Cambridge, University Library, MS Nn.4.2
Diktyon no.: Diktyon 12250
Contents
Language(s): Greek
TLG 0014.060
Physical Description
Collation
The manuscript consists of one quaternion and a ternion:
- Quire 18 ff. 1-8
- Quire 26 ff. 9-14
Condition
Layout
ff. 1r-14v: A single column of 18 lines. Written space 135 × 75 mm. Pricking does not survive. Ruled in hardpoint, system Leroy 1, type Leroy 22D1. Text hangs mostly from the lines.
Hand(s)
Written by the 15th-century Greek scholar and scribe Georgios Hermonymos (RGK I 61) in a minuscule script in pale brown ink.
Slanting slightly to the right, Hermonymos' hand shows cursive-like ductus without variation in letter size. Ligatures and abbreviations are rare. His script is characterized by the minuscules gamma, eta, xi, rho. Sigma telikon is in Z-shape and is found sometimes in the middle of the word. Breathings are curved; accents do not join to letters or breathings.
For further details on Georgios Hermonymos' script, see Kalatzi 2009, p. 111-132.
Guillaume Budé added some marginal corrections to the text on ff. 2v, 3v, 4v, 5v, 6r, 6v, 7r, 8r, 8v, 9r, 9v, 10r, 12v.
Binding
The manuscript was bound by Geoffroy de Marnef , active in Paris between 1490 and 1518. Bound in brown calfskin, stamped on both boards: a rectangle containing five rows decorated with flowers and vines. The border around the inner rectangle is decorated with vegetative motifs, birds, dragons and lettered scrolls. On the top left the legend (readable on the back cover) is par le mieulx; on the top right in deum confido. In the lower right corner the binder's name is embossed: G. De Marnef.
The cover is in poor condition, almost detached.
The pasteboards are delaminanting and made of printed waste from an edition (1484?) of the Quaestiones in quattuor libros sententiarum by Johannes Baconthorpe .
The fore-, head- and tail-edges are gilded.
204 × 144 × 15 mm.
History
The codex was copied by Georgios Hermonymos during his stay in Paris for Guillaume Budé (see Kalatzi 2009, p. 77) between the last quarter of 15th century and the early 16th century.
Provenance and Acquisition
It later entered into the library of Anthony Askew (1722-1774) , physician and book collector.
After Askew's death, the manuscript was sold by G. Leigh and J. Sotheby in the auction of his library in 1785 (Nn.4.2 Lot. n. 616), and eventually bought by Richard Farmer for Cambridge University Library. The University of Cambridge general bookplate (engraved by William Jackson in 1706-1707) was added on f. 14v.
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
-
Repertorium der griechischen Kopisten, 800-1600. I.
Grossbritannien Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Byzantinistik
;, Gamillscheg, ErnstHarlfinger, Dieter (Wien, Bd. 3, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie
der Wissenschaften, 1981)
Georgios Hermonymos, a 15th-century scribe scholar: an examination of
his life, activities and manuscripts, Kalatzi, Maria P. (London, 1998, PhD)
Hermonymos: a study in scribal, literary and teaching activities in the
fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries Hermonymos Studies in palaeography, Kalatzi, Maria P. (Athens, Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece, 2009)
A catalogue of the manuscripts preserved in the library of the
University of Cambridge , (Cambridge, 4, Cambridge University Press, 1861)
Inventario dei manoscritti greci di Demostene., Canfora, Luciano (Padova, Antenore, 1968)
La France des humanistes. Hellénistes II, Maillard, Jean-FrançoisFlamand, Jean-Marie (Turnhout, Brepols, 2010)
Funding of Cataloguing
The Polonsky Foundation
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
