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CATALOGUE

OF THE EXTRAORDINARY COLLECTION OF

SPLENDID MANUSCRIPTS,

CHIEFLY UPON VELLUM,

IN VARIOUS LANGUAGES OF EUROPE AM THE EAST, POMED BY

M. GUGLIELMO LIBRI,

The *** sector, who iS *1^>^^ ^£» °f '" ***. "* * ^ reaS0"

prajjst ijpst Prompts iwill to finmi :

Rtblia Latina Ssec. XI, with Miniatures; Evangelia IV, Grace, Sec. X-XI; several copies IT viZ^Zl in Latin of Ssec. IX, with Miniatures in the Byzantine style; various Lkc— 7Z iith anc Txth Centuries', with Miniatures; , j large number of the Fatheks of the Church, including S. Gregorius Nyssenus, Grace, Sec.IX; S Joanne. Chrysostomus Trace Saec X &c. ; Two important MSS. of Saint Cypeian, one of the Vllth and the other of the IXth Century; different Woeks of St. Augustin, St. Jeeome, St. Geegory the Great, St IsmoEE &c. &c. all of the Vlllth, IXth, Xth, and Xlth Centuries; Beba in Maecum, Sec VIII,' cotemporary with the Author; Bed^ Historia Anglorum Sec. XI; Vim sTnctorum Sec IX, X, and XI, with Ancient Designs or Miniatures of the Anglo-Saxon School • several Collections of Liturgies, in Greek or in Latin, with the Ancient Music, written Sec. IX, X, XI ; Justiniam Digestum Novum, Sec. XI-XII.

MANY OE THE GREEK WRITERS AND NEARLY ALL THE LATIN CLASSICS,

INCLUDING

Lucretius (S»c. XIV.), Lncanus (fee. XIII.) Claudianus (S*c XII.^ Vegetius (fee. XI)

Censorious, , Prudentius (fee. X.),Donatus (fee. IX.), Priscianus (Sec. XI), Boetius (fee. XI.)

Cassiodorus (fee. IX.), Grammatici (Saec. X.), &c. &c.

fMjMtkitl, ptMcsl, sift otlF Sda&t »*,

Including the earliest Manuscript in existence, containing modern numerical figures

ANCIENT ITALIAN POETS AND PROSE WRITERS;

Works in the Limousin Dialect; Portulani and Ancient Illuminated Maps;

feig gtm\ |1oetrg an* mnpabUefetb Scmawes of Cfefcatlrg; ©tt> ©nglisfe |!«trg; " AN EXTENSIVE COLLECTION OF ORIENTAL WORKS ;

HOR^ AND OTHER DEVOTIONAL BOOKS, with magnificent Miniatures of the various Schools

AUTOGRAPH MSS. OF TASSO, GALILEO, KEPLER, LEipm, A^A

WHICH WILL BE SOLD BY AUCTIOf^^3

BY MESSES. 01* JNEW I0RK.

S. LEIGH SOTHEBY & JOHN WILKINSON,

AUCTIONEERS OF LITERARY PROPERTY AND WORKS ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE FINE ARTS,

AT THEIR HOUSE, 3, WELLINGTON STREET, STRAND,

On MONDAY, 28th of MARCH, 1859, and Seven following Days,

(Sunday excepted), at One o' Clock precisely each Day.

MAY BE VIEWED THREE DAYS PRIOR, AND CATALOGUES HAD.

VBINTED BY J. DAVY AND SONS, 137, LONG ACHE, LONDON.

CONDITIONS OF SALE.

I. The highest bidder to be the buyer ; and if any dispute arise between

bidders, the lot so disputed shall be immediately put up again, provided the seller cannot decide the said dispute.

II. No person to advance less than 6d. ; above ten shillings, Is. ; above five

pounds, 2s. Gd. ; and so on.

III. The purchasers to give in their names and places of abode, and to pay down 10s. in the pound, if required, in part payment of the purchase- money ; in default of which the lot or lots purchased to be immediately put up again and re-sold.

IV. The lots to be taken away, at the buyer's expense,immediately after the con- clusion of the sale; and in default of which Messrs. S, LEIGH SOTHEBY and JOHN WILKINSON will not hold themselves responsible if lost, stolen, damaged, or otherwise destroyed, but they will be left at the sole risk of the purchaser. If, at the expiration of One Week after the con- clusion of the sale, the manuscripts or other property are not cleared or paid for, they will then be catalogued for immediate sale, and the expense, the same as if re-sold, will be added to the amount at which the books were bought. Messrs. S. LEIGH SOTHEBY and JOHN WILKINSON will have the option of re-selling the uncleared lots either by public or private sale, without any notice being given to the defaulter.

V. The manuscripts will be sold with all faults and errors of description.

VI. To prevent inaccuracy in delivery, and inconvenience in the settlement of the purchases, no lot can on any account be removed during the time of sale.

VII. Upon failure of complying with the above conditions, the money required and deposited in part of payment shall be forfeited ; and if any loss is sustained in the re-selling of such boohs as are not cleared or paid for, all charges on such re-sale shall be made good by the defaulters at this sale.

Gentlemen who cannot attend this Sale may have their Commissions faithfully

executed by their humble Servants,

S. LEIGH SOTHEBY & JOHN WILKINSON,

Wellington Street, Strand.

•

1 0 I9QO

fctmLE r

of Mft York.

CONTENTS.

Introduction (in English)				Page ii
Introduction (en Erancais)	•			iii
List of the Editions quoted in	the Catalogui	^		xli
List of the Facsimiles	•			1
Catalogue of the Libri Collection			1
Supplement to the Catalogue	•			. 240
Plates.		March 28th,	1859 .
Eirst Day's Sale	Monday,	. Page 1
Second Day's Sale .	Tuesday,	March 29th,	5) •	37
Third Day's Sale . . .	"Wednesday,	March 30th,	))	72
Eourth Day's Sale .	Thursday,	March 31st,	>>	99
Fifth Day's Sale . - . .	Eriday,	April 1st,	ti •	. 133
Sixth Day's Sale	Saturday,	April 2nd,	JJ	. 165
Seventh Day's Sale	Monday,	April 4th,	J>	. 205
Eighth Day's Sale .	Tuesday,	April 5th,	))	. 233

INTRODUCTION*.

In publishing the description of one of the most considerable Collections of Manuscripts which have been exposed to public sale for many years, we have thought it our duty to enter more into detail than is usual in Sale Catalogues. Our motives for so doing will be easily comprehended. In spite of the assistance of every kind offered to collectors, — in spite of so many minute descriptions, so many considerable catalogues, and so many excellent biblio- graphical works which continually make their appearance, — in fine, notwith- standing the celebrated Manuel of M. Brunet — the necessity of placing in Sale Catalogues explanatory notes to all printed books, remarkable either for their rarity or their condition, is more and more felt. How much more then must similar notes be necessary in the case of volumes which are not, like different copies belonging to the same edition, individuals of one species ; but which, on the contrary, have all, as manuscripts, an importance, a value, a rarity, and, in a word, a distinct individuality ?

From the first the description, if we may so define it, of a printed book has been reduced to the simplest form of expression. Apart from certain exceptions too well known to render it necessary for us to dwell on them, the name of the author, the title of the work, its size and date, the name of the printer, and that of the town where the book appeared, are sufficient to enable any one to recognize, even at a distance, that the book of which he reads the description in a catalogue is identical with that which is described in the bibliographical work before him ; besides, the tolerably frequent appearance at sales of books, even of those considered rare, while showing the general increase of their value, server also, at least within certain limits, to fix their price. The case is different with manu- scripts, which are not only too seldom met with at sales to enable us to form a correct idea of their value by these means, but which might even

* For the sake of persons unacquainted with the English language, we subjoin in French this Introduction, which is intended to afford a general idea of the collection described in the present Catalogue.

of New York.

INTRODUCTION*.

En publiant la description d'une des Collections les plus considerables de Mannscrits qui aient ete livrees depuis longtemps aux encheres, nous avons cm devoir entrer dans plus de details qu'on ne le fait generalement dans les catalogues de vente. On comprendra facilement les motifs qui nous y ont porte. Malgre les secours de toute nature offerts aux collecteurs, malgre tant de descriptions minutieuses, tant de catalogues considerables, tant d'excellents ouvrages de bibliograpbie, qui paraissent tous les jours, enfin malgre le celebre Manuel de M. Brunet, on sent de plus en plus le besoin d'introduire dans les catalogues de vente des notes explicatives pour tous les livres imprimes que leur rarete ou leur condition rend particulierement remarquables ; combien plus de telles notes ne deviennent elles pas necessaires quand il est question de volumes qui ne sont pas, comme les divers exemplaires d'une meme edition, des individus appartenant a la meme espece, mais qui au contraire ont tous, comme les manuscrits, une importance, une valeur, une rarete, en un mot une individualite distincte ?

Des l'origine, le signalement, pour ainsi dire, d'un livre imprime a ete reduit a sa plus simple expression. A part certaines exceptions trop connues pour qu'on ait besoin de s'y arreter, le nom de l'auteur, le titre de l'ouvrage, le format, la date, le nom de l'imprimeur et celui de la ville ou le livre a paru, suffisent pour faire reconnaitre, meme de loin, que.le livre dont on lit la description dans un catalogue est pareil a celui qui est decrit dans tel ouvrage de bibliograpbie qu'on a sous les yeux. De plus Tapparition assez frequente dans les ventes des livres meme qu'on considere comme rares, tout en montrant la progression generalement ascendante de leur valeur, sert, dans certaines limites du moins, a en determiner le prix. II en est autrement des manuscrits, qui non seulement paraissent trop rarement dans les ventes pour qu'on puisse par ce

* Pour les personnes auxquelles la langue Anglaise ne serait pas familiere, nous motions ici en Francais cette Introduction destinee ^ donner une idee g^nerale de la collection decrite

dans ce Catalogue.

62

iv INTEODUCTION.

appear there in great numbers every day without their repeated occurrence assisting us, in the smallest degree, to appreciate the worth of those which might be announced, imperfectly described, in later catalogues. We are far from having found a formula for the exact description of manuscripts as simple as that which we employ for printed books. In fact, without speaking of the name of the author and the title of the work, which are too often wanting in manuscripts, or of the date, which is scarcely ever indicated, and which even after a careful examination can only be determined approximately and by conjecture, the importance of a manuscript, and the value which should be set on it, depend on reasons which differ for the most part from those which guide amateurs in their choice of printed books. Except in the case of manuscripts with miniatures, or richly ornamented, which are real objects of art and generally considered as such, a true connoisseur of manu- scripts will be governed in his choice by motives which not only escape the vulgar, but which often remain unknown even to those best acquainted with printed books. Thus, supposing it to contain a good various reading which might throw light on the doubtful sense of an obscure passage, some imperfect, torn and soiled manuscript of Caesar or Livy, would be more eagerly sought after by a connoisseur than one of those beautiful volumes so exquisitely written in Erance or Italy during the fifteenth century. Here a marginal annotation may clear up a difficulty which has puzzled the most skilful philo- logists; there, an abbreviation, seemingly illegible, may place us on the track of the real author of a work which has been considered anonymous. Those who know how to seek, encounter not only new facts, curious various readings, and unpublished fragments, but even discover whole works, perfectly unknown, in obscure collections, in which they thought at first sight to find only mystic reveries. At a period when parchment was scarce and dear, all vacant spaces were turned to account, and as soon as a blank page was observed in a volume, it was eagerly devoted to register facts which are sometimes to us of great interest. Frequently the origiual text was even washed off, or scratched out, and admirable pages replaced by writings no doubt less beautiful, but more suited to the wants of the moment, and it is well known what unhoped-for discoveries these erased books, these palimpsests, have yielded in our time to penetrating and skilful eyes. At a later date, when the discovery of printing caused manuscripts to be neglected, they were mutilated for the purpose of employing the fragments in all sorts of uses, and we still find occasionally in those parchment linings or fly-leaves, which the binders placed in their books, precious relics which do not escape the practised eye of an amateur.

Many persons imagine that, because so many books have been printed, the science of history is complete, and that nothing remains but to add some details, and above all to daub the picture with a profusion of colours which too often only obliterate the primitive form. When, however, we wish to

INTRODUCTION. v

moyen se faire une juste idee de leur valeur, mais qui meme pourraient y paraitre en grand nombre chaque jour sans que leur apparition repetee aidat en aucune facon a apprecier ceux qui, imparfaitement decrits, seraient annonces dans de nouveaux catalogues. Pour la description exacte des manuscrits, on est loin d'avoir trouve une formule simple comnie pour les livres imprimes. En effet, sans parler du nom de l'auteur et du titre de l'ouvrage, qui trop sou vent manquent dans les manuscrits, ni de la date qui n'est presque jamais indiquee et que, meme apres un examen attentif, on ne saurait determiner que d'une maniere approximative et assez conjecturale, l'importance d'un manuscrit, le prix qu' on doit y attacher, dependent de causes qui, pour la plupart, sont differentes de celles qui dirigent les amateurs dans le choix des livres imprimes. Sauf pour les manuscrits a miniatures ou richemeut ornes, qui, sont de veritables objets- d'art et que generalement on considere corame tels, un bon connaisseur de manu- scrits sera dirige dans son choix par des motifs qui non seulement echappent au vulgaire, mais qui, souvent meme, demeurent inconnus aux hommes con- naissant le mieux les livres imprimes. Aussi, s'il contient une bonne variante qui puisse eclaircir le sens douteux d'un passage difficile, tel manuscrit incom- plet, sale et dechire de Cesar ou de Tite Live, sera-t-il plus avidement recherche par un connaisseur qu'un de ces beaux volumes si admirablement ecrits en France ou en Italie au XVe siecle. Ici une annotation marginale eclaircira une difficulty qui avait arrete les plus habiles philologues, la une abreviation qui avait semble illisible mettra sur la voie du veritable auteur d'un ouvrage qu'on avait relegue dans la classe des anonymes. Ceux qui savent chercher, non seulement rencontrent des faits nouveaux, des variantes curieuses, des fragments inedits, mais ils decouvrent meme des ouvrages entiers, parfaitement inconnus, dans des recueils obscurs ou, a premiere vue, Ton croirait ne rencontrer que des reveries mystiques. A une epoque ou le parchemin etait rare et cher, on mettait a, profit tous les vides, et des qu'on voyait une page blanche dans un volume, on s'empressait d'y enregistrer des faits qui parfois ont pour nous un grand interet. Souvent meme on lavait, on grattait l'ancienne ecriture pour remplacer des pages admirables par des ecrits moins beaux, sans doute, mais plus appropries aux besoins du moment, et Ton sait quelles decouvertes inesperees ces livres grattes, ces palimpsestes ont procurees de nos jours a des yeux habiles et percants. Plus- tard, lorsque la decouverte de l'imprimerie fit negliger les manuscrits, on les mutila pour en employer les fragments a toutes sortes d'usages, et parfois nous trouvons encore dans les gardes en parchemin que les relieurs mettaient alors a leurs livres de precieux feuillets qui n'echappent pas au regard exerce de 1' amateur.

Bien des gens s'imaginent que parcequ'on a imprime tant de livres, la science historique est complete, et qu'il n'y a plus qu'a ajouter quelques details, et surtout qu' a verser sur le tableau une profusion de couleurs qui, trop souvent, font disparaitre la forme primitive. Pourtant quand

vi INTKODUCTION";

study, thoroughly, the history not only of literature and science, but also that of manners, religions, laws, and the organization of modern societies, and endeavour to discover the truth in the midst of that chaos which, on the fall of the Eoman Empire, the invasion of the barbarians produced in Europe ; when we desire to follow, step by step, the labour of reconstruction and continual renovation which has been in operation ever since, we quickly perceive that printed books do not suffice ; that in many instances we have been too easily led to believe what we were taught by history which may be termed official; that bad texts, reproduced without dis- crimination and without criticism, have set in circulation a number of errors which have been often accepted as truths ; and that even in the present day, after so many useful and important efforts, in every country, to root out these errors, it is still necessary to have recourse to manuscripts, if we wish to clear up the most difficult questions. Therefore we find men who in all ages have made for themselves an illustrious name by their historical researches, men whose labours fill us with most admiration, bestowing unceas- ingly their attention on manuscripts, and taking not only the liveliest interest in their preservation, but also in the publication, comparison, and purifica- tion of the texts ; for therein are the most faithful and authentic monu- ments of the intellectual life of those generations which have laboured so much to give to the world its moral features and actual consti- tution.

