De re uxoria

Item Information

Title:
De re uxoria
Description:
Barbaro's treatise on women and marriage, dedicated to Lorenzo de'Medici on the occasion of his marriage to Ginevra Cavalcanti in 1415.
Author:
Barbaro, Francesco, 1390-1454
Dedicatee:
Lorenzo, di Giovanni de' Medici, 1395-1550
Former owner:
Barrois, Joseph, approximately 1785-1855
Former owner:
Ashburnham, Bertram Ashburnham, Earl of, 1797-1878
Former owner:
Cockerell, Sydney Carlyle, Sir, 1867-1962
Date:
1450–1490
Format:
Manuscripts
Books
Genre:
Illuminations
Manuscripts, Latin (Medieval and modern)--Italy
Manuscripts, Medieval--Italy
Goatskin bindings
Inscriptions
humanistic scripts
Location:
Boston Public Library
Rare Books Department
Collection (local):
Medieval and Early Renaissance Manuscripts (Collection of Distinction)
Subjects:
Marriage--Early works to 1800
Wives--Conduct of life--Early works to 1800
Women--Early works to 1800
Places:
Italy
Extent:
82 leaves : parchment ; 203 x 140 (130 x 80) mm
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/cz30sv77c
Terms of Use:
No known copyright restrictions.
No known restrictions on use.
Place of origin:
[Italy?]
Language:
Latin
Table of Contents:
1. fol. 1: Francisci Barbare Veneti ad insignem virum laurentium de medicis civem Florentinum De re uxoria liber incipt feliciter. Maiores nostri ... [fol. 80] ac animo certe tibi deditissimo proficiscitur.
Notes:
Ms. codex.
Title supplied by cataloger.
Bibliographic record created by BPL staff based on description by Dr. Lisa Fagin Davis.
Origin: Produced in northern(?) Italy in 2nd half of 15th century.
Notes (ownership):
Provenance: Owned by Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Barrois (1784-1855), his 1849 sale (n. 292) to Bertram, the Fourth Earl of Ashburnham (1797-1878) (SDBM 9508; green Barrois label on spine).
Notes (acquisition):
Immediate source of acquisition: Ashburnham sale, Sotheby's London, 10 June 1901, lot 623 to Sydney Cockerell for the Boston Public Library (Cockerell's notes and Sotheby's lot number inside front cover). Bookplate inside front cover, embossed BPL stamp at top of fol. 1.
Notes (citation):
Ricci, S. de. Census of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts in the United States and Canada, I: 922.
Notes (object):
Secundo folio: ...tibi pretiosa vestis...
Collation: Parchment, fol. i (contemporary parchment) + 80 + i (contemporary parchment) ; 1-8¹⁰ ; catchwords in lower right corner, final verso of each quire, vertical and decorative; catchword on fol. 72v doesn't match the top of fol. 73, but there is no text loss. 18th century (?) foliation upper right corner of each recto in brown ink, skips fol. 57 so reaches 83 instead of 82 (flyleaves are numbered as well).
Layout: 1 column, 21 lines. Bounding and writing lines in blind or light plummet.
Script: Written in a humanistic bookhand in brown ink with red (somewhat faded) rubrics.
Decoration: 7-line initial on fol. 1 in gold on colors with white-vine elements, historiated with Lorenzo and Ginevra facing one another as if exchanging vows; 2-line epigraphic capitals throughout, alternating blue and red.
Binding: Early/contemporary blind-stamped goatskin over boards, evidence of clasps formerly present on 3 edges, rebacked with original spine laid down, vellum pastedowns; housed in brown cloth clamshell box with "Francesco Barbaro" gilt on red lettering-piece.
Notes (bibliography):
Bibliography: N. Netzer, ed., Secular sacred: 11th-16th century works from the Boston Public Library and the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston College, 2006), no. 54; Zoltan Haraszti, "Medieval Manuscripts in The Library," More Books III (1928): 67 (this description pasted to front flyleaf)
Notes (language):
In Latin.
Identifier:
06_01_018647
Call #:
RARE BKS MS q Med.24
MS G.38.34 (no longer used)
Barcode:
39999091846293