Census of the Petrarch Manuscripts in the United States

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND WALTERS ART GALLERY

Ms. W. 409

Parch., ff. II (modern paper) + 155 + II (modern paper), modern pencil foliation, 190 × 123 (130 × 65) mm., 29 verses per page, 1¹⁰ 2⁶ (last folio of the quire, f. 16, is a modern insert) 3⁸ (+9th) 4-9¹⁰ 10⁸ 11-16¹⁰ 17², plain catchwords at bottom inside margin with letter of alphabet in red ink beneath, partially cropped signatures of a letter of alphabet (no number visible), evidence of pricking, drypoint ruled, written by one person, the humanistic script is identified with that of Nicolaus Riccius Spinosus.¹ Decoration: a 3ߚline gold initial begins the text on f. 1, with intertwining acanthus decoration in pink, blue and green, with gold-rayed disks which extend into the margin; f. 16, on the top margin, a modern copy of a wreath with title in gold letters on a blue ground, ‘Le Canzone e Sonecti’, surrounded by pen scrolls and gold-rayed disks; f. 114v, Canzone 264 begins with a plain 4ߚline parted blue initial; the paragraphs of the first text, the poems of the Rerum vulg. fragm. and the initials of each letter group in the alphabetical verse list all begin with a 2ߚline blue initial; the strophes of the canzoni, quartine and terzine of the sonnets and the remaining items of the alphabetical verse list begin with light red initials in a display script; the poems of the Rerum vulg. fragm. are numbered in red Roman numerals (I-CCCLXVI). Bound in olive morocco over paper boards by C. Lewis, gold letters on spine, ‘Petrarca, ms. in memb.’, and below the Walters number ‘W. 409’, gilt edges. ff. 1-7v, Leonardo Bruni, Vita di F. Petrarca , title "Comincia la vita del Petrarcha poeta excellentissimo fiorentino composta per messer Lionardo d’Arezo", inc. "Francesco Petrarcha huomo di grande ingegnio et non di minore virtù ...", expl. "... a chi non merita come a chi merita dare si puote. Qui finisce la vita di messer Francesco Petrarcha et comincia una epistola la quale fu trovata in casa dell’habitatione di messer Francesco Petrarcha in uno suo studiolo scripta di sua propria mano" (Baron, Leonardo Bruni Aretino, 63-69). ff. 7v-8, Nota de Laura , inc. "Laura propriis virtutibus illustris ...", expl. "... inexpectatos exitus acriter ac viriliter cogitanti" (Nolhac, Pétrarque et l’humanisme, II, 286-87). ff. 8-9, Nota de Laura , Italian translation, title "La soprascripta epistola overo commemoratione tradocta in volgare", inc. "Laura di propria virtù ellustre et lungo tempo...", expl. "... et le vane speranze et li non aspectati fini". f. 9, Epytaphium Francisci Petrarce , title "[I]l decto poeta è sepellito ad Arquate in Lobardia (sic) e ’l suo epitaphio è questo scripto", "Frigida Francisci lapis hic tegit ossa Petrarce/Suscipe animam, sate virgine parce,/Fessaque iam terris celi requiescat in arce" (Solerti, Le vite, 297, 319, 326, 355). ff. 9-15v, an alphabetical list of first verses from the Rerum vulg. fragm. , title "Incomincia la tavola delle canzone et sonecti di messere Francesco Petrarcha", inc. "A pie’ de’ colli ove la bella vesta, VIII ...", expl. "... Zephiro torna e ’l bel tempo rimena, CCCX ". ff. 16-155v, Petrarch, Rerum vulg. fragm. , inc. "Voi ch’ascoltate in rime sparse il suono ..." (nos. 1-336, 350, 355, 337-349, 356-365, 351, 352, 354, 353, 366), expl. "... Ch’acolga ’l mio spirto ultimo in pace. Qui finisce le canzone et sonecti del Petrarcha poeta excellentissimo".

2nd f.: [in] versi

ORIGIN
Written by Nicolaus Riccius Spinosus in Florence, Italy, in ca. 1480;² the same scribe wrote Cornell University Library, Mss Bd Pet P P49 R512+ , which is no. 44 in the present Census. The bottom portion of f. 1, possibly containing early ownership information, has been cut out and replaced by a blank piece of parchment. PROVENANCE
From the Abate Matteo Canonici collection; sold in 1835 to the Rev. Walter Sneyd whose bookplate appears on the front pastedown; also on the front pastedown are the library numbers ‘ H. VI. 1 ’ and ‘ 6841 ’; Sneyd sale, London, Sotheby, 16 Dec. 1903, no. 603, to Leighton; no. 3937 in a modern English catalogue slip in the Walters Art Gallery file; the initials G-L (in a late hand) appear on ff. 109 and 136v. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ullman, no. 3; De Ricci, p. 843, no. 493; Wilkins, no. 6; Jasenas, p. 26, no. 6. Dutschke, Census, no. 4, pp. 38-40.

Notes

1. Alexander and de la Mare, The Italian Manuscripts, p. 48, pl. XIX (note the pronounced serifs on the ascenders and descenders of W. 409 which are absent from J. A. 3200, a manuscript written by the same scribe). Nicolaus Riccius Spinosus is also the scribe of Cornell University Library, Mss Bd. Petrarch P P49 R512+ (Census, no. 44). This ms. is no. 20 and the Cornell ms. is no. 22 in Albinia de la Mare, "New Research on Humanistic Scribes in Florence," in Miniatura fiorentina del Rinascimento 1440-1525. Un primo censimento, a cura di A. Garzelli, I, Florence, Giunta Regionale Toscana-La Nuova Italia, 1985, pp. 519-521.

2.See Alexander and de la Mare, The Italian Manuscripts, p. 48.

Abbreviations

Baron, Leonardo Bruni Aretino: Baron, H. Leonardo Bruni Aretino, Humanistisch-philosophische Schriften. Leipzig, 1928.

De Ricci: De Ricci, S. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. 3 vols. New York, 1935-40.

Dutschke, Census: Dutschke, D. Census of Petrarch Manuscripts in the United States, Padova, 1986.

Jasenas: Jasenas, M. Petrarch in America: A Survey of Petrarch Manuscripts. New York and Washington, D. C., 1974.

Nolhac, Pétrarque et l’humanisme: De Nolhac, P. Pétrarque et l’humanisme. 2 vols. Paris, 1907 (reprinted in 1965).

Solerti, Le vite: Solerti, A. Le vite di Dante, Petrarca e Boccaccio scritte fino al secolo decimosesto ... Milano, 1904.

Ullman: Ullman, B. L. Petrarch Manuscripts in the United States (Censimento dei codici petrarcheschi, no. 1). Padova, 1964 (also in Italia medioevale e umanistica, v [1962], 443-475).

Wilkins: Wilkins, E.H. "Manuscripts of the Canzoniere and the Triumphs in American Libraries", Modern Philology, XLV (1947), 23-35 (updated in Wilkins, E.H. The Making of the "Canzoniere" and Other Petrarchan Studies. Roma, 1951.

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