To have recourse to original writers and ancient chronicles is to take a prodigious step. We thus get rid of those heroes in powdered wigs, who have been so long exhibited under ancient names, in books as well as on the stage. "We are far from pretending that the past cannot be correctly studied in printed books, but we fearlessly assert that as the man who has recourse to original works possesses a great advantage over one who reads only compilations, so the savant who makes himself familiar with manuscripts will learn more from them respecting the language, the arts and sciences, the habits, the domestic manners, the religious belief, and the method of study of the people whose history he wishes to understand, than those who read only printed books. On all these subjects there is in manuscripts a mass of details which cannot be transferred to the book, as the physiognomy of the manuscript necessarily disappears under the labours of the editor: As the sight of Rome and Pompeii insures an incontestable superiority to the artist and the archaeologist who have inspected the original monuments instead of engravings of them, so the knowledge of manuscripts reveals to the student a multitude of facts which he would vainly seek for in printed editions. Unfortunately these manuscripts are not easily preserved. An im- mense number of them have already disappeared ; and both by old age and a thousand different accidents, many have been destroyed, and will day after day continue to perish. A time will inevitably come when all

INTRODUCTION. vii

on veut etudier a fond non seulement l'histoire litteraire et scientifique, mais aussi celle dcs moeurs, des religions, des lois, de l'organisation des societes modernes, et tacher de decouvrir la verite au milieu de ce chaos qu'a la chute de l'Empire Eomain l'invasion des barbares avait produit en Europe ; quand on veut suivre pas a pas le travail de reconstruction et de renouvellement continuel qui depuis lors s'est opere, on s'apercoit bien vite, que les livres imprimes ne suffisent pas ; que dans beaucoup de cas on a ete entraine trop facilement a croire ce que nous enseignait l'histoire qu'on pourrait appeler officielle ; que de mauvais textes, reproduits sans discemement et sans critique, ont mis en circulation une multitude d'erreurs, accepte'es souvent sans con- trole ; et que, meme aujourd'hui, apres tant de travaux utiles et important* faits dans tous les pays pour deraciner ces erreurs, il faut encore, si Ton veut bien s'eclairer sur les questions les plus difficiles, avoir recours aux manuscrits. Aussi voyons nous les hommes qui de tout temps se sont fait un nom illustre par leurs recherches historiques, ces hommes dont les tra- vaux nous remplissent le plus d' admiration, porter sans cesse leurs regards vers les manuscrits et prendre un interet tres vif a leur conservation ainsi qu' a la publication, a la comparison, et a l'epuration des textes ; car ce sont la les monuments les plus certains, les plus authentiques, de la vie intellectuelle de ces generations qui ont tant travaille a donner au monde sa forme morale et sa constitution actuelle.

Eecourir aux ecrivains originaux et aux anciennes chroniques, c'est deja faire un pas immense. On se debarrasse ainsi de ces heros a perruque poudree que, sur les theatres comme dans les livres, Ton a si longtemps montres sous d'anciens noms. Nous sommes loin de pretendre qu'on ne puisse pas bien etudier les temps passes dans les livres imprimes, mais nous ne craindrons pas d'affirmer que comme celui qui a recours aux ouvrages ori- ginaux a un grand avantage sur Thorn me qui ne lit que des compilations, le savant qui se familiarise avec les manuscrits en apprendra plus sur la langue, sur les sciences, sur les arts, sur les habitudes, sur les moeurs intimes, sur les croyances, sur la maniere de travailler des hommes dont il veut connaitre l'histoire, que ceux qui ne lisent que des imprimes. Sur toutes ces choses il y a dans les manuscrits une foule de details qu'on ne saurait faire passer dans un ouvrage oii la physionomie du manuscrit disparait necessairement par le travail de l'editeur. De meme que la vue de Eome et de Pompei assure une superiorite incontestable a l'artiste et a l'archeologue qui ont examine les monuments originaux, la connaissance des manuscrits revele a l'homme d' etude une foule de faits qu'il chercherait vainement dans les im- pressions.

Malheureusement ces manuscrits ne sont pas faciles a conserver. II en a disparu un nombre incalculable ; et par la vetuste, comme par mille accidents divers, il s'en detruit et s'en detruira beaucoup tous les jours. Un moment viendra mfailliblement ou tous ceux qui existent encore aujourd'hui seront

viii INTRODUCTION.

tbose which now exist will be annihilated. This is an additional motive for publishing, as often as possible, detailed descriptions of those which time has spared, especially of those which either on account of their antiquity, or the subjects of which they treat, seem to call for a particular examination. If the descriptions contained in this Catalogue should appear sometimes too diffuse, we would take the liberty to remind the reader that in the largest and most celebrated catalogues, the analytical catalogues for in- stance published by Bandini or Montfaucon, the descriptions of volumes, of even comparatively slight interest, are much more considerable than those which we have given. As, in their works, those learned men had no other aim but to render the manuscripts they described thoroughly well known, we could not have been more laconic without failing in our object, which is exactly similar to theirs. Such descriptions, which alone can lead to a correct appre- ciation of the value of each manuscript, appear still more necessary in a sale catalogue than in a descriptive catalogue intended solely for the learned.

The Collection which is now offered to the public is remarkable on more accounts than one. Independently of the large number of volumes, the materials of which it is composed will perhaps attract the attention of con- noisseurs. All countries, all ages, and every branch of human learning are represented in it. Ancient manuscripts which may be termed paleograpliic, Latin classics, Greek and Oriental manuscripts, History, Science, Autographs, and the old French and Italian poets, constitute its principal classes.

In any library a collection of more than seventy Latin manuscripts older than the twelfth century would be remarkable. The printed catalogues of many celebrated libraries, such as for instance that of Saint Mark at Venice, of the Malatestiana at Ravenna, and the Royal Library of Turin, are far from containing so large a number.* Manuscripts like these, which constitute the base of all paleographic science, and of which the savants who occupy themselves with these studies have always sought to give us as many facsimiles as possible, are becoming every day more rare and more difficult to find. They represent the first authentic monuments of modern knowledge. They are the links of the chain which connects us with antiquity, and amateurs will find in our collection some of those primi- tive monuments of the seventh and eighth centuriesf in which may still be perceived traces of the efforts which at every step of the social ladder,

* According to the list which we have drawn up from the Catalogues of these different libra- ries, compiled by Pasini and Rivautella, Zanettiand Bongiovanni, and Muccioli, the Turin library- contained only ten manuscripts older than the twelfth century; the Malatesta only seven and in the great library of Saint Mark there was but a single Latin manuscript (of the eleventh century) of an earlier date than the twelfth century. The number of manuscripts of the twelfth century, contained in these libraries, was also very limited. We speak of course of the time when these large and celebrated catalogues appeared.

t See Nos. 139, 298, 495, 1111, and 1112 in the present Catalogue.

INTRODUCTION. ix

aneantis. C'est un motif de plus pour publier, toutes les fois que cela est possible, la description detaillee de ceux que le temps a epargnes ; surtout de ceux qui, par leur antiquite ou par les matieres dont ils traitent, semblent appeler un examen particulier. Si parfois les descriptions contenues dans ce catalogue pouvaient sembler trop eteudues, nous prendrions la liberty de rap- peler que dans les plus grands et les plus celebres catalogues, dans les catalogues analytiques, publics par exemple par Bandini, ou par Montfaucon, les descrip- tions, meme de volumes comparati cement peu interessants, sont beaucoup plus considerables encore que celles que nous donnons. Comme dans leurs ouvrages ces grands erudits, n'ont eu d'autre objet que de faire bien connaitre les manu- scrits qu'ils decrivaient, nous n'aurions pu etre plus laconiques sans manquer notre but qui etait parfaitement semblable au leur. De telles descriptions, qui seules peuvent conduire a une juste appreciation de la valeur de chaque manuscrit, semblent encore plus necessaires dans un catalogue de vente que dans un catalogue descriptif, destine purement aux erudits.

La Collection qui est offerte aujourd'hui au public se fait remarquer a plusieurs titres. Independamment du nombre des volumes, par sa com- position elle appellera peut etre l'attention des connaisseurs. Tous les pays, toutes les epoques, toutes les branches des connaissances humaines y sont represented . Les manuscrit s anciens et qu'on pourrait appeler paleogra- phiques, les classiques Latins, les manuscrits Grecs et Orientaux, l'Histoire, les Sciences, les autographes, les anciens poetes Italiens et Francais en forment les classes principales.

Dans toute bibliotheque une reunion de plus de 70 manuscrits latins anterieurs au XII e siecle serait remarquee. Les catalogues imprimes de plusieurs bibliotheques celebres, par exemple celle de Saint Marc de Venise, la Malatestiana de Ravenne, et la Bibliotheque Royale de Turin, sont loin d'en contenir un aussi grand nombre.* De tels manuscrits qui forment la base de toute science paleographique, et dont les savants qui s'oc- cupent de ces etudes se sont toujours appliques a nous donner le plus de facsimiles possible, deviennent tous les jours plus rares et plus difficiles a rencontrer. Ils representent pour nous les premiers monuments authentiques du savoir moderne. Ce sont les anneaux de la chaine qui nous rattache a 1' antiquite, et les amateurs trouveront dans notre collection quelques uns de ces monuments primitifs du YIP: et du VIII.e siecle t dans lesquels on apercoit encore les traces des efforts qu'a tous les degres de l'echelle sociale

* D'apres le releve" que nous avons fait sur les catalogues de ces diverses bibliotheques rediges par Pasini et Rivautella, par Zanetti et Bongiovauni, et par Muccioli, la Bibliotheque de Turin ne contenait que dix manuscrits anterieurs au douzieme siecle ; la Bibliotheque Malatesta que sept et il n'y avait dans la grande Bibliotheque de Saint Marc qu'un seul manuscrit latin (du XI? siecle) anterieur au douzieme siecle. Le nombre des manuscrits du XII. siecle contenus dans ces Bibliotheques etait aussi tres restreint. Nous parlons toujours du moment ou ces grands et celebres catalogues out paru.

f Voyez les Nos. 139, 298, 495, 1111, 1112, du Catalogue.

x INTRODUCTION.

men of elevated minds never ceased making to unite the barbarian with the Roman and Christian worlds, and to open the road on which Charlemagne was soon to enter, forcing all Europe to follow him.

To write in those barbarous ages was not only a difficulty, but sometimes even a crime. The towns in which several centuries later Petrarch could find no ink to copy a precious fragment of Roman antiquity which he had discovered, were, in the time of the Merovingians, even more denuded of everything necessary to the writer. Parchment, stylus, or pen, and ink, — all was at once wanting to him who devoted himself to study, and there was no lack of danger at an epoch in which those who allowed them- selves to trace geometrical or astronomical figures were accused of magic. To copy manuscripts, and thus endeavour to preserve the greatest possible number of ancient monuments, was to preserve and multiply the germs which in their later development were to contribute most powerfully to rear again the social edifice. Thus we find Charlemagne, who occupied himself with so many grand undertakings at once, bestowing particular attention on manuscripts, causing copies to be made, interesting himself in the form of the writing, declaring war with the barbarous characters (which were an additional obstacle to the amalgamation of the ancient and modern civili- zation), and restoring, with only slight differences, the old Roman hand- writing, as if to establish another link between his people and the Romans, to whom in so many other respects he strove to assimilate them. What Charlemagne had effected in Prance, Alfred the Great soon accomplished in England, with a similar success and by the same methods. This is what rendered the work durable ; for the fifty-three expeditions of Charlemagne to the North as well as to the South of Europe, and the long struggles of Alfred against the Danes, would have been only the conflict of barbarians with other barbarians, if in giving to their people the ephemeral prestige of victory, these great men had not known how to secure to them also the less transitory superiority of a more advanced civilization.

Let who will follow the sanguinary conquests of those scourges of the human race, who, if they had completely succeeded in their work of destruction, would have annihilated civilization, broken off all bonds between the different nations of the West, in order, at the utmost, to raise in deserts capitals destined, like Karakorum at a later date, to dazzle the world for an instant, and then all at once to disappear without leaving a trace behind. Por ourselves, all our sympathies are with those more modest and use- ful heroes, who have marched to the moral conquest of the barbarians ; with those ancient missionaries of civilization who, indefatigable in their labours, have restored to Europe the unity and superiority which Rome had bestowed on it, and which the Latin church has so powerfully contributed to re-establish. Privations, sufferings, dangers, martyrdom, nothing was spared them, but

INTRODUCTION. xi

les hommes d'un esprit eleve" ne cessaient de faire pour rattacher au monde Eomain et Chretien le monde barbare, et pour ouvrir la voie dans laquelle Charlemagne devait entrer bientot en forcant l'Europe entiere a le suivre.

Ecrire dans ces temps n'etait pas seulement une difficulty c'etait parfois un crime. Les villes ou plusieurs siecles plus tard le Petrarque ne trouvait pas d'encre pour copier un fragment precieux de l'antiquite latme qu'il venait de decouvrir etaient, da temps des Merovingiens, encore plus denuees de tout ce qu'il fallait a l'ecrivain. Parchemin, stylet ou plume, encre, tout faisait defaut a la fois a celui qui se vouait a l'etude, et les dangers ne manquaient pas non plus pour ceux qu'on accusait de magie lorsqu'ils se permettaient de tracer des figures de geometrie ou d'astronomie. Copier des manuscrits, tacher par ce moyen de conserver le plus grand nombre possible d'anciens monuments, c'etait garder et multiplier les germes qui, en se developpant plus tard, devaient contribuer le plus a relever l'edifice social. Aussi voyons nous Charlemagne, qui s'occupait de tant de grandes choses a la fois, porter une attention particuliere vers les manuscrits, en faire faire des copies, s'interesser a la forme de l'ecriture et, rapprochant, en cela comme en d'autres choses, ses peuples des Eomains, declarer la guerre a l'ecriture barbare (qui etait un obstacle de plus a l'almagamation de l'ancienne civili- sation avec la moderne) et ramener, avec de legeres differences seulement, l'ancienne ecriture romaine, comme pour etablir un lien de plus. Ce que Charlemagne avait fait en Prance, Alfred le Grand le fit bientot en Angleterre, avec le meme succes et par les memes moyens. C'est la ce qui rendit leur ceuvre durable ; car, les cinquante trois expeditions de Charlemagne au Nord comme au Sud de l'Europe, et les longues luttes du roi Alfred avec les Danois, n'auraient ete que des chocs de barbares contre d'autres barbares si, en donnant a leurs peuples le prestige passager de la victoire, ces grands hommes n'avaient su leur assurer aussi l'ascendant moins ephemere d'une civilisation plus avancee.

Suive qui voudra les conquetes sanglantes de ces fleaux de l'humanite qui, s'ils avaient complement reussi dans leur ceuvre de destruction, auraient aneanti la civilisation, rompu tout lien entre le^diverses nations de l'Occi- dent pour elever, tout au plus, dans des deserts des capitales destinees, comme plus tard Karakoroum, a eblouir un instant le monde, puis a disparaitre tout a coup sans laisser de traces. Quant a nous, toutes nos sympathies sont pour ces plus modestes et plus utiles heros, qui ont marche a la conquete morale des barbares; pour ces anciens missionnaires de la civilisation qui, infatigables dans leurs travaux, ont rendu a, l'Europe 1'unite et la suprematie que Eome lui avait donnees, et que l'Eglise latine a tant contribue a relever. Privations, souftrances, dangers, martyre rien ne leur fut epargne, mais rien ne les decourageait, soutenus qu'ils etaient par le zele religieux et par l'amour des lumieres, travaillant a la fois pour la cause du Christianisme et pour celle de l'ancienne civilisation. Les traces de cette double action, faible, inegale, inter-

xii INTRODUCTION.

nothing could discourage them, sustained as they were by religious zeal and by the love of enlightenment, from striving at the same time for the cause of Christianity and that of ancient civilization. The living traces of this two-fold action, feeble, unequal, and intermittent no doubt, but never entirely extin- guished, are to be found in the manuscripts which these indefatigable men copied with their own hands.

Unless consecrated by an illustrious martyrdom, the names of these pious scribes have almost all disappeared, but there remain some which all true friends of literature endeavour to preserve, and of which it would be interesting to form a complete list. We are struck with observing how along with their humility, their self-denial, their submission to the church and to their superiors, the love of letters, the love of their book, and the sentiment of the true bibliophile peeps out in the notices which they inscribed on their manuscripts. Who would not feel emotion at the perusal of what that poor Eegimbertus*, whose name was completely forgotten till now, wrote at the commencement of a volume which he had copied in the time of Charlemagne ? This manuscript would be of inestimable value had it come down to us in an entire state, for besides primitive monuments of the Teutonic languages, Latin poems, and chronicles which appear to have been lost, it contained a work of Pliny, the very title of which was unknown to us ! Regimbertus loves his book, he can scarcely bring him- self to part with it, he requests his brethren to preserve it carefully, and not lend it until a pledge has been given for its restitution, and in a long in- scription at the commencement, he describes minutely the precautions which are to be taken that the volume may not be injured. Along with the Kegim- bertus, with the Otloh, one of whose autograph and unknown works will be found in this collectionf, with the Hermannus of Cluny, who in the tenth cen- tury shewed himself an admirable caligrapher and a skilful draughtsman^, and other modest friends of literature whom this Catalogue will introduce, we wish we were able to register the names of those superior minds who, in the ninth century in Germany, used to read Homer and Virgil, and of whom Ermenricus of Elwangen complains in a work, a manuscript of which, almost cotemporary with the author, will be found in the present Catalogue§. This fact alone shows us what attractions ancient literature possessed for these pri- mitive people who, when scarcely issued from their forests, shewed themselves capable of admiring the finest chefs-d'oeuvre of antiquity.

