Cambridge, University Library, MS Nn.2.34
Diktyon no.: Diktyon 12237
Contents
Language(s): Greek
Beginning imperfectly at I 79, 3
TLG 0016.002
ff. 211r-212v blank
Physical Description
Collation
The beginning of the manuscript is wanting; apparently the first two quires are gone: only one folio (f. 1r-v) remains from quire β. The manuscript now consists of one folio (f. 1r-1v), 26 quaternions (ff. 2r-209v) and one folio (f. 210r-210v); ff. 211r-212v are later endleaf. A small stub is preserved between f. 210v and 211r.
- Quires 1-268 ff. 2r-209v
Early quire signatures in brown ink, in Greek numerals, on the first folio of each quire, recto. Some have been lost to cropping. They survive on the lower margin right of quire 1 (γʹ f. 2r), quires 3-6 (εʹ-η' ff. 18r, 26r, 34r, 42r), quires 13-14 (ιεʹ-ιϛ' ff. 98r, 106r), quires 17 (ιθʹ f. 130r), and on the upper margin right on quires 18-25 (κ'-κζ' ff. 138r, 146r, 154r, 162r, 170r, 178r, 186r, 194r).
Modern quire signatures in Greek numerals, in pencil, which reproduce and complete the previous series, have been added almost systematically to the first folio of each quire, recto, lower margin right.
Condition
Layout
ff. 1r-129v: A single column of 29-33 lines. Written space 225 × 158 mm.
ff. 130r-210v: A single column of 32-41 lines. Written space 235 × 155 mm.
Hand(s)
Hand A: ff. 1r-129v
A mixed minuscule script, vertical or slightly slanted to the right, in brown ink, with modest variation in letter size.
Syllabic abbreviations and superscript word endings usually appear only at the end of lines and rarely elsewhere (e.g. common abbreviation of μεν). Breathings are curved and not joined to accents; mute iota is absent. Accents are often joined to alpha, upsilon and omega.
Alpha is drawn in two shapes: a rounded one and another one with a long oblique stroke; beta displays in bilobate shape; delta is triangular, with a small eyelet closed. Pi has a elongated horizontal stroke, and so also tau and theta, especially if at the beginning of the line. The modern nu, small gamma, eta, kappa, lambda and sigma telikon are presents.
The epsilon-rho ligature appears in a distinctive form in which the upper part forms a closed loop. Tau-rho ligature is overlapping
Punctuation used includes the middle and upper point, lower comma and full stop.
Tails are rarely flourished into the lower margins, e.g. f. 127r.
An identification with Manuel Tzycandyles (RGK I 255) has been proposed (see Hemmerdinger 1981).
Hand B: ff. 130r-210v.
Hand B displays a mixed minuscule close the model of Hand A, but slanting slightly to the right, with denser text. There is an evident moderate variation in letter size. Syllabic abbreviations and superscript word endings are not limiteted to the end of lines.
Breathings are curved, circumflex accent is normaly not link to vowels. Mute iota is absent.
Tails are rarely flourished into the lower margins.
Decoration
Headpieces incorporate the rubrics at the beginning of each book: f. 27v, f. 62r, f. 90v, f. 121r, f. 138r, f. 153v f. 179r, f. 195v.
Thick red-ink major initials at the beginning of each book.
Additions
Note by Richard Porson on f. [ii] verso: ‘ Vide editionem Herodoti a Gronovio editam Lugduni Batavorum apud Samuelem Luchtmans anno MMCCXVI: Pag. 32. l. 13 μάχη σφέων ἦν ἀφ' ἵππων κ.τ.λ. ’. with reference to the 1715 edition by Jacobus Gronovius.
Porson also marked the number of the books and chapters in the upper margin of rectos in Greek numerals, referring to the last chapter of the folio: e.g. f. 6r α, ρε = Lib. I chap. 105. Chapters numbers are occasionally in the text in Arabic numerals.
Binding
Binding with pale brown full leather covering over couched-laminate boards. The spine is cracked, corresponding to the opening at f. 130.
There is decorative tooling on boards and spine; traces of decorative tooling are present on the board edge. Head band is fully detached. Bookblock edges are marbled.
Marbled paper endleaves. The left made flyleaf has come away.
The title (Herodotus MS.) is tooled in gold on the spine.
305 × 239 × 19 mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
The manuscript belonged to Anthony Askew (b. 1722, d. 1774), physician and book collector.
After Askew's death, the manuscripts were sold by G. Leigh and J. Sotheby in the auction of his library in 1785. Nn.2.34 was lot 576, and was bought by Richard Farmer for Cambridge University Library. The University of Cambridge general bookplate (engraved by William Jackson in 1706-1707) was added on the pastedown of left cover.
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
-
Les manuscrits d'Hérodote et la critique verbale Pubblicazioni dell'Istituto di filologia
classica e medievale dell'Università
di Genova, Hemmerdinger, Bertrand (Genova, Istituto di filologia classica e medievale, 1981)
Review of <hi rend="italics">Les manuscrits d'Hérodote et la critique
verbale</hi> by B. Hemmerdinger Phoenix, Reeve, M.D. (39, 3, 287-289, 1985)
Cambridge University Library: a history, McKitterick, David (Cambridge, 2: The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Cambridge
University Press, 1986)
From Britain to Byzantium: the study of Greek manuscripts Through the looking glass:
Byzantium through British eyes. Papers from the
twenty-ninth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, London, March 1995 Society for
the Promotion of Byzantine Studies publications, Easterling, Patricia E. (Aldershot, 107-120, Ashgate, 2000)
The library of Richard Porson, Naiditch, P.G. (Philadelphia, Xlibris, 2011)
Funding of Cataloguing
The Polonsky Foundation
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
