red. There is a marked variation in letter size. Syllabic abbreviations and superscription are commonly used. Breathings are round and mute iota is absent. Nikolaos' informal hand is characterized by a fast execution with moderately sinuous and curved shapes. The tau is often high, with the horizontal stroke always curved and often elongated to the base, which sometimes leads to a hook shape (e.g. f. 30v lines 14 and 26).
Punctuation used includes the middle and upper point, middle and lower comma (rarely), and full stop.
For further details on Nikolaos' script, see Jacob Nicolas d'Oria Un copiste de Pouille au Saint-Sauveur de Messine (1985), pp. 139-143.
Hand B: the hand who wrote the inserted quire (ff. 85a-d) also wrote marginal notes throughout the manuscript and the first four lines of f. 86r, and the book numbers of Nicomachean Ethics in Greek numerals on upper corner, recto side, from f. 31r.
Decoration
Reddish headpiece on f. 1r
Thick red-ink book initials along with palmettes in red ink on ff. 1r, 15v, 30v, 38r, 44r, 52v, 60v, 69r, 74v, 84r, 87v, 94v, 102v, 107r, 115v, 121r, 121v, 131v, 134v, 136v, 143v.
The inner spaces of some letters, especially those with a circular shape, and elongated alphas are filled in red.
Additions
Annotations in Latin made throughout the manuscript, nearly lost in trimming if on lower margin (e.g. f. 14r).
Some maniculae added by Hand B: ff. 99v, 100v
A portion of a red cotton thread was pinned to f. 107.
f. 127r: a note in pencil with correspondence to the Bekker edition: 1241a
f. 143v: a note in black ink converting the year given in the colophon (incorrectly; corrected by Henry Bradshaw).
Annotations in pencil on ff. 86r, 143v and left pastedown by Henry Bradshaw (1831-1886), University Librarian 1867-1886.
History
Part 2: inserted quire [Cambridge, University Library, MS Ii.5.44, ff. 85a-d]
Contents
Language(s): Greek with few notes in Latin
TLG 0086.010
the addition continues on f. 86r line 1-4
Physical Description
Collation
One binion (11*) is inserted after the fifth bifolio of quire 11, f. 85
Leaf signatures in Latin letters ll (quire 11 marked as l) and Arabic numerals for bifolios in pencil in the lower right-hand corner of the rectos, by Henry Bradshaw (1831-1886).
Layout
ff. 85ar-85dv: written space 197 × 140 mm. 26 lines per page. Pricked in the lower margins. Ruled in pencil, only bounding lines traced.
Hand(s)
Hand B: according to D. Harlfinger, the quire was probably written by the scribe and scholar Andronicus Callistus (RGK I 18) in a minuscule script. More recently (see Orlandi, Baldassar Migliavacca lettore e possessore di codici greci (2014), pp. 173-175), the restoration was attributed to Baltasar Meliavacca , active as commentator and book collector in the last quarter of the 15th century in Milan, and student of Callistus, from whom he acquired part of the library, such as Cambridge, University Library, MS Nn.3.18 . The handwriting of the Italian collector imitates that of the master and also tries to reproduce some characteristics of the hand of Nikolaos.
Syllabic abbreviations and superscript letter endings usually appear only at the end of lines and rarely elsewhere (e.g. common abbreviation of μεν or ἐστίν). Breathings are curved and joined to accents; circumflex accent is hat-like; almost vertical acutes and graves. Isolated trema is sometimes traced over iota and ypsilon; mute iota is present but not constantly used.
History
Additional Information
Record Sources
Availability
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Bibliography
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Funding of Cataloguing
The Polonsky Foundation
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