It is to this taste for ancient letters, often compelled to hide itself in the shade, but perhaps less rare than is now imagined, that we owe the preserva- tion of so many fine monuments of antiquity, that is to say of all that which has elevated taste, letters and intelligence in Europe. These precious monuments would have infallibly perished, if in the barbarous ages no

* See No. 1112 f See No. 491. % See No. 851. § See No. 1103.

INTRODUCTION. xiii

mittente sans doute, mais qui ne s'eteint jamais entierement, se retrouvcnt encore pour ainsi dire toutes vivantes dans les livres que ces hommes infatigables copiaient de leur mains. Quand ils n'ont pas ete sanctifies par un martyre eclatant, les noms de ces pieux copistes out presque tous disparu. II en reste quelques uns, que les veritables amis des lettres s'efforcent de con- server, et dont il serait interessant de former une liste complete. On est frappe de voir combien a cote de leur humilite, de leur abnegation, de leur soumission a l'eglise et a leurs superieurs, l'amour des lettres, l'amour du livre, le sentiment du veritable bibliophile, perce dans les notes qu'ils inscri- vaient sur leurs manuscrits. Qui ne serait touche en lisant ce que ce pauvre Eegimbertus,* dont le nom etait reste completement oublie jusqu' ici, ecrivait en tete d'un volume qu'il avait copie au temps de Charlemagne ? Ce manu- scrit serait pour nous d'un prix inestimable s'il nous etait arrive tout entier, car outre des monuments primitifs des langues germaniques, des poesies latines et des chroniques qui paraissent avoir ete perdues, il contenait un ouvrage de Pline dont le titre meme nous etait inconnu ! Eegiinbertus aime son livre, il a de la peine a s'en separer ; il supplie ses freres de le garder precieusement, de ne le preter qu'apres avoir re9u un gage pour la restitution et, dans une longue inscription placee sur le titre, il decrit minutieusement les precau- tions a prendre pour que ce volume ne soit pas endommage.

A cote de ce Eegimbertus, de cet Otloh dont on trouvera dans notre collection un ouvrage autographe et inconnuf, de ce Hermann de Cluny qui, au dixieme siecle, se montrait calligraphe admirable et habile dessinateurj, a cote d'autres modestes amis des lettres que ce Catalogue fera connaitre, on voudrait pouvoir enregistrer les noms de ces esprits superieurs qui, au neuvieme siecle, lisaient en Allemagne Homere et Virgile, et dont Ermenric d'Elwangen se plaint dans un ouvrage, dont nous avons decrit un manuscrit presque con- temporain del'auteur§. Ce seul fait montre quel attrait les lettres anciennes pouvaient ofl'rir a des peuples primitifs, qui, a, peine sortis de leurs forets, se montraient capables d'admirer les plus beaux chefs-d'oeuvre de l'antiquite\

C'est a ce gout pour les lettres anciennes, force souvent de se tenir dans l'ombre mais moins rare, peut-etre, qu'on ne l'imagine aujourd'hui, qu'est due la conservation de tant de beaux monuments de l'antiquite ; c'est a dire de tout ce qui a releve le gout, les lettres, et l'intelligence en Europe. Ces precieux monuments auraient infailliblement peri si, dans les siecles barbares, il ne se fut rencontre personne pour les comprendre et pour s'y interesser. Que le sort de l'Eglise Occidentale, dont le centre etait a Eome, se fut indissolublement attache a celui de la langue Latine le jour ou St. Jerome avait traduit les livres saints en Latin ; que cette Eglise se soit vue forcee, parfois meme sans s'en rendre compte, de travailler sans cesse a rapprocher les peuples nouveaux de la civilisation Latine, c'est un fait trop connu pour

* Voyezle No. 1112. f Voyez le No. 491 % Voyez le No. 851 § Voyez le No. 1103.

xiv INTRODUCTION.

one had been found to understand and take an interest in them. That the fate of the Western Church, whose centre was Rome, was indissolubly bound up with that of the Latin language from the day that St. Jerome translated the sacred writings into Latin ; and that that church saw itself compelled, sometimes even unconsciously, to labour unceasingly to assimilate the new people to the Latin civilization, are facts too well remembered to require dwelling on. What was effected for civilization by Italian influence and the memory of ancient Rome, which seemed to offer a perfect model of organization to the most illustrious barbarian chiefs, need not be mentioned. The obstinate and efficacious resistance which the Gauls, preparing the way for the triumphs of Charlemagne, unceasingly offered to the barbarians, and the efforts of the Visigoths to raise civilization in Spain by giving it a form which may be termed ecclesiastic, have been too frequently recorded to require further comment. It is, however, perhaps somewhat less known, especially in certain countries, that in the seventh and eighth centuries the Latin Church, too much menaced at home by all kinds of enemies, particularly the Langobards and Arabs, to be able to occupy itself freely with what was passing on the borders of the Rhine, saw all at once auxiliaries as efficient as unhoped for, rise up in an island till then almost unheard of, — Ireland, whose distance, as well as scanty riches, rendered it less exposed than the rest of Europe to the attacks of the Barbarians.

We venture to hope that no one will attribute to us the ridiculous design of sketching the history of modern Europe from a manuscript point of view ; but without entering on general questions, and confining ourselves to this Catalogue, we may be permitted to observe that it is especially in manuscripts that existing traces are to be found of the labours and influence of those ancient missionaries, of those pious Irishmen, of those learned Anglo-Saxons, who, like Saint Columban, Saint Kilian, Saint Sola, Saint Burkard, Alcuin, and so many others, carried to the continent their knowledge and their zeal, and who, wherever they established themselves, nay even where they only passed, have left in caligraphy, in the arts of design, and even in literature itself the imprint of their influence.

At an epoch in which books were so rare, those vagrant bishops, (vagantes) as they were then called, who unceasingly directed their course towards the Rhine to convert the Germans, did not fail to carry pious books with them, especially Breviaries, and Evangeliaria, which the disciples whom they formed in these new countries naturally applied themselves afterwards to copy and imitate. Thus one of the most ancient Irish manuscripts was discovered in Pranconia in the tomb of Saint Kilian, and this precious relic, stained with the blood of the martyr, is still cited as one of the earliest monu- ments of Irish art. No doubt certain pious but narrow minds hoped to open the door to ecclesiastical literature only, but the exclusion sometimes pro- nounced against the classics was never general amongst writers who, even in

INTRODUCTION. xv

qu'il soit besom de s'y arreter. Ce qu'ont fait pour la civilisation l'influence Italienne et le souvenir de l'ancienne Rome, qui semblait presenter aux plus illustres parmi les chefs barbares un modele parfait d'organisation, n'a pas besoin d'etre rappele. La resistance opiniatre et efficace que, preparant les triomphes de Charlemagne, les Gaules ne cesserent jamais d'offrir a la barbarie ; les efforts des Visigoths pour relever la civilisation en Espagne en lui donnant une forme qu'on pourrait appeler ecclesiastique, tout cela est bien connu. Ce qui Test peut etre un peu moins, dans certains pays surtout, c'est qu'au septieme et au huitieme siecle l'Eglise Latine, trop menacee chez elle par toutes sortes d'ennemis, et particulierement par les Lombards et les Arabes, pour pouvoir s'occuper librement de ce qui se passait sur les bords du Ehin, vit tout-a- coup surgir des auxiliaires aussi efficaces qu'inesperes dans une ile jusqu'alors presqu'ignoree l'lrlande, que son eloignement comme son peu de richesse avait moins exposee que le reste de l'Europe aux incursions des Barbares.

Nous osons esperer qu'on voudra bien ne pas nous preter le projet ridicule d'esquisser l'histoire de l'Europe moderne au point de vue des manu- scrits. Mais sans aborder les questions generates et en nous renfermant dans ce catalogue, on nous permettra de faire remarquer que c'est particulierement dans les manuscrits que se rencontrent les traces encore vivantes des travaux et de l'innuence de ces anciens missionnaires, de ces pieux Irlandais, de ces savants Anglo-Saxons qui, comme Saint Colomban, Saint Kilian, Saint Sole, Saint Burkard, Alcuin, et taut d'autres, allaient porter sur le continent leurs connaissances et leur zele, et qui, partout ou ils se sont etablis, la, meme ou ils n'ont fait que passer, ont laisse dans la calligraphie, dans les arts du dessin, dans la litterature l'empreinte de leur influence. A une epoque ou les livres etaient si rares, ces eveques vagantes, comme on les appelait alors, qui sans cesse se dirigeaient vers le Rhin pour convertir les Germains, ne manquaient pas d'apporter avec eux des livres pieux ; surtout des breviaires, des evangeliaires, que les disciples formes dans ces nouvelles contrees s'appli- quaient naturellement a reproduire et a imiter, Aussi est-ce un des plus anciens manuscrits Irlandais qui fut decouvert en Eranconie dans le tom- beau de Saint Kilian, et cette precieuse relique, tachee du sang du martyr, est citee encore comme un des premiers monuments de l'art Irlandais. A la verite certains esprits, pieux, mais etroits, espererent n'ouvrir la porte qu' a la litterature ecclesiastique ; pourtant l'exclusion prononcee parfois contre les anciens classiques ne fut jamais generale chez des ecrivains qui, meme dans leur rudesse, se montraient toujours imitateurs de l'antiquite. Aussi voyons nous que le celebre manuscrit de Tite Live de la Bibliotheque Imperiale de Yienne avait appartenu a un moine Irlandais, Sutbert, un de ces eveques voyageurs qui, vers la fin du septieme siecle, etaient alles precher le Christianisme et (a ce qu'il parait) enseigner l'histoire Romaine en Belgique. On ne saurait s'empecher de faire remarquer que le plus celebre de ces pieux missionnaires, Saint Colomban, avait jete les fondements, en France a

xvi IOTKODUCTION.

their rudeness, always showed themselves imitators of antiquity. Thus we find that the celebrated manuscript of Livy in the Imperial Library at Vienna, belonged to Sutbert, an Irish monk, one of those wandering bishops who, towards the close of the seventh century, had gone to preach Christianity, and, as it would seem also, to teach Boman history in Belgium. One cannot help remarking that the most celebrated of these pious missionaries, Saint Columban, laid the foundations at Luxeuil in France, at St. Gall in Switzerland, and at Bobio in Italy, of three monasteries which afterwards became famous for their admirable manuscripts, in many of which the influ- ence of the Irish and Anglo-Saxon schools can be recognised at a glance. The library of St. Gall is too celebrated to require mention. The Bobio manu- scripts are known everywhere by the discoveries which have been made in the palimpsests which once belonged to that collection. As for the manuscripts of Luxeuil, they have been dispersed, but the specimens of them which are to be found in this Catalogue*, joined to what has been published on the subject by Mabillon, O'Connor and others, prove unanswerably that in this Abbey as well as in that of Stavelot in Belgiumf, and other ancient monasteries on the continent, a school of writing and miniature had sprung up as remark- able for the beauty of its caligraphy, as for the care applied to reproduce the forms of the Anglo-Irish schools.

The descriptions which will be found in the Catalogue are only intended to call attention to facts which merit further development. The beauty of the characters of certain manuscripts is so remarkable that we do not believe that either in the "Nouveau traite de Diplomatique," by the Benedictins, in the work of Mabillon, or in other works still more sumptuous, which have been recently published, there are to be found finer examples of Uncial, Eustic, or Carlo- vingian characters than those which are to be seen in the two Evangeliaria of the ninth century, and the Saint Cyprian of the same epoch, which are described under Nos. 299, 356 and 357 in the present Catalogue. The ancient ornaments and the large initial letters also deserve particular attention. Of these, the figures of the Canons in a style which may be called Pompeian, as well as the large Saint Mark of the Italian school, which are to be seen in the two Evangeliaria, cited above, are to be placed in the first rank. The Josephus of the tenth or eleventh century, with its initial letters, twelve or fifteen inches long J, the Bible of Juste- mont§, as well as other biblical manuscripts, several Fathers of the Church of the seventh and eighth centuries||, and the JPassionalia, filled with beau- tiful figures and magnificent initials, particularly recommend themselves to attention. The Evangeliarium of Valbeck (No. 358) executed towards the eleventh century, is remarkable for its drawings in the style of the Bible of Charles the Bald, the more especially as in them the different processes

* See Nos. 139, 356, 495, 683, 891, &c. f See Nos. 496, 1115, &c.

X See No. 554. § See No. 160. || See Nos. 139 and 298.

INTRODUCTION. xvii

Luxeuil, a St. Gall en Suisse, et a Bobio en Italie, de trois monasteres qui sont devenus celebres par leurs admirables manuscrits, dans plusieurs desquels on peut reconnaitre a, premiere vue l'innuence Irlandaise et l'ecole Anglo-Saxonne. La Bibliotlieque de St. Gall est trop renommee pour qu'on doive en parler ici. Les manuscrits de Bobio sont connus partout, par les decouvertes quiont ete faites dans les palimpsestes sortis de cette bibliotlieque. Quant aux manuscrits de Luxeuil ils ont ete disperses, mais les specimens que Ton en trouve dans notre catalogue*, venant se joindre a ce qui a ete publie a, ce sujet par Mabillon, par O'Connor, et par d'autres savans, prou- vent, sans replique, que dans cette AJbbaye, comme dans l'Abbaye de Stavelot en Belgiquef , et dans d'autres anciens monasteres du continent, il s'etait forme une ecole d'ecriture et de miniature, aussi remarquable par la beaute calligra- pbique que par le soin avec lequel on s'y appliquait a reproduire les formes de l'ecole Anglo-Irlandaise.

Les descriptions que Ton trouvera dans le Catalogue ne sauraientqu'appeler l'attention sur des faits qui meriteraient de plus grands developpements. La beaute des caracteres de certains manuscrits est remarquable et nous ne croyons pas que dans le JVouvecm traite de Diplomatique par les Benedictins, dans Touvrage de Mabillon, ou dans d'autres livres plus somptueux publies recemment, il existe des exemples de lettres onciales, rustiques, ou Carolines, plus belles que celles qu'on voit dans les deux Evangeliaires du neuvieme siecle ou dansle Saint Cyprien de la meme epoque qui sont decrits sous les Nos. 299, 356 et 357 de ce Catalogue. Les anciens ornementset les grandes lettres initiales semblent meriter aussi un interet particulier. En ce genre les figures des Canons, en style qu'on pourrait appeler Pompeien, ainsi que le grand Saint Marc d' ecole Italienne, qui se voyent dans les deux Evangeliaires que Ton vient de citer, se placent en premiere ligne. Le Josephe du dixieme au onzieme siecle avec ses initiales de douze a quinze ponces de haut J, la Bible de Justemont §, ainsi que d*autres manuscrits bibliques, des peres de l'eglise du septieme et du huitieme siecle ||, des Passionnaires remplis de belles figures et d'initiales magnifiques, se recommandent d'eux memes a l'attention. On remarquera surtout l'Evangeliaire de Valbeck (No. 358) execute vers le onzieme siecle avec des figures dans le style de la Bible de Charles le Chauve, et dans lequel les divers procedes des artistes de cette epoque se montrent a decouvert. Un petit bijou du dixieme au onzieme siecle (No. 359) avec des miniatures Byzantines, aussi admirable par la beaute de 1'ecriture et la finesse des ornements en or et en argent, que par son etonnante conservation, n'a pas besoin d'une plus grande description. C'est en son genre un modele parfait que son petit format et son ancienne reliure rendent encore plus elegant et plus precieux. Pour les amateurs de Miniatures la collection dont nous

* Voyez les Nos 139, 356, 495, 683, 891, etc. f Voyez les Nos. 496, 1115, etc. % Voyez le No. 554. § Voyez le No. 160

|| Voyez les Nos. 139 et 298. c

wiii INTRODUCTION.

employed by the artists of that period are plainly shown. One charming bijou, of the tenth or eleventh century (No. 359), with its Byzantine miniatures, as admirable for the beauty of the writing and the fineness of the gold and silver ornaments, as for its wonderful state of preservation, needs not a longer description. It is a perfect model of its kind, and rendered still more elegant and valuable by its small size and ancient binding. To amateurs of miniatures, the collection of which we publish the description offers remarkable specimens of every style and age. It embraces Greek, Roman, Persian, Hindoo, and Chinese art, and even that of Armenia (No. 355) will be found in it ; whilst the artists of Kashmir*, a country not less wonderful for a school of cali- graphy, almost unknown in Europe, than for its elegant fabrics, which all the world admires, encounter here the delineators of those Jewish miuiaturesf which are of such extreme rarity, and which show that there must have been a Jewish art as well as a Jewish science and literature. All this clusters around one of those inimitable chefs-d' ceuvre J which Italian art produced in the time of Leo X.

But it is not only art which shines in this collection. History, science and literature, properly so called, play in it a part so considerable that the mere abridgment of the new and unexpected results presented by the study of these manuscripts would almost fill a volume of itself.

A single instance will suffice to prove this. Among the questions which the historians of modern literature have had to discuss, there is none more important than that of determining exactly in what measure and in what degree the knowledge of letters and of the Greek language, or at least of the Greek alphabet, had been preserved in the North and West of Europe, and of estimating correctly the part which was played by Greek literature, and the influence which it was able to exert not only before the Turkish invasion had driven the learned Greeks into Italy but even before the Arabs, by their translations, had bestowed the Greek sciences on the Neo-Latins. Manuscripts in Greek characters, written in the West before the revival of learning, are rare, and have at all times been the object of the researches of the most learned paleographers, who had remarked that in certain authors, the Grammarians for example, it was customary to write the Greek quotations in Roman charac- ters §, so feeble did the knowledge of Greek literature appear to have become. Our Catalogue || offers in this respect some striking examples, which must be added to the proofs already possessed of the fact that the Greek language, which was cultivated, by the elite only it is true, even in the midst of the thickest darkness, was less unknown in the West than has perhaps been imagined. But without entering into the general question, there is one point on which we deem it necessary to touch more

* See Nos. 157, 476 and 587. f See Nos. 477 and 522.

% See No. 1135. § See No. 833. || See Nos. 174, 229, 486, 744, &c.

INTRODUCTION. xix

publions la description offre de remarquables specimens de tous les styles et de tous les temps ; l'art Grec et Romain, l'art Persan, l'art Indou et Chinois, Tart Armenien (No. 355), s'y trouvent rassembles et les artistes du Cachemire*, pays non moins etonnant par une ecole de Calligrapbie presque inconnue en Europe, que par ces elegans tissus que tout le monde admire, s'y reucontrent avec les auteurs de ces miniatures Juivesf, qui sont d'une rarete si excessive et qui montrent qu'il y a eu un art juif comme il y a eu une science et une litterature Juives. Tout cela vient se grouper autour d'un de ces inimitables chefs d'eeuvre J que l'art Italien savait enfanter du temps de L6on X.

Mais ce n'est pas l'art seul qui brille dans cette collection. L'histoire, les sciences, la litterature proprement dite y jouent un role considerable, et le resume seul des resuitats nouveaux et inattendus que l'etude de ces manuscrits pourrait offrir remplirait presque un volume.

Un seul exemple sufura pour le prouver. Parmi les questions que les historiens de la litterature moderne ont eu a traiter, il n'en est guere de plus importante que celle de determiner au juste dans quelle mesure et a quel degre la connaissance des lettres et de la langue Grecque, ou du moins celle de 1' alphabet Grec, avait pu se conserver dans le Nord et 1' Occident de 1' Europe ; d'apprecier le role que la litterature Grecque y a pu jouer, rinfluence qu'elle y a pu exercer non seulement avant que 1'iiivasion Turque eut refoule les savants Grecs en Italie, mais avant meme que, par les traductions qu'ils avaient faites, les Arabes eussent rendu les Sciences de la Grece aux peuples Neo-Latins. Les manuscrits en caracteres Grecs, ecrits en Occident avant la renaissance des lettres, sont rares ; de tout temps ils ont ete l'objet des recherches des plus savants paleographes qui avaient ret marque que pour certains auteurs, pour les grammairiens par exemple, on avait pris l'liabitude d'ecrire les citations Grecques en caracteres Eomain s§, tant la connaissance des lettres Grecques semblait s'etre affaiblie. Notre Cata- logue || offre a ce sujet des exemples frappants qui devront s'ajouter aux preuves que l'on avait deja de ce fait : que, meme au milieu des plus epaisscs tenebres, la langue Grecque, cultivee seulement il est vrai par des homines d'elite, a ete moins ignoree en Occident qu'on ne l'a peut-etre suppose ; mais sans entrer dans la question generale, il y a un point que nous devons toucher un peu plus particulierement. Eien n'a etc plus connu et plus repete que cette assertion de Matthieu Paris attribuant a Jean Basing l'honneur d'avoir rapporte, au milieu du treizieme siecle, d'Athenes en Angleterre, les chiffres et l'arithmetique litterale des Grecs, qui offrait tant d'avantages sur l'ecriture arithmetique des Eomains. A cette assertion si positive, repetee par les plus illustres ecrivains, plusieurs manuscrits de notre Catalogue opposent un dementi formel. Comment supposer en effet

* Voyez les Nos. 157, 47G, 587. f Voyez les Nos. 477 et 522.

X Voyez le No. 1135. § Voyez le No. 833.

|| Voyez les Nos. 174, 229, 486, 744, etc. c 2

ix INTRODUCTION.

particularly. No story is better known or has been more frequently repeated, than the assertion of Matthew Paris, which attributes to John Easing the honour of having, in the middle of the thirteenth century, brought from Athens to England the figures and alphabetical arithmetic of the Greeks, which possessed so many advantages over the arithmetical system of the Romans. To this assertion, so positively repeated by the most illustrious writers, several manuscripts in our Catalogue oppose a formal denial. How, in fact, can it be supposed that there was any necessity to seek in Greece for Greek figures, when these same figures were used in the North and "West of Europe in manuscripts written under Anglo-Saxon influence, and in what is generally called the Irish school ? That they were not universally known is possible, and even probable, but that in the matter of Greek figures this ancient English traveller introduced anything unknown to the West, is an assertion which those who have seen certain manuscripts described in this Catalogue * will probably not care to repeat.

The origin of our numerical system, with which it has been sought to associate the travels of John Basing, is one of the questions which have been most eagerly disputed by the learned, who have devoted themselves to the history of science. We have been careful to indicate in our Catalogue the facts wrhich may serve to clear up this point, so interesting in the history of the progress of the human mind. Among the documents of a similar character with which this Catalogue abounds, and some of which, entirely unknown, are connected with the ancient history of the University of Oxfordf, there is one which will probably attract the attention of the learned, because it is, as far as is at present known, the oldest manuscript with a date which contains what are called Arabic numerals, and the system of 'position. A remarkable fact is, that everything proves this volume to have been written in England J.

Astronomy, geometry, arithmetic, mechanics, naval construction, medi- cine, the occult sciences, cosmography, valuable Portulani which relate both to the ancient geography of America and that of Russia§, are all things which ought to be met with in a collection, when the owner has devoted his life to the study of the sciences. We will limit ourselves to pointing out three manuscripts of this kind, which appear worthy of some attention. One is a collection of eighty-four autograph letters of Leibnitz ||. The second is a volume^", also autograph, by which we find the illustrious Kepler giving lessons on every branch of mathematics, and, according to his custom, invoking the aid of philosophy and poetry to celebrate the marvels of creation. The third will appear, perhaps, still more precious. It is the genuine treatise on the sphere, written by the hand of Galileo, in its original form**. In this work, where Galileo speaks of his own discoveries, he does not seek to irritate the Court

* See Nos. 229, 298, 299, 760, 1208, &c. f See No- 664-

% See No. 665. § See Nos. 825, 826, 827, 1164, etc.

|| See No. 1142. ^ See No. 573. ** See No 399.

INTRODUCTION.

xxi

qu'on fut reduit a aller chercher en Grece les chiffres Grecs lorsque, au Nord et a 1' Occident de 1' Europe, ces chiffres £taient souvent employe's dans des nianuscrits traces sous 1' influence Anglo-Saxonne, et dans cette ecole que generalement on appelle Irlandaise ? Qu'ils ne fussent pas connus partout, c'est possible et meme probable, inais qu'en fait de chiffres Grecs cet ancien voyageur Anglais eut rapporte quelque chose d'inconnu en Occident, c'est line assertion que probablement ceux qui auront vu certains nianuscrits decrits dans ce Catalogue* ne voudront plus repeter.

L'origine de notre systeme de numeration, auquel on a voulu rattacher le voyage de Jean Basing, est une des questions les plus vivement debattues par les savants qui se sont vouea a l'histoire des sciences. On a eu soin de signaler dans ce Catalogue les faits qui peuvent servir a eclaircir ce point si interessant dans l'histoire des progres de l'esprit humain. Parmi les documents du meme genre dont cette collection abonde, et dont quelques uns tout a, fait inconnus, se rattachenta l'ancienne histoire de l'Universite d'Oxfordf, il y en a un qui, peut etre, attirera l'attention des savans, car c'est le plus ancien manuscrit avec date, jusqu' a present connu, qui contienne les chiffres qu'on a appeles arabes et le systeme de position. Chose remarquable tout annonce que ce volume a et6 ecrit en Angleterre.J

Astronomie, geometrie, arithmetique, mecanique, constructions navales, medecine, sciences occultes, cosmographie, portulans precieux qui interessent a la fois la geographie ancienne de l'Amerique et celle de la Russie§, tout cela devait naturellement se rencontrer dans une collection dont l'auteur a voue sa vie a l'etude des sciences. Nous nous bornerons a signaler en ce genre trois manuscrits qui semblent dignes de quelque attention. L'un est une collection de quatrevingt quatre lettres autographes de Leibnitz || ; dans un autre volume^", autographe aussi, nous voyons l'illustre Kepler donnant des le9ons sur toutes les parties des mathematiques, et appelant, comme de coutume, a, son aide la philosophic et la poesie pour celebrer les merveilles de la creation. Le troisieme ## semblera peut etre, encore plus precieux. C'est le veritable traite de la sphere, ecrit de la main de Galilee, et tel qu'il l'avait concu lui-meme. Dans cet ouvrage oil Galilee parle de ses propres decouvertes, il ne cherche pas a irriter la cour de Rome, mais il ne fait a la philosophie peripateticienne aucune de ces concessions, que Ton trouve dans le traite apocryphe de la sphere, publie a Rome par le pere Davisi, sous le nom de Galilee, peu de temps apres la mort de cet homme celebre. Ces deux ouvrages de Kepler et de Galilee, jusqu'a present totalement inconnus, seraient dignes d'enrichir les nouvelles editions que l'ltalie et rAllemagne ont entreprises recemment comme une sorte de monument expiatoire envers deux hommes qui ont tant fait pour la gloire de leurs pays.

* Voyez les Nos. 229, 298, 299, 760, 1028, etc. f Voyez le No. 664.

X Voyez le No. 665. § Voyez les Nos. 825, 826, 827, 1164, etc.

j| Voyes le No. 1142. f Voyez le No. 573. ** Voyez le No. 399.

xxii INTRODUCTION.

of Rome, but he makes none of those concessions to the peripatetic philo- sophy, which are found in the apocryphal treatise on the sphere, pub- lished at Rome by Father Davisi under the name of Galileo, a short time after the death of that illustrious man. These two works of Kepler and Gralileo, hitherto totally unknown, are worthy to enrich the new editions which Italy and Germany have recently undertaken as a sort of expiatory monuments to two men who have done so much for the glory of their country.

Although Autographs are to form a distinct class and a separate Cata- logue, a number of them deserving attention will be found herein. Along with some isolated letters, inserted either to afford points of comparison with auto- graph manuscripts without signatures, or because they contained interesting historical documents, there will be found also collections which, as a whole, may offer a literary or historical interest, and especially some volumes written or containing notes by celebrated men. To this last-named class belong the autograph manuscripts of Augurellus, Hermolaus Barbaras, Porta, Guarini, Baruffaldi, D'Alembert, Clairaut, Mile. Germain, Abel, the collections of documents which belonged to Charles of Orleans, and other volumes with notes by Politian, Aldus Manutius, G. Manetti, the Great Conde, Apostolo Zeno, &c. The eye will be arrested also by the manuscripts of Tasso, of which some are unpublished, and others have been printed in a shape which renders them barely recognizable. These works must still await one of those critical editions too exclusively consecrated hitherto to the writers of antiquity.

It would, however, be an error to suppose that the ancient classics (the objects of so much labour, and which the greatest part of even educated men read without knowing what trouble it has cost to present the in with a text, we will not say pure, but sufficiently intelligible) have been printed as they were left by the authors, and that everything concerning them has been already told. Independently of works like the Polyhistor of Solinus,* for example, which from the first, in consequence of an indiscretion, appeared in a form different to that which the author afterwards gave it ; independently of those books which, like the history of Eutropius have been restored by modern hands, and of which several texts are in existence, which do not accord with one another f ; independently, in short, of those works which have been dis- figured for political reasons, and of those Chronicles which, like that of Castaldo, by editors have been mutilated for a bribe J, the ancient writers are far from having reached us in their integrity, and far also from having been printed originally as they were found in manuscript.

In the early times of printing, the ardour with which intellectual minds applied themselves to ancient literature was so lively and so universal, that the printers besought learned men. for the writings of antiquity, even those on scientific or abstruse subjects, with an eagerness equal to that with which in

* Sec Xos. 946-94S. f See No. 353. $ See Nos. 230 and 712.

INTRODUCTION. xxiii

Bien que les Autographes doivent former une classe particuliere et un Catalogue a, part, ou trouvera deja en ce genre, un grand nombre d'articles dignes de quelque interet. A cote de certaines lettres isolees, qu'on a mises ici soit pour offrir un point de comparaison avee des manuscrits autographes sans signature, soit parce qu'elles contenaieut des documents liistoriques interessants, on verra des recueils qui, par leur ensemble, presentent un interet litteraire ou historique, et surtout des volumes ecrits ou annotes par des hommes celebres. A cette derniere classe appartiennent les manuscrits autographes d'Augurellus, d'llermolaus Barbarus, de Porta, de Guarini, de Baruffaldi, de d'Alembert, de Clairaut, de Melle. Germain, d'Abel, ainsi que les collections de documents ayant appartenu a Charles d' Orleans, et d'autres volumes annotes par le Politien, par Aide Manuce, par G. Manetti, par le Grand Conde, par Apostolo Zeno, etc. L'ceil s'arretera sur les manu- scrits du Tasse dont quelques uns sont inedits et dont les autres ont etc publies de fa9on a les rendre tout-a-fait meconnoissables. Ces ouvrages attendent encore une de ces editions critiques jusqu' ici trop exclusivement consacrees aux ecrivains de l'antiquite.

On serait pourtant dans l'erreur si Ton supposait que les ancieus classiques, objet de tant de travaux, et que la plupart meme des gens instruits lisent sans savoir ce qu'il en a coute pour leur offrir un textc,- nous ne dirons pas meme pur, mais sufnsamment intelligible, aient ete im- primes tels que les auteurs nous les ont laisses, et que tout soit dit sur leurcompte. Independamment des ouvrages, tels que le Polyhistor de Solin* par exemple, qui des l'origine, par l'effet d'une indiscretion, out paru sous une forme ditferente de celle que l'auteur leur a donnee plus tard ; independamment de ces livres, tels que l'histoire d'JSutrope, qui ont ete refaits par d'autres mains plus modernes et dont il existe plusieurs textes qui ne s'accordent guere t ; independamment enfin de ces ouvrages, denatures pour des motifs politiques, de ces chroniques que, comme celle de Castaldo, l'editeur a mutilees a prix d'argentj, il s'en faut de beaucoup que les auteurs anciens nous soient arrives dans leur integrity, et il s'en faut de beaucoup aussi qu'ils aient ete d'abord imprimes tels qu'ils se trouvent dans les manuscrits.

Aux premiers temps de l'imprimerie l'ardeur avec laquelle tous les esprits se portaient vers les etudes classiques etait si vive, si generale, que les im- primeurs demandaient aux erudits des ecrits de l'antiquite, meme sur des matieres scientifiques et abstruses, avec autant d'empressement qu'on en mettrait aujourd'hui a demander des nouvelles a un romancier a la mode§. Mais les manuscrits qui contenaieut ces ouvrages si recherches etaient loin de se trouver en parfait etat ; souvent ils etaient incomplets, et les editions qu'on a faites d'ouvrages ainsi mutiles, se sont parfois reproduites sans que rien vint avertir le lecteur des lacunes que Tediteur avait eu interet a dissimuler.

* Voyez les Nos. 94G-94S. f Voye/. lc No. 353. J Voyez les Nos. 230 ct 712.

§ Voyez le No. 62.

xxiv INTRODUCTION.

the present day they would demand a tale from a popular novelist*. But the manuscripts which contained these works so anxiously sought for were far from being in a perfect condition. Oftentimes they were incomplete, and in some of the editions of works thus mutilated, the text was reproduced without any notice being given to the reader of lacunce, which it was the interest of the editor to conceal. It is unnecessary to state that several of the most celebrated monuments of antiquity, such as the poem of Lucretius, the Comedies of Plautus, and the writings of Quintilian, were only known at first in a very imperfect state, and that if the early printers obtained some of the classics in a state fit for publication, it was to Petrarch, to Poggius, and other celebrated men who were passionately attached to ancient literature, that they were indebted. Other immortal works, those of Tacitus and Livy for instance, were to remain incomplete, notwithstanding the successive dis- coveries of fragments which have been made since the publication of the first editions. Those who are familiar with manuscripts are well aware that only a very few really different copies of the same author have reached us, and that most of those in our possession are only reproductions, more or less correct or faulty, of a small number of originals which for the most part have disappeared. This is proved, for instance, by the manuscripts of 1 Terence in which the old subscription Calliopius recensuit has been so often reproduced, and by those of Priscian, in which the very dates placed by the ancient scribe Theodore at the end of each division of the work, to mark the progress of his labour, have been copiedf- But without insisting farther on the importance of collecting and preserving copies really different, derived from original sources, and tracing how many changes have been introduced by the crowd of grammarians, abbreviators and commentators of every kind who have laboured at the ancient texts, not without leaving notable traces behind them, let us only call to mind that the learned men who, on the revival of learning, were so fortunate as to find in scattered leaves something wherewith to complete works till then imperfect, could often only fill up the laciuice, by inserting in a conjectural manner the fragments which they had discovered. This is what seems to have been the case with the poem of Lucretius, manuscripts of which are excessively rare, and of which a very ancient one will be found in this Catalogue, partly a palimpsest, with new various readings, rubrics and titles, which are not in the printed editions. In this manuscript many passages also are arranged in an order differing from that of the editions.

Another volume, the translation of Aratus by Germanicus, with an ancient commentary, described in this Catalogue (No. 62), affords a still more striking example of the way in which some ancient authors have been published by editors who did not care to confess to the public that the only texts at their disposal were imperfect or corrupt, and who by concealing the imperfec-

* Sec No. 62. f See No. 833.

INTBODUCTION. xxv

II n'est pas necessaire de rappeler que plusieurs des plus celebres monuments de l'antiquite, tels que le poeme de Lucrece, les comedies de Plaute, les ouvrages de Quintilien, n'ont ete connus d'abord que fort incomplets, et que si les premiers imprimeurs out trouve quelques anciens classiques en etat d'etre publies, ils le doivent au Petrarque, au Poge et a d'autres homines celebres, passionnes pour les lettres anciennes. D'autres ouvrages immortels, ceux de Tacite et de Tite-Live par exemple, devaient rester incomplets malgre les decouvertes successives de quelques fragments retrouves apres la publication des premieres editions. Ceux qui ont l'habitude des manuscrits savent parfaitement bien que, pour un meme auteur, il n'est arrive jusqu' a nous que tres peu de copies reellement diff^rentes, et que la plupart de celles qui nous restent ne sont que des reproductions plus ou moins correctes, plus ou moins fautives, d'un petit nombre de textes qui, d'ordinaire, ont dis- paru. C'est la ce que prouvent, par exemple, les manuscrits de Terence dans lesquels on a si souvent reproduit l'ancienne souscription Calliojyius recensuit, ou ceux de Priscien ou Ton a meme copie les dates que cet ancien ecrivain, Theodore, placait a la fin de chaque division de l'ouvrage, pour marquer les progres de son travail *. Mais sans faire remarquer davantage combien il est important de s'appliquer a rassembler et a conserver les copies reellement dif- ferentes et provenant de sources diverses, et combien de changements y ont apporte" cette foule de gramuiairiens, d'abreviateurs, d'anriotateurs de toute espece, qui ont travaille sur les anciens textes, non sans y laisser une trace profonde, rappelons seulement, que les erudits qui a la renaissance des lettres ont ete assez heureux pour retrouver dans des feuillets epars de quoi completer un ouvrage jusqu' alors imparfait, n'ont pu souvent combler ces lacunes qu'en intercalant d'une facon conjecturale les fragments qu'ils avaient decouverts. C'est ce qui semble etre arrive pour le poeme de Lucrece dont les manuscrits sont d'une rarete excessive, et dont il s'en trouve dans ce Catalogue un fort ancien, et en partie palimpseste, avec des variantes nouvelles, des rubriques et des intitules qui ne sont pas dans les editions. Dans ce manuscrit plusieurs parties sont dans un ordre different de l'im- prime.

Un autre volume, la traduction d'Aratus par Germanicus avec un an- cien commentaire, decrit dans le Catalogue (No. 62), offre un exemple encore plus frappant de la maniere dont quelques anciens auteurs ont ete publies par des editeurs peu soucieux d'avouer au public qu'ils n'avaient eu a leur disposition que des textes incomplets ou corrompus, et qui, en dissimulant par des coupures ou des remplissages les imperfections de leur manuscrit, ont rendu presque impossible a de nouveaux editeurs un travail plus con- sciencieux et plus exact. A 1' exemple de St. Jerome qui cherchait " Non tarn pulchros Codices quam emendatos" on s'est applique surtout, en form ant cette collection, a rassembler des textes purs, fournissant des variantes impor-

* Vovez le No. 833.

xxvi INTBODUCTION.

tions of their manuscript by omissions or additions, have rendered the labours of more exact and conscientious editors almost impossible. Following the example of Saint Jerome, who sought for uNon tarn pulchros Codices quam emendatos^ our chief aim in forming this collection has been to bring together pure texts containing important various readings and unpub- lished passages, and we venture to hope that in this respect, the present Catalogue, containing a large number of classical manuscripts colleeted for this especial purpose, will be found to merit the attention of the learned. Without speaking of the important various readings which are to be found in the manuscripts of Solinus, Priscian, Vegetius, Pruclentius, and Cassiodorus*, those which will be observed in the manuscripts of Ovid, with some unpub- lished versesf, as well as those in the ancient excerpta J, and in the manuscripts of Claudian, Florus, Justin, Lucan, Partial, Persius, Pliny, and Quintus Curtius§, many of which are accompanied by unpublished commentaries, appear to us of a nature to justify this hope.

A collection of Grammarians written in the tenth century, said to have belonged to Marcilius Ficinus, and which, besides unpublished fragments, contains a text almost entirely new of one of the works of Donatus |j ; several manuscripts, differing greatly from the printed editions, of the Commentary of Servius on Virgil ^[, a work of such importance for the ancient history of Italy ; and finally, a number of manuscripts of other grammarians, some of them of the ninth century **, invite the notice of the learned who seek to introduce to the public texts more correct, or absolutely new, of the Latin Grammarians.

In dwelling thus on the necessity of consulting fresh texts, and com- paring them carefully with those already published, we do not wish that any of the ideas of the Pere Hardouin should be attributed to us. In our opinion the ancient writers have really existed, and it is undoubtedly antiquity which has bequeathed to us those admirable models which this commentator of Pliny imagined in his dreams to have been fabricated during the Middle Ages. All that we will permit ourselves here to advance on this point is, that most of the texts of the ancients have only reached us after undergoing considerable alterations, from the ignorance of the copyists, the temerity and lack of intelligence of ancient emendators (recensores) , the ravages of time, and the want of discernment of many of the early editors. Proper names distorted, passages suppressed, lacunce filled up at hazard or concealed, ancient glosses introduced into the text, the original order of the work changed, — all these things are found in the editions; and those who still doubt it have only to compare the different editions of any Latin author, with whom they believe themselves well acquainted, with the manuscripts. And this is not only true

* See No?. 946, 833, 1028, 840 and 229. f See Nos. 749 754.

% See No. 363. § See Nos. 2G5, 380, 558, 623, 661, 780, 806, 849. || Sec No. 424.

<*[ See Nos. 935-937. ** See Nos. 58, 248, 320, 726, 833-836, &c

INTRODUCTION. xxvii

tantes, des passages inedits, et Ton ose esperer qu'a cet egard ce Catalogue, contenant un grand nombre de manuscrits classiques, reunis dans ce but special, pourra meriter Fattention des savants. Sans parler des variantes con- siderables qu'on trouvera dans les manuscrits de Solin, de Priscien, de Vegece, de Prudence, de Cassiodore#, celles qu'on remarquera dans les manuscrits d'Ovide, avec des vers inedits-^, ainsi que dans d'anciens Excerpta%, et dans les manuscrits de Claudien, de Floras, de Justin, de Lucain, de Martial, de Perse, de Pline, de Quinte Curce§, dont plusieurs sont accompagnes de com- mentaires inedits, nous semblent de nature a justifier cet espoir. Un recueil de grammairiens c'crit au Xe siecle, qu'on dit avoir appartenu a Marcile Eicin, et qui, outre des morceaux inedits, contient un texte presqu' absolument nouveau d'un des ouvrages de Donat || ; plusieurs manuscrits, tres differents des im- primes, du commentaire de Servius sur Yirgile^[, ouvrage si important pour l'bistoire ancienne de l'ltalie, enfin un grand nombre de manuscrits d'autres grammairiens, dont quelques uns du IXe siecle,** s'adressent particu- lierement aux erudits qui cherclient a offrir au public des textes plus corrects, ou meme tout-a-fait nouveaux, des grammairiens Latins.

En appuyant ainsi sur la necessite de consulter de nouveaux textes et de les comparer soigneusement avec ceux qui ont ete deja publies, nous ne voudrions pas qu'on nous attribuat quelques unes des idees du Pere Hardouin. A notre avis, les anciens auteurs ont bien reellement existe', et c'est bien l'antiquite qui nous a legue ces admirables modeles que, dans ses reveries, ce commentateur de Pline supposait avoir ete fabriques au moyen age. Tout ce que nous nous permettons d'avancer ici, c'est que la plupart des textes anciens ne nous sont parvenus qu' apres avoir subi des alterations notables, par l'ignorance des copistes, par la hardiesse et le peu de lumieres des anciens correcteurs (re- censores), par l'effet du temps et de la vetuste, et par le manque de dis- cernement de plusieurs des premiers editeurs. Noms propres estropies, passages supprimes, lacunes remplies au nasard-ou dissimulees, anciennes gloses introduites dans le texte, disposition primitive de l'ouvrage changee, on trouve de tout cela dans les editions ; ceux qui en douteraient encore n'ont qu'a essayer de comparer avec les manuscrits les diverses editions de tel auteur Latin qu'ils croient bien connaitre. Et ceci n'est pas vrai seulement pour les anciens ecrivains : les Chroniques, les oeuvres des Poetes les plus celebres du moyen age et de la renaissance, les Homans de Chevalerie, et en general les ouvrages qui n'ont pas ete publies par 1' auteur lui-meme, peuvent donner lieu a des remarques analogues. Ce sont la des clioses que les erudits, les savants de profession n'ont que trop souvent eu l'occasion de constater, mais dont la generalite du public ne semble pas se douter.

* Voyez les Nos. 946, 833, 1028, 840, 229. f Voyez les Nos. 749-754.

% Voyez le No. 363. § Voyez les Nos. 265, 380, 558, 623, 661, 780, 806, 849.

j| Voyez le No. 424. % Voyez les No?. 935-937.

** Voyez les Nos. 58, 248, 320, 726, 833-836, etc.

xxviii INTRODUCTION.

with regard to ancient authors ; for Chronicles, works of the most cele- brated Poets of the Middle Ages and of the times of the revival of learning, Romances of Chivalry, and, generally, works which have not been published by authors themselves, give occasion for analagous remarks. These are matters which the learned, the savants by profession, have only too often had reason to ascertain, but of which the public in general appears to have no suspicion.

Rich in Latin classics, this collection contains also some ancient Greek manuscripts of great value. None of the facsimiles published in the works, in which it has been attempted to reproduce the finest forms of ancient Greek writing, offer anything more elegant, than the manuscript of Saint Gregory of Nyssa*, which is certainly of the beginuing of the ninth century. The Saint John Chrysostom, in which the shape of the characters and accents indicates an epoch almost as ancientf, and above all, the EvangeliariumJ, which, in the beauty of the writing, as well as in certain ornaments, exactly resembles the famous Codex JEbnerianus at Oxford, seem to rank in the first class of manuscripts of this kind.

If ancient Greek manuscripts are not more numerous in this collection, it arises from the difficulty of procuring them, a difficulty which now-a-days is excessive, and which seems never to have been greater. We know, in fact, that when the powerful Soliman wished to show his gratitude to the Marquis de Mendoza, a great amateur of manuscripts, who had ransomed for a large sum and restored to him his son who had been taken prisoner, this great Soliman, who had in his power all the literary riches of Greece, could find no more than thirty-one (some say thirty-two) Greek manuscripts to offer him as an acceptable present.

To announce that Italian literature has not been neglected in this col- lection, is only to say what every one will have divined before hand. Thus, along with the finest and most remarkable manuscripts of Dante, Petrarch, and Beato Jacopone, there will be found herein rich collections oiRime Antiche, ascending even to the origin of the Italian language, Chronicles, Romances of Chivalry which have never been published, and, in a word, all that is most interesting in Italian literature.

Without being so richly represented, the other modern languages are not wanting in this collection. Ancient French poems, either inedited, or muti- lated in the printing, Romances of Chivalry which only exist in manuscript, two manuscripts in Limousin, one of which seems certainly to have been written for King Alphonso of Aragon, and a collection of poems in old English with the arms of Henry VIII on the binding, and which, doubtless, belonged to that sovereign, show beyond a doubt that no branch of literature has been neglected in this Catalogue.

Without reproducing here a great part of the Catalogue, it would be

* Sec No. 430. -f See No. 542. J See No. 354.

INTRODUCTION, xxix

Tres riche en classiques Latins, cette collection contient aussi quelques manuscrits Grecs anciens, et d'un grand prix. Aucun des fac-similes publics dans ces ouvrages, oii Ton s'est applique a, reproduire les plus belles formes de l'ancienne ecriture Grecque, n'offre rien de plus elegant que le manuscrit de St. Gregoire de Nysse *, qui est certainement du commencement du IX6me siecle. Le St. Jean Chrysostome, dans lequel la forme des caracteres et des accents indique une epoque presque aussi anciennef, et surtout l'Evangeliaire^ qui, par la beaute de 1' ecriture, comme par certains ornements, ressemble parfaitement au fameux Codex Ehnerianus d' Oxford, semblent se placer au premier rang des manuscrits de ce genre.

Si les anciens manuscrits Grecs ne sont pas plus nombreux dans cette collection, cela vient surtout de la difficulte de se les procurer, difficulte qui est excessive aujourd'hui et qui ne semble avoir jamais ete beaucoup moms grande. On sait en effet que lorsque le puissant Soliman voulut montrer sa reconnais- sance au lylarquis de Mendoza, grand amateur de manuscrits, qui avait rachete a grand prix et lui avait rendu son fils retenu prisonnier, ce grand Soliman, qui avait en son pouvoir toutes les ricliesses litt^raires de la Grece, ne put trouver que 31 (d'autres disent 32) manuscrits Grecs pour lui en faire present.

Annoncer que la litterature Italienne n'a pas ete negligee ici, c'est dire une chose que tout le monde devinait d'avance. Aussi a cote des plus beaux, des plus remarquables Manuscrits du Dante, du Petrarque, du Beato Jaco- pone, on trouvera de riches recueils de Hime antiche remontant jusqu'a, l'origine de la langue Italienne, des chroniques, des Romans de Chevalerie qu'on n'a jamais publies, en un mot tout ce que la litterature Italienne offre de plus interessant.

Sans etre aussi richement representees, les autres langues modernes ne font pas faute dans cette collection. D'anciennes poesies Francaises inedites, ou qu'on avait mutilees en les imprimant, des Romans de Chevalerie qui n'existent qu'en manuscrit, deux manuscrits en Limousin, dont l'un semble positivement avoir ete ecrit pour le roi Alphonse d'Aragon, et un recueil de poesies en vieux Anglais relie aux armes de Henri VIII,et qui a sans doute appartenu a ce prince, montrent, a n'en pas douter, qu'aucune branche de la litterature ne s'y trouve negligee.

