Census of the Petrarch Manuscripts in the United States

WELLESLEY, MASSACHUSETTS WELLESLEY COLLEGE LIBRARY

Plimpton 751

Paper (Crown not in Briquet), ff. I (modern paper) + 50, contemporary foliation in Arabic numerals, 202 × 138 (144 × 80) mm., 1-5¹⁰, horizontal catchwords with simple pen decorations, frame ruled in lead, 27-29 long lines, written by one person, fere-humanistic. Decoration: spaces for initials left blank; sporadic notes in the margin of the Dante text. Modern binding, quarter bound in marbled paper over paper boards with leather spine, two leather labels on spine with "Boccac. Vita di Dante", and "Vita Petrar. a Pau. Verge. M.S.". ff. 39-43v, Pier Paolo Vergerio, Vita Petrarce , title "Domini Francisci Petrarce laureati vita compendiose edita per eloquentissimum virum Paulum Vergerium, incipit feliciter", inc. "[F]ranciscus Petrarcha Florentinus origine ex antiqua familia honestisque parentibus fuit ...", expl. "... Ultima sacratis studiis dans tempora vite" (Solerti, Le vite, 294-99). ff. 1-38v, Giovanni Boccaccio, Vita di Dante , title "Qui comenza la vita costumi de lo excelente poeta vulgari Dante Alegieri de Firenze, honore e gloria de lo idioma fiorentino scrito e composto per lo famosisimo homo misser Zuan Bochacio de Certaldo scrito de la origine, vita, studii e costumi del clarissimo homo Dante Aleghieri poeta fiorentino e de l’opere composte per lui, comenza felicemente e in questo primo capitolo tocha la sententia de Solone la quale è mal seguita per li fiorentini. Capitolo primo.", inc. "[S]olone il cui peto uno humano tempio de divina sapientia ...", expl. "... ma con quelle ch’io posso, rendo, benedicendo in eterno el suo nome e ’l suo valore" (Solerti, Le vite, 8-71; Branca, Tradizioni, 1).
ff. 44-50v, ruled but blank.

2nd. f.: lo exilio

ORIGIN
Written in Northern Italy (according to Ullman, probably in Venice by Filippo della Strada), s. XV (first half). PROVENANCE
From the Abate Matteo Canonici collection; bought in 1835 by Rev. Walter Sneyd, his bookplate is on the front flyleaf, "Ex libris Valteri Sneyd", a scythe and fleur-de-lis on a shield surmounted by a helmet and lion; Sneyd sale, London, 1903, no. 107, to V. G. Simkhovitch; sale by Anderson, New York, 19 May 1905, no. 33, to G. D. Smith. Bought by Plimpton in June 1905. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ullman, no. 89; De Ricci, p. 1074, no. 751; M. H. Jackson, Catalogue of the Frances T. P. Plimpton Collection, pp. 403-04 and 433.

Abbreviations

Branca, Tradizione, I: Branca, Vittore. Tradizione delle opere di Giovanni Boccaccio. Roma, 1958; Studi sul Boccaccio, II (vol. II, pp. 15-36), III (vol. IV, pp. 1-18), IV (vol. IX, pp. 1-19), V (vol. XIII, pp. 5-9).

Briquet: Briquet, C.M. Les Filigranes, facsimile of the 1907 edition with supplementary material, ed. A. Stevenson. 4 vols. Amsterdam, 1968.

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

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).

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