A moins de reproduire ici une grande partie du Catalogue, il ne serait guere possible de donner un apercu suffisant des documents historiques qui s'y rencontrent. Nous nous bornerons done a signaler un manuscrit du Xe au XIe siecle de VHistoria gentis Anglorum, par Bede, avec des variantes dignes de remarque§; un recueil considerable relatif a St. Benoit et a son temps ||; un chronique du Mont Cassin en partie inedite^"; une volume rempli de pieces originales ay ant appartenu a, l'Empereur Maximilien** et annotees

* Voyez le No. 430. f Voyez le No. 542. % Voyez le No. 354.

§ Voyez le No. 140. || Voyez le No. 143. % Voyez le No. 984.

* * Vovez le No. 504.

xxx INTRODUCTION.

impossible to give a sufficient estimate of the historical documents which occur in it. We will content ourselves, therefore, with pointing out a manu- script of the tenth or eleventh century of the Historia gcntis Anglorum by Bede, with various readings worthy of attention*, a considerable collection relative to Saint Benedict and his tiniest, a Chronicle of Monte- Cassino, partly unpublished^, a volume full of original pieces, which belonged to the Em- peror Maximilian §, and containing notes by him, at the head of which will be found a new text of the Gesta Herum Francorum given by Freher, and reprinted by Bom Bouquet ; different Chronicles relating to France, one of which seems to have belonged to Pope Clement XII || ; the original account of the expenditure of Leo X, with a note of the sums paid to Raphael for his labours^" ; a new Chronicle of Lupo di Giovenazzo, with a very curious local colouring, as well as the perfect Chronicle of Castaldo, which was mutilated, as we have already said, by the editors, and in which we see the Neapolitan ladies availing themselves of the license of a bal masque to address the* Emperor Charles V with bold words in favour of political exiles**, a Chronicle of the Abbey of Elorenceff, which exhibits the head of that ancient and celebrated convent entering, at the Council of Constance, into a conspiracy the object of which was to drown all the Cardinals ; and a Chronicle of Peru^J, written in the sixteenth century, which seems to be unknown. Let us not forget several original collections made by the terrible tribunal of the Inquisition, in which will be found the details of frightful trials§§.

Music, which belongs at once both to science and literature, ought natu- rally to find a place in a similar collection. A manuscript of Greek music ||||, which appears to have escaped all researches, opens the series, which is tolerably rich in monuments of the music fl" of the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries, written in neumes ; and collections, less ancient, of theoretical and practical*** music, form also a portion of this series. Several manuscripts of the eleventh eenturyttt, in which the accents placed on Latin words have received the same form as the neumes, or musical* notes, employed at that time, afford an additional argument in favour of those who think that the signs of prosody and the ancient musical notes were at first one and the same thing.

Those who maintain that the Gregorian chant and the ancient neumes were nothing more than a method of fixing the pronunciation, rhythmical in certain respects, of the Latin language ; may, in default of other proofs, find in the actual cadence of poetry and prose, as practised by the Oriental nations, a living example by which to explain what has been related

* See No. 140. f See No. 143. % See No. 984.

§ See No. 504. || See Nos. 384 and 385. f See No. 601.

** See Nos. 230, 628, etc. ff See No. 377. %% See No. 620. §§ See Nos. 318, 517-520, 1012, etc. |||| See No. 543.

ff See Nos. 217, 358, 595, 596, 597, 760, 844, 1053, 1103, 1114, 1116, etc. *** See Nos. 694, 702-705. fff See Nos. 269, 1055 and 1103.

INTBODUCTION. xxxi

par lui, a la tote desquelles se trouve un nouveau texte du Gesta Berum Francorwn donne par Freher et reimprime par Dom Bouquet ; diverses chro- niques relatives a, la France et dont Tune parait avoir appartenu au pape Clement XII* ; les comptes originaux des depenses de Leon X. avec l'indi- cation des somrnes payees a Baphael pour ses travaux f ; une nonvelle chro- nique de Lupo di Griovenazzo, empreinte d'une si curieuse couleur locale, ainsi que la chronique de Castaldo mutilee, nous l'avons deja dit, par les editeurs, et ou. Ton voit les dames de Naples profiter de la liberie d'un bal masque pour faire eutendre a Charles V, de courageuses paroles en faveur des proscrits politiques J ; enfin une Chronique de la Badia de Florence § qui montre le chef de cet ancien et celebre couvent entrant, au concile de Con- stance, dans une conspiration qui avait pour but de faire noyer tous les Car- dinaux, et une Chronique || du Perou, ecrite au XVPme. siecle, et qui parait inconnue. N'oublions pas plusieurs recueils originaux formes par le terri- ble tribunal de requisition et ou Ton trouvera les details d'epouvantables proces.^f

La musique, qui tient a la fois aux sciences et a la litterature, devait naturellement avoir place dans un semblable collection. Un manuscrit de musique Grecque #* qui parait avoir echappe a toutes les recherches, ouvre la serie assez riche en monuments de la musique ft du IX6me, du X6me, et du XPme siecle, ecrite en neumes ; des recueils moms anciens de musique theo- rique et pratique {J f°nt aussi partie de cette serie. Certains manuscrits du XI6me siecle §§, dans lesquels on a donne aux accents places sur des mots latins, la meme forme qu'avaient les neumes, ou les notes musicales employees alors, offrent un argument de plus a ceux qui pensent que les signes de la prosodie et les anciennes notes musicales n'ont fait d'abord qu'une seule et meme chose.

Les personnes qui croyent que le chant Gregorien et les anciens neumes n'ont ete qu'un moyen de determiner la prononciation, a quelques egards rhythmique, de la langue Latine, pourraient, a, defaut d'autres preuves, retrouver dans la cadence actuelle de la poesie et de la prose soutenue chez les peuples Orientaux, de quoi expliquer par un exemple vivant ce qu'on nous raconte de la maniere de declamer des Grrecs et des domains. Nous avons pu en juger nous meme en entendant lire et reciter des vers par deux savants Mahometans, aux lumieres desquels nous avons eu recours pour nous guider et pour eclaircir nos doutes dans la description des manuscrits Orientaux contenus dans cette collection. Sans parler des manuscrits historiques et scientifiques, qui seront apprecies par les juges competents, ni des manuscrits ornes de

* Voyez les Nos. 384 et 385. f Voyez le No. 601. J Voyez les Nos. 230, 628, etc.

§ Voyez le No. 377. || Voyez le No. 620.

% Voyez les Nos. 318, 517-520, 1012, etc. ** Voyez le No. 543.

ft Voyez les Nos. 217, 358, 595, 596, 597, 760, 844, 1053, 1103, 1114, 1116, etc.

%t Voyez les Nos. 694, 702-705, etc. §§ Voyez les Nos. 269, 1055, 1103.

xxxii INTRODUCTION.

to us of the mode of declaiming among the Greeks and Romans. We have ourselves been able to judge of this in listening to the reading and enunciation of poetry of two learned Mohammedans, to whose enlightened knowledge we have had recourse, to guide us and clear up our doubts in the description of the Oriental manuscripts contained in this Collection. "Without speaking of the historical and scientific manuscripts which will be appreciated by competent judges, or of the manuscripts ornamented with figures, which we have already indicated in a general way, the Apocryphal Bible of Akliinas, the marvellous accounts* in which yield in no respect to the "Arabian Nights," the Cufic Koran, the Coptic Dictionary, the collection of Arabo-Spanish poets, a similar collection of Persian poets, the Bhagavat Grita in Sanskrit, written and ornamented so wonderfully, and above all, the extraordinary work of Isma'il ibn Makri, who certainly incurred no appreciable risk when he offered to give Ms beloved wife to any one who could produce its equal, — will alone suffice to attach some interest to the Oriental part of this Collection.

It is especially the description of the Oriental manuscripts which we offer to the. public with hesitation. Besides the inherent difficulties in a task of this kind, in which it was necessary for almost as many lite- rary men to take part as there were different Oriental languages, there is also a peculiar difficulty, namely, that of transcribing Oriental names in a Catalogue drawn up in English. Those persons who are unac- quainted with Oriental languages, and who sometimes so boldly propose to suppress the Eastern alphabets, and write Sanskrit, Arabic and Per- sian in Roman characters, have no clear idea of the difficulty of such a problem, which every Orientalist endeavours to solve after his own fashion. The numerous attempts which have been made to arrive at this solution, still as distant as ever, have only succeeded hitherto in pro- ducing an infinity of different systems, and in giving the most unusual forms even to the names with which we are most familiar. Eor languages in which the value and pronunciation of the signs of the alphabet is almost invariable, this difficulty would not be so great, and although there certainly does not exist in Italian a letter which could render the gargling sound (to avail ourselves of an expression which the learned Richardson has set in circulation) which one of the Arabic letters represents, to European ears, yet, for most of the letters at least, the transcription would have been less awkward in Italian than in any other Western language. But this Catalogue being drawn up in English, that is to say in a language in which the vowels, and even several of the consonants, have a variable value, and one, so to speak, of position, and with which we are but imperfectly acquainted, we found ourselves in great embarrassment at the moment of choosing between the different methods of transcription, especially as we had to preserve in the notes the vulgar ortho- graphy of common words, and in the quotations the orthography, often a foreign one, of the authors whom we quoted. After having taken the advice

INTEODU CTION. xxxiii

figures que nous avous deja indiques generalement, la Bible apocryphe d'Akllmas, dont les recits merveilleux ne le cedent en rien aux Contes des mille et une nuits, le Coran Cufique, le dictionnaire de la langue Copte, le recueil des poetes Arabo-Espagnols, tel autre recueil de poetes Persans, le Bhagavat Grita en Sanscrit, si merveilleusement ecrit et orne, et surtout l'ouvrage si extraordinaire d'lsma'il ibn Makri qui, certes sans courir grand danger, offrait de donner safemme cherie a quiconque en saurait faire unpareil, suffiraient seuls pour repandre quelque interet sur la partie Orientale de cette Collection.

C'est surtout la description des manuscrits Orientaux que nous presen- tons avec hesitation au public. Aux difficultes inherentes a un travail de ce genre, auquel devaient presque necessairement prendre part autant d' homines lettres qu'il y avait de langues Orientales differentes, s'ajoute ici une difficulte toute speciale, celle de la transcription des noms Orientaux dans un Catalogue redige en Anglais. Les personnes qui n'ont pas l'habitude des langues Orientales, et qui parfois proposent si hardiment de sup primer les alphabets Orientaux pour ecrire le Sanscrit, le Persan, ou l'Arabe en caracteres Euro- peens, ne se font pas une idee bien nette de la difficulte d'un tel probleme, que chaque Orientaliste s'efforce de resoudre a sa maniere. Les nombreux essais qu'on a faits pour arriver a cette solution encore eloignee n'ont reussi, jusqu'a present qu'a produire une infinite de systemes differents, et a donner les formes les plus insolites aux noms meme qui nous sont le plus familiers# Pour les langues dans lesquelles la valeur et la prononciation des signes de l'alphabet est a peu pres invariable, cette difficulte ne serait pas si grande, et bien qu'il n'existe certes pas en Italien une lettre destinee a, rendre (pour nous servir d'une expression que le savant Bichardson a mise en circulation) le bruit de gargarisme que represente pour les Europeens un des carac- teres Arabes, pour la plupart des lettres du moins, la transcription aurait ete moins malaisee en Italien qu'en toute autre langue Occidentale. Mais ce Catalogue etant redige en Anglais, langue dont les voyelles et plusieurs consonnes meme n'ont qu'une valeur variable et pour ainsi dire de position, et avec laquelle nous ne sommes qu' imparfaitement familiarise, nous nous sommes trouve dans un grand embarras au moment de choisir entre les differents modes de transcription ; surtout devant conserver aux mots habituels, dans les notes, l'orthographe vulgaire, et aux citations, l'orthographe souvent etrangere, des auteurs que nous citions. Apres avoir pris les avis des juges les plus competents, nous avons tache de reproduire l'ecriture plutot que la prononciation des langues Orientales ; d'autant plus que c'est la ce qui a ete fait pour le Catalogue du British Museum. Nous ne nons dissimulons pas les inconvenients d'une telle resolution; le plus frappant de tous, celui qui se rencontre a l'entree du Catalogue, c'est d'avoir ete amene a ecrire JVasir- al-Dln, pour designer l'astronome si connu de tous les savants sous le nom

d

xxxiv INTRODUCTION.

of the most competent judges, we have endeavoured to reproduce rather the spelling than the pronunciation of the Oriental languages, especially as this is the method which has been followed in the Catalogue of the British Museum. We are not, however, unconscious of the inconveniences of such a resolution ; the most striking of all, which will be met with at the commence- ment of the Catalogue, is the having been induced to write " Nasir-al-Din " to designate the astronomer, who is known to all the learned under the name of " Nassir Eddin." In adopting this course we felt that we rendered ourselves liable perhaps to severe criticism, but in the hope to meet with some indul- gence, we will permit ourselves to observe, that the difficulty of transcribing Oriental words in English characters has been long ago pointed out. It had already struck a man, as superior for the depth of his Oriental learning as for the penetration and acumen of his mind. We would request those who may find the orthography which we have adopted capricious, to remember that in order to give an idea of the difficulty of the problem which was to be solved, with the aid of English orthography, Sir William Jones applied this test to a celebrated ode * : those who know it best by heart will probably have some difficulty to recognise the verses of the French poet in the fol- lowing lines :

" Law more aw day reegyeurs aw nool otruh parellyuh

Onne aw bo law preeay, Law crooellyuh kellay suh booshuh lays orellyuh,

Ay noo laysuh creeay."

In making thus light of what concerns the orthography of Oriental names, we do not wish to imply that in other respects our Catalogue is much less imperfect. Everything calls for indulgence in the notes, not a single line of which was in existence a few months ago, and a great part of which has been hastily drawn up by an individual who only sells a portion of his collection on account of his ill-health. Compelled for this reason to quit London, the owner could not think of dragging after him 30,000 volumes. It is only an attempt at a Catalogue Maisonne which we here present, and in this attempt we have been obliged to submit to the forms of a Sale Cata- logue, and to follow the rules adopted in similar cases. Perhaps some persons will even find that we have not sufficiently observed those rules ; and in this respect we ought to address our thanks to Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson, who, after having afforded us themselves and by means of well-informed assistants all the support which we could desire, have permitted us, with a liberality of view which does them honour, to release ourselves from the rule more frequently than would have been supposed possible by those who are not so well acquainted as ourselves with their enlightened zeal for bibliography and the fine arts. It is to this assistance that are especially due those typo- graphical indications and formulas which serve to draw the attention of

* Jones (Sir W.) Works, (vol. I. p. 180).

INTRODUCTION. xxxv

de " Nassir Eddin." En prenant un tel parti, nous sentions que nous nous exposious peut-etre a des critiques severes ; dans l'espoir de rencontrer quelque indulgence, nous nous permettrons de rappeler que cette difficulte de la transcription des mots Orientaux en langue anglaise a ete depuis longtemps signalee. Elle avait deja frappe un homme aussi superieur par la profondeur de sa science Orientale, que par la penetration et la finesse de son esprit. Que les personnes qui trouveront bizarre l'orthographe que nous avons adoptee veuillent bien se rappeler que, pour faire comprendre la difficulte du probleme qu'il s'agit de resoudre a l'aide de l'ortliographe anglaise, Sir William Jones*, avait applique cet instrument a une ode celebre; ceux meme qui la savent le mieux par coeur auront peut etre quelque peine a retrouver les vers du poete Francais dans les lignes que voici :

"Law more aw day reegyeurs aw nool otruh parellyuh Onne aw bo law preeay,

Law crooellyuh kellay suh booshuh lays orellyuh, Ay noo laysuh creeay." En faisant si bon marche de ce qui touclie a l'orthographe des manuscrits Orientaux, nous ne voulons pas donner a entendre que sous d'autres rapports notre Catalogue soit beaucoup moins imparfait. Tout reclame indulgence dans ces notes dont il n'existait pas une seule ligne il y a peu de mois, et qui, en grande partie, ont ete redigees a la hate par une personne qui ne met en vente une partie de ses Collections que pour des raisons de mauvaise sante. Force, pour ce motif, de quitter Londres nous ne pouvions songer a nous faire suivre par 30,000 volumes. Ce n'est qu'un essai de Catalogue raisonne que nous presentons ici ; et dans cet essai nous avons du nous plier aux formes d'un Catalogue de vente, et suivre les habitudes adoptees en pareil cas. Peut-etre meme quelques personnes trouveront-elles que nous n' avons pas assez observe ces habitudes, et en cela nous devons adresser nos remerciments a Messrs. Sotheby et Wilkinson qui, apres nous avoir offert'par eux memes et par des collaborateurs instruits tout le concours que nous pouvions desirer, nous ont permis, avec une liberalite de vues qui les honore, de nous en affran- chir plus souvent que n'auraient pu le supposer possible ceux qui ne connai- traient pas aussi bien que nous leur zele eclaire pour la bibliographie et pour les arts. C'est a ce concours zele que sont dues surtout ces indications typo- graphiques, ces formules qui servent a attirer l'attention des amateurs sur les volumes les plus remarquables, et que nous ne pouvions pas songer a faire disparaitre ; car encore un coup nous desirons qu'on veuille bien ne jamais l'oublier, ceci n'est autre chose qu'un Catalogue de Vente.

Toutes les fois que cela pouvait sembler utile, on a, dans la description des volumes, scrupuleusement reproduit les textes, meme avec les fautes d'orthographe. Pour les manuscrits , les plus importants du moins, on a cru

* Jones (Sir W.) Works (vol. I. p. 180). d2

xxxvi INTRODUCTION.

amateurs to the most remarkable volumes, and which we could not think of banishing, the more especially as we hope it will not be forgotten that this is nothing more than a Sale Catalogue.

"Whenever it appeared likely to be useful, we have in our descriptions of the volumes scrupulously reproduced the text, even with the orthographical errors. In the case of the most important manuscripts we have thought it necessary to give an idea of their rarity by pointing out the number of copies which are to be found in the most considerable collections on the Continent ; but we have not taken the same trouble in the case of manuscripts which are in English collections, because there are abundant means of information con- cerning these, and we should have been afraid of not rendering justice to the learning and ability of Sir F. Madden and J)T. Bandinel, if we had ventured to speak in detail of the collections entrusted to those learned librarians, and so liberally placed at the disposal of the public. But although we are aware that everything which is to be found in English collections is perfectly well known in England, we could not hope that all readers would give them- selves the trouble to ascertain, by laborious research, that in all countries the smaller poems attributed to Virgil and Ovid, for example, are, as well as the poems of Lucretius and Manilius, and the work of Censorinus, of an ex- traordinarily rare occurrence in manuscript. We have frequently also indicated unpublished works, but every one will understand that this only means that we have made, and caused to be made, all the researches possible without having discovered any edition of the work in question. As far as possible we have noted the ancient collections to which these manuscripts belonged ; many of them have issued from the celebrated libraries of the Medicis, the Grimani, the Strozzi, the Kings of Naples and Aragon, the Queen of Navarre, Griannozzo Manetti, the Congregation of Ste. Justine of Padova, Apostolo Zeno, &c. But the most remarkable manu- scripts of this kind, and which on account of the richness as well as the antiquity of their binding may be styled real works of art, will be de- scribed with the printed books in ancient and historical bindings, which, to the number of several hundreds, will speedily figure in the Catalogue of the Bare Books in our Collection.

During the last few years, these volumes have been several times examined by illustrious savants and paleographers, whose opinion is of the highest authority in all Europe; but although these distinguished connoisseurs have perfectly agreed with us as to the age of these manuscripts, we have not imagined that on this point simple assertions ought to be accepted without verification. As a means of verifying not only the age of the manuscripts, but also the genuineness of those which we announce as autographs, numerous fac-similes accompany the Catalogue*. In order that the reader may also,

* We should have wished to make known by fac-similes the magnificent miniatures described under the Nos. 157, 359, 1135, 1164 of the Catalogue, hut the undertaking was too difficult, and we have been obliged to relinquish it.

INTRODUCTION. xxxvii

devoir donner une idee de leur rarete en faisant connaitre le nombre d'exem- plaires qui s'en trouvent dans les Catalogues des Collections les plus con- siderables du Continent. Nous n'avons pas fait le meme travail a propos des manuscrits qui sont dans les collections Anglaises, car pour ceux-ci les moyens d'information aboudent, et nous aurions craint de ne pas rendre justice au savoir et aux lumieres de Sir Fr. Madden et du Docteur Bandinel, si nous avions ose parler avec quelque detail des collections confiees a ces savants bibliotliecaires, et mises si liberalement a la disposition du public. Mais quoique nous sachions qu'on connait parfaitement en Angleterre ce qui se trouve dans les collections anglaises, nous ne pouvions espt'rer que tous les lecteurs se clonneraient la peine de s'assurer, par des recherches laborieuses, que, dans tous les pays, les petits poemes attribues a Ovide et a Yirgile par exemple sont, ainsi que les poemes de Lucrece, de Manilius, et l'ouvrage de Censorinus, d'une rarete extraordinaire en manuscrit. Souvent on a signale aussi les ouvrages inedits, mais cliacun doit comprendre que cela signifie seulement qu'on a fait et fait' faire toutes les recherches possibles, sans decouvrir aucune edition de l'ouvrage dont il s'agit. Autant qu'on l'a pu, on a indique les anciennes collections dont ces manuscrits out fait partie ; plusieurs sont sortis des bibliotkeques celebres des Medicis, des Grimani, des Strozzi, des Hois de Naples et d'Aragon, de la Heine de Navarre, de Giannozzo Manetti, de la congregation de Ste- Justine de Padoue, d'Apostolo Zeno, etc. etc. Mais en ce genre les plus remarquables, tant par la richesse que par l'antiquite de leur couverture, veritables objets d'art, seront reunis aux livres imprimes, a reliures anciennes et historiques, lesquels, au noinbre de plusieurs centaines, figureront procbainement dans le Catalogue des livres rares de notre collection.

Durant le cours de ces dernieres annees, ces volumes ont etc plusieurs fois examines par des savants illustres, par des paleograph.es dont l'opinion a la plus haute autorite dans toute l'Europe ; mais bien que ces connaisseurs si distingues se soient trouves parfaitement d'accord avec nous sur l'age de ces manuscrits, nous n'avons pas cru qu'a cet egard des assertions pures et simples pussent etre acceptees sans controle. Comme moyen de verification, non seulement pour l'age des manuscrits mais aussi pour l'authentieite de ceux que nous annoncons comme etant autographes, de nombreux fac-similes accompagnent ce Catalogue.* Ann que les lecteurs puissent, au besoin, verifier aussi les indications du Catalogue, on a donne une liste des editions des ouv- rages qui ont ete consultes pour les notes. f Apres avoir pris toutes ces

* Nous aurions voulu faire connaitre par des fac-similes les magnifiqucs miniatures ddcrites sous les Nos. 157, 357, 1135, 1164 du Catalogue, mais l'entreprise nous a semble trop difficile et nous avons du y r^noncer.

f Ge'ne'ralement, pour les classiques Latins, nous nous sommcs servi des Collections de Valpy et de Lemaire: ce ne sont pas toujours les meilleures editions, mais elles sont tres repon- ducs et elles offrent, potir la generalite" des lecteurs du moins, un moyen facile de verification; e'est ce qui nous porte a leur donner la preference.

xxxviii INTliODUCTIOlY.

when necessary, verify the references in the Catalogue, we have given a

list of the editions of the works which have been consulted for the notes*.

After having taken all these precautions, and under all possible reservation

for the errors inseparable from a similar task, and the typographical faults

which the state of our eyes rendered not less inevitable, we believe that we

may, without further hesitation, submit this Catalogue to the public.

However imperfect our labours may be, it would have been, however,

impossible to have completed them without the support and the very kind

and friendly assistance which we have received at the British Museum.

Known and applauded throughout Europe, the grand creation of Mr. Panizzi

has no need of one suffrage more ; but what cannot even be imagined by those

who have not seen it, is, that there exists in the heart of London a cupola as

large as that of Saint Peter at Borne, in which every day an extensive library,

admirably selected, and suitable for every kind of study, is open to all

genuine students who have the absolute use of it as if it were their own,

and where every one is at liberty to take the books on the shelves without

even having to give himself the trouble of replacing them, acting, in fact,

precisely as if he were at home, and able besides, by the help of immense

Catalogues, kept in perfect order, and of attendants as intelligent as polite, to

procure in a few minutes whatever is contained in a collection comprising

more than five hundred thousand volumes, that is to say, the most important

works of every kind which the press of every country, and in every age, has

produced. Regularity, promptitude, politeness, silence, comfort, nothing is

wantirg in this model establishment, where are to be found not only books,

but that instructive advice which every one who wishes to study is happy to

find near him. Thanks to a strong impulse, communicated by the chief

authorities to an administration which labours unceasingly to adopt the

improvements which may contribute to the well-being of the studious public,

and to facilitate its labours ; thanks to the assistance of a remarkable staff of

officers who, at every step of the ladder, take care to leave nothing to be

desired ; this is what nearly five hundred readers find every day at the British

Museum. This is what we have ourselves experienced there, and which has

been rendered peculiarly valuable to us by the kind friendship with which

we are honoured by Mr. Panizzi, Mr. Jones, and Mr. Watts : we should be

ungrateful if we did not offer them here the most lively expression of our

gratitude.

Gc. LIBEL

London, January 1, 1859.

* For the Latin classics we have generally cited the collections of Valpy and Lemahv ; not that they are always the best editions, hut as they are almost everywhere to be met with, and afford, for the generality of readers, at least, an easy means of verification, wc were induced for these reasons to give them the preference.

INTBODUCTION. xxxix

precautions, et sous toutes les reserves possibles pour des erreurs inseparables d'un tel genre de travail, ou des fautes d'impression que l'etat de nos yeux rendait non moins inevitables, nous croyons pouvoir livrer sans plus d'hesita- tion ce Catalogue au public.

Quelqu' imparfait que soit ce travail, il nous eut ete impossible pour- tant de l'accoinplir sans l'appui et le concours le plus bienveillant, le plus amical, que nous avons trouve dans la Bibliotheque du British Museum. Connue et applaudie dans toute l'Europe, la grande creation de M. Panizzi n'a pas besoin d'un suffrage de plus ; mais ce qu'on ne peut pas meme s'imaginer quand on ne l'a pas vu, c'est qu'il existe au centre de Londres une coupole grande comme celle de St. Pierre de Eome, dans laquelle tous les jours une bibliotheque nombreuse, parfaitement choisie et appropriee a toutes les etudes, est ouverte a tous les hommes veritablement desireux de s'instruire, qui en ont l'usage absolu comme si c'etait la leur propre, et ou chacun a la faculte de prendre les livres sur les tablettes, sans avoir meme a se donner la peine de les remettre en place, agissant enfin absolument comme chez soi, et pouvant de plus, a Faide d'immenses catalogues tenus dans un ordre par fait, et d'employes aussi infcelligents que polis, se procurer en quelques minutes tout ce que contient une collection de plus de cinq cent mille volumes, c'est a dire ce qu'a produit de plus important en tous genres la presse de toutes les epoques, de tous les pays. Regularity, promptitude, politesse, silence, confort, rien ne manque a cet etablissement modele, ou Ton trouve non seulement des livres, mais aussi les conseils eclaires que tout homme qui veut travailler est heureux de rencontrer aupres de lui. Grace a une impulsion forte, partie d'en haut, grace a une administration quis' efforce sans cesse d' adopter les ameliorations qui peuvent contribuer au bien etre du public et a faciliter ses travaux, grace au concours d'une reunion remarquable d'employes qui, a tous les degres de l'echelle, prennent a tache de ne rien laisser a desirer, c'est la ce que trouvent tous les jours pres de cinq cents lecteurs au British Museum ; c'est la ce que nous y avons trouve nous-meme, et ce que nous a rendu plus precieux qu'a tout autre la bienveillante amitie dont nous honorent M. Panizzi, M. Jones, et M. Watts; nous serions ingrat si nous ne leur offrions pas ici l'expression de notre plus vive reconnaissance.

G. LIBEL Londres, le 1 Janvier, 1859.

LIST OF THE EDITIONS OF THE WORKS

EMPLOYED IN COMPILING THE CATALOGUE. (*)

Adelung, an Historical Sketch of Sanscrit Literature Svo. Oxford, 1832

Affo (I.) Memorie Storiche degli Scrittori Parmigiani (with the excellent continuation of Cavalier Pezzana) Uo. Parma, (v.y.)

Agostini (G. Degli) Istoria degli Scrittori Veneziani, 2 vol. Uo. Venezia, 1752

Alberi (E.) Relazioni degli Ambasciatori Veneziani, 9 vol. Svo. Firenze, 1839, et seq. Algazelis, Philosophia et Logica Uo. Veneths, 1506

Allacci (Leone) Drammaturgia Uo. Venezia, 1755

Andres (G.) Dell'Origine, e dei Progressi d'Ogni Letteratura, 22 vol.

Svo. Venezia, 1783-1800 Anthologia Veterum Latinorum Epigrammatum (a Burmanno) 2 vol.

Uo. Amstelod. 1757-73 Anthologia Veterum Latinorum Epigrammatum et Poematum, 2 vol. Svo. Lipsim, 1835 Antonino (S.) Somma di Vizj (Omnis mortalium euro) Mo. (Secolo XV.)

Antonino (S.) Confessionale in Volgare Uo. Firenze, 1493

Antonio (N.) Bibliotheca Hispana nova, 2 vol. folio. Matriti, 1783

Arati Opera, a Buhle, 2 vol. Lipsice, 1793-1801

Arati, Avieni, Sereni et aliorum Opera varia Uo. Venetiis, 1488

Arch^eologia, or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity, 37 vols. 4to. and 2 vols.

of Index London, 1770-1857

Archivio Storico Italiano, 26 vol Svo. Firenze, 1842-1858

Argelati (Ph.) Bibliotheca Scriptorum Mediolanensium, 4 vol. folio. Medial. 1745 Argelati (P.) Bibliotheca degli Volgarizzatori, 6 vol. Uo. Milano, 1767

Ariosto (L.) Rime e Satire Svo. Firenze, 1822

Assemanni (S. E.) Catalogus Codicum Manuscriptorum Orientalium Bibliothecse

Medicese folio. F lor entice, 1742

Astle (Th.) Origin of Writing Uo. London, 1803

Auctores Latinae Linguae a D. Gothofredo Uo. Genevcc, 1585

Backer (Aug. et Al. de) Bibliotheque des ecrivains de la compagnie de Jesus, 4 vol.

Svo. Liege, 1853, et seq. Baldelli (G. B.) Del Petrarca e delle sue Opere Uo. Firenze, 1797

Baldelli (G. B.) Vita di Giovanni Boccaccio Svo. Firenze, 1806

Baldelli (G. B.) Viaggi di Marco Polo, &c. 4 vol. Uo. with atlas. Firenze, 1827 Bandini (A. M.) Catalogus Manuscriptorum Latinorum et Italicorum Bibliothecse Medicese Laurentianse, 5 vol. folio. Florentim, 1774-78

Bandlni (A. M.) Bibliotheca Leopoldino-Laurentiana, 3 vol. folio. Florentice, 1791 Bartolocct (J.) Bibliotheca Rabbinica, 4 vol. folio. Romce, 1675-93

Batines (Colomb de) Bibliograna Dantesca, 2 vol. in 3 parts Svo. Prato, 1845

Bed^e Opera, 12 vol. Svo. London, 1843-44

Belcari (Feo.) Poesffe Svo. Firenze, 1833

Bibliografia Storica delle Citta e luoghi delloStato Pontificio, 2 vol. Uo. Roma, 1792 Bibliotheca Grenvilliana, described by J. Payne and H. Foss, 3 vol.

Svo. London, 1842, et seq. Bibliotheca Heberiana, 12 vol. Svo. London, 1834-36

* Having been obliged, for the sake of brevity, to quote in the most concise way the works mentioned in the Catalogue, we give here the editions, at least of the most important of them, in order to enable every reader to apply to the original sources when more information is required. It must however be understood that this is a mere list of editions for reference, and not a Biblio- graphical work. When works, chiefly printed abroad, are still in course of publication, we have generally stated only the number of volumes already arrived in England, or more frequently we have written, v. y. (various years) without stating the number of volumes.

xlii LIST OF THE EDITIONS OF THE WORKS

Bibliotheca Meermanniana, 4 vol. Svo. Amstelod. 1824

Bibliotheque Classique Latine, publie*e par N. E. Lemaire, 144 vol.

Svo. Paris, 1819-38 Bibliotheques Francoises de la Croix du Maine et de Du Verdier, 6 vol.

4fo. Paris, 1772 Biographical Dictionary, published by the Society for the diffusion of Useful Knowledge, 7 parts Svo. London, 1842, et seq.

Biographie Universelle, 52 vol. Svo. Paris, 1811-28

Blume (Fr.) Iter Italicum, 2 vol. 12mo. Berlin, 1824

Boccaccio (G.) Opere Volgari, 17 vol. Svo. Firenze, 1827-34

Boetii (A.) Opera folio. Basilece, 1570

Boetius (A. M.) de Consolatione Philosophise libri V, et ejusdem opuscula Sacra

Svo. Lug. Bat. 1671 Boissonade, Anecdota Grseca, 5 vol. Svo. Paris. 1829-33

Boncompagni (B.) della vita e delle versioni di Platone Tiburtino Ato. Roma, 1851 Boncompagni (B.) Vita di Gherardo Cremonense e di Gherardo da Sabionetta

4do. Roma, 1851 Bongarsii (Jac.) Gesta Dei per Francos, 2 vol. folio. Hanoviai, 1611

Bonnor (Hon.) Arbre des Batailles (S. L.) folio. 1493

Bouquet (Dom) Recueil des Historiens des Gaules folio. Paris, (v. y.)

Brunet (J. Ch.) Manuel du Libraire et de F Amateur, 5 vol. Svo. Paris, 1 842

Burchiello, Sonetti Svo. Londra, 1751

Butler (A.) Lives of the Saints, 12 vol. in 2 Svo. Dublin, 1838

Campanella (T.) Opere, 2 vol. 12mo. Torino, 1854

Caraccioli (A.) Chronologi Quatuor Ho. Neapoli, 1624

Casiri Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana, 2 vol. Matriti, 1766

Cassiano (Giovanni) Volgarizzamento Delle (Di lui) collazioni dei Santi Padri, testo

di lingua inedito Svo. Lucca, 1854

Cassiodori (M. Aur.) Opera omnia, 2 vol. folio. Venetiis, 1729

Catalogue de la Bibliotheque de Rosny 8vo. Paris, 1837

Catalogue of the Library of the Earl of Guildford, 3 parts, London, 1828-29 —

Id. Collection of Manuscripts, London, 1830 — Id. Library imported from Corfu,

2 parts, London, 1830 in 1 vol. Svo.

Catalogue of Manuscripts, in different languages (by Mr. Holmes)

Svo. London, 1829 Catalogue general des Manuscrits des bibliotheques publiques des departements,

tome premier 4do. Paris, 1852

Catalogo dei Manoscritti del Marchese Gino Capponi Svo. Firenze, 1845

Catalogus Manuscriptorum Bibliothecse regise Parisiensis, 4 vol. folio. Paris. 1739-44 Cavalca (Fra. Dom.) Opera, 17 vol. 16?no. Milano, 1840

Cave (G.) Antiquitates Apostolicse, 2 vol. 12mo. London, 1834

Cave (G.) Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Historia Litteraria, 2 vol. folio* Oxoni, 1740-43 Censorinus de die Natali Svo. Ludg. Batav. 1743

Chartier (Al.) Les (Euvres folio. Paris, 1528

Chasles (M.) Apercu historique sur l'origine des Methodes en Geometrie

4to. Bruxelles, 1837 Ciaconii (A.) Historise Pontificum Romanorum, et S. R. E. Cardinalium, 4 vol.

folio. Romo3, 1677 Cibrario (L.) Relazioni dello Stato di Savoja Svo. Torino, 1830

Cicogna (E. A.) Saggio di Bibliografia Veneziana Svo. Venezia, 1847

Coleti (Fratelli) Catalogo delle storie particolari d'ltalia 4to. Venegia, 1779

Collectio auctorum-Latinorum ad usum Delphini (a Valpy), 14i*vol.

Svo. Londini, 1819-30 Colucci (G.) Le Antichita Picene, 31 vol. folio. 1786-97

Conti (G.) La Bella Mano Uo. Verona, 1753

Crelle, Journal de Mathematiques 4to. Berlin (v. y.)

Cureton (W.) Catalogus Manuscriptorum Arabicorum Mussei Britannici

folio. Londini, 1846 Cuvier (G.) Histoire des Sciences Naturelles (le et lie part.), 6 vol.

Svo. Paris, 1831-45 CYPRIANI (S.) Opera (a Baluzio) folio. Paris, 1726

EMPLOYED IN COMPILING THE CATALOGUE. xliii

D'Achery, Spicilegram, 3 vol. folio. Paris, 1723

Dante (Alighieri) Opere, 6 vol. Svo. Firenze, 1830

Daru, Histoire de la Republique de Venise, 11 vol. Svo. Bruxelles, 1840

Delambre (M.) Histoire de l'Astronomie Ancienne ; du Moyen Age ; Moderne ; et du

Dix huitieme Siecle, 6 vol. Uo. Paris, 1817-1827

De le Pierre (0.) Macaroneana Svo. Paris, 1852

De Morgan (A.) Arithmetical Books* from the invention of Printing to the present

time Svo. London, 1847

Denis (M.) Codices Manuscripti Theologici Bibliothecse Palatinse Vindob. 6 vol.

folio. Vienna, 1795-1802 De Rossi (G. B.) Dizionario Storico degli autori Ebrei, 2 vol. Svo. Parma, 1802

De Rossi (And.) Scrittori Piemontesi 4fo. Torino, 1790

Dibdin, Bibliotheca Spenceriana, 7 vol. Svo. London, 1814-23

Dugdale (W.) Monasticonf Anglicanun 8 vol. folio. London, 1817-30

Du Meril (Edelestand) Poesies populaires Latines Svo. Paris, 1847

Egidii (sic) Opus de Urinis et Pulsu, cum expositione clar. mag. Gentilis de Fulgineo

Ato. Saic. XV. (s. a.) Elliot (H. M.) Bibliographical Index to the Historians of Muhammedan India, 4 vol.

Calcutta, 1849 Elms (J.) Sir Chr. Wren and his Times Svo. London, 1852

Elogi Italiani (raccolti dal Rubbi)), 12 vol. Svo. Venezia, 1782

Encyclopaedia Metropolitana ; Arithmetic (by Mr. Peacock) Uo. (s. a.)

Endlicher (S.) Catalogus Manuscriptorum Ph. Lathi. Bibliothecse Palatinse Vindob.

Uo. Vindob. 1836

Faber (Jac.) Neinorarius, Jord. et Boetii Arithmetica, etc. folio. Paris, 1496

Fabricius (J. Alb.) Bibliotheca Latina, 2 vol. \to. Venetiis, 1728

Fabricius (J. Alb.) Bibliotheca Latina, cura Ernesti, 3 vol. Svo. Lips. 1773

Fabricius (J. Alb.) Bibliotheca Latina mediae et inrimse setatis (cura Mansi) 6 vol.

4to. Patavii, 1754 Fabricius (J. Alb.) Biblotheca Grseca (cura Harles.), 13 vol. Ato. Hamb. 1780-1838 Fabricius (J. Alb.) Codex Apocriphus novi Testamenti, 3 parts Ylmo. Hamb. 1719-43 Fabroni (A.) Vita3 Italorum, 20 vol. Svo. Pisis, 1778-1805

Falkenstein (K.) Geschichte der Buchdruckerkunst Uo. Leipzig, 1840

Fantuzzi (G.) Notizie degli Scrittori Bolognesi, 9 vol. folio. Bologna, 1781

Farlati (D.) Illyricum Sacrum, 8 vol. folio. 1751-1819

Farsetti (T. G.) Biblioteca Manoscritta Ylmo. Venezia, 1771

Fetis (F. J.) Biographie universelle des Musiciens, 8 vol. Svo. Bruxelles, 1837-44 Fiorentino (Cristoforo) detto l'Altissimo i reali di Francia Ho. Vineggia, 1534

Fioretti di S. Francesco Ato. Firenze, 1718

Fontanini (G.) Biblioteca dell' Eloquenza Italiana, con note d' Apostolo Zeno, 2 vol.

Ato. Venezia, 1753 Formaleoni (V.) Saggio sulla Nautica antica dei Veneziani Svo. Venezia, 1783

Foscarini (M.) Delia letteratura Veneziana folio. Padova, 1752

Furster (J.) Bibliotheca Valenciana, 2 vol. folio. Valencia, 1827-30

Gaisford (T.) Scriptores Latini Rei Metricse Svo. Oxonii, 1837

Galilei (G.) Opere, 2 vol. Ato. Bologna, 165(5

Galilei (G.) Opere, 17 vol. Svo. Firenze, 1842-56

Galilei (G.) Macchie Solari Uo. Roma, 1613

Galilei (G.) Trattato della Sfera 12mo. Roma, 1656

Gamba (B.) Serie dei testi di lingua Svo. Venezia, 1839 Gerbertus (M.) de Cantu et Musica Sacra, 2 vol. Mto. Typis S Blasianis, 1774

* When, in quoting this admirable little book, we have stated that a treatise on arithmetic was not mentioned in it, we intended only to show how great must be the rarity of a work which had escaped the investigations of so learned a man.

f Although this celebrated Monasticon is not specially mentioned in the Catalogue, we need not say that in every matter connected with the history of England we have consulted the work of Dugdale, to which Sir H. Ellis, Dr. Bandinel, and Mr. Caley, contributed so many valuable additions.

xliv

LIST OE THE EDITIONS OE THE WORKS

Girault de St. Fargeau, Bibliographie de la France

Giustiniani, Biblioteca Storica del Regno diNapoli

Graaf (E. G.) Diutiska, 3 vol.

Graberg (G.) Annali cli Geografia e di Statistica, 2 vol.

Grammatici Latini, ex recensione Henrici Keilii, 5 vol.

Grazzini (A. F.) Rime, 2 vol.

Gregorii (S.) Nysseni de anima dialogus, a Krabingero

Gregorii (S,) Papae Opera, 4 vol.

Gregorio (S.) Dialoghi

Gringoire (P.) Rondeaulx, en nombre trois cens cinquante

Svo. Guarnacci (M) Vitse Pontificum Romanorum, 2 vol. Guizot, Cours d'Histoire Moclerne, 5 vol.

Svo

Sv	'0. Paris,	1563
Uo.	Napoli,	1703
. Stuttgard, 1826-29
Svo.	Gcnova,	1802
Svo.	IApsioB,	1855
Svo.	Firenze,	1741
Svo.	IApsice,	1830
folio.	Paris,	1765
folio.	Venetia,	1475

Paris, Galliot du Pre, 1527

folio. Romw, 1751

lGiiio. Bruxelles, 1835

H^enel (G.) Catalogi librorum Manuscriptorum

Hain (L.) Repertorium Bibliographicum, 4 vol.

HajI Khalfa Lexicon, 7 vol.

HAllam (H.) Introduction to the Literature of Europe, 4 vol

Halliwell (J. 0.) Rara Mathematica Svo.

Hammer (Jos. Von) Literatur der Araber, 7 vol. Svo.

Herbelot (D') Bibliotheque Orientale, folio, Mcestricht, 1776-1780,

La Haye, 1777-79 Herodotus, with a Commentary by J. W. Blakesley, 2 vol. Svo.

4/o. Lips. 1830

Svo. Stuttgard, 1826-38

4/o. Leipzig, 1835-50

12/no. Loudon, 1855

London, 1841

Wien, 1850-56

et 4 vol. 4/y.

London, 1854

Histoire Litteraire de la France, 23 vol. Ato. Paris, 1733-1856

Hontheim (J.J Historia Trevirensis, 5 vol. folio. Aug. Vindel 1750-57

Humboldt (A. de) Examen critique de l'Histoire de la Geographie du Nouveau Conti- nent, 5 vol. Svo. Paris, 1836-1839

Isidori (S.) Opera, 7 vol.

Isographie des Hommes celebres, 4 vol.

4/o. Romce, 1797-1803 4/o. Paris, 1827-42

Jacopone (B.) Laudi Uo. Venetiis, 1514

Jacopone (B.) Poesie Spirituali Uo. Venetia, 1617

Jocher (Ch. Gottl.), Adelung, &c. allgemeines Gelehrten-Lexicon, 8 vol.

4/o. Leipzig, 1750, et seq. Jones (Owen) the Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages folio. London, 1849

Jones (Sir W.) Works, 6 vol. 4/o. London, 1799

Jourdain (C.) Recherches critiques sur Page et l'origine des traductions latines D'Aristote Svo. Paris, 1843

Journal Asiatique Svo. Paris (v. y.)

Jubinal (A.) Nouveau Recueil de Contes, Dits, Fabliaux, etc. 2 vol. Svo. Paris, 1838

Lacroix (P.), Fournier et Sere le livre d'or des Metiers Svo. Paris (Sans Date)

La Lande (J.) Bibliographie Astronomique 4/o. Paris, 1803

Lambecius (P.) Comment, de Aug. Bibl. Csesarea, 8 vol. folio. Vindob. 1665 79

Laude Devote composte da diverse persone Spirituali 8vo. Venetia, 1556

Lebeuf (Abbe) Dissertations sur l'Histoire Ecclesiastique et Civile de Paris, 3 vol.

Ylmo. Paris, 1739-43 Legrand D'Aussy, Fabliaux ou Contes. 5 vol. Svo. Paris, 1829

Leland, de Scriptoribus Britannicis, 2 vol. Svo. Oxonicu, 1709

Lelewell (J.) Geographie du Moyen Age, 3 vol. Svo. and 4/o Atlas Bruxelles, 1852 Lelong (J.) Bibliotheque Historique de la France, 5 vol. folio. Paris, 1761

Lenglet du Fresnoy, Histoire de la Philosophie Hermetique, 3 vol. 12 wo. Paris 1742 Le Prince, Essai Historique sur la Bibliotheque du Roi 12mo. Paris, 1782

Leyser (Pol.) Historia Poetarum medii aevi Svo. Hal. Magd. 1721

Lindemanni (F.) Corpus Grammaticorum Latinorum Veterum, 4 vol. 4/o. Lips. 1831 Litta (P.) Famiglie celebri Italiane folio. Milano (v, y.)

Lombardi (A.) Storia della letteratura Italiana, hel secolo XVIII, 4 vol.

8vo. Modena, 1827-1830 Lydus (Laurentius) De Ostentis Svo. Pari*, 1823

Mabillon (J.) Musaeum Italicum, 2 vol.

4/o. Lutetue-Parva, 1687-89

EMPLOYED IN COMPILING THE CATALOGUE. xlv

MABILLON (J.) de Re Diplomatica folio. Paris, 1709

Maffei (S.) Verona Illustrata, 4 parts folio. 1731-32

Magagnati (Gir.) Capitoli Burleschi 12?no. Norimberg, 1643

Magagnati (G.) La Clomira Ylmo. Venetia, 1613

MAGALOTTI (L.) Yarie operette con giunta di otto lettere sulle terre odorose d'Europa

e d'America Vlmo. Milano, 1825

Magazin Encyclopedique, 122 vol. Svo. Paris, 1795-1816

Malcolm, History of Persia, 2 vol. Mo. London, 1815

Mangeti (J. J.) Bibliotheca Chemica, 2 vol. folio. Genevcv, 1702

Marchesi (S.) Supplemento Storico de la citta di Forli folio. Forli, 1678

Mariano da Siena, Viaggio in Terra Santa Svo. Firenze, 1824

Marsand (A.) Biblioteca Petrarchesca Svo. Milano, 1826

MARSAND (A.) I Manoscritti Italiani della Regia Biblioteca Parigina, 2 vol.

Mo. Paris, 1835 MAZZUCHELLT (G. M.) Scrittori dTtalia, 6 vol. folio. Brescia, 1753-1763

Medici (M.) Compendio Storico della Scuola anatomica di Bologna 4to. Bologna, 1857 MEMOIRES de l'Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 50 vol.

Mo. Paris, 1701-1793 M EMOIRES (Nonveaux) de l'Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Mo. Paris, (v.y.) Merimee (P.) La Guerre Sociale Svo. Paris, 1841

Merlin (R. et Grangeret de la Grange) Catalogue de la Bibliotheque de M. de

Sacy, 3 vol. Svo. Paris, 1842-47

Michaud (J.) Bibliotheque des Croisades, 2 vol. Svo. Paris, 1822

Migne, Patrologia Svo. Paris, (v. y.)

MlGNET (M.) Histoire de Marie Stuart, 2 vol. Svo. Paris, 1852

Miller (E.)* Catalogue des Manuscrits Grecs de la Bibliotheque de l'Escurial

Mo. Paris, 1848 Milman (H.H.) History of Latin Christianity, 6 vol. Svo. London, 1854

Mittarelli (J. B.) Bibliotheca Codicum Manuscriptorum Monasterii S. Michselis

Venetiarum Prope Mureanum folio. Venetiis, 1779

Mongitore (A.) Bibliotheca Sicula, 2 vol. folio. Panormi, 1707

Montfaucon (B.de) Bibliotheca Bibliothecarum Manuscriptorum, 2 vol. fol. Par. 1739 Montfaucon, (B. de) Paleographia Gryeca folio. Paris, 1708

Montucla (J. F.) Histoire des Mathematiques, 4 vol. Mo. Paris, An. YIII

Monumenta Historica Britannica, (published by H. Petrie and J. Sharp)

folio. London, 1848 Morelli (J.) Codices Manuscripti Latini et Italici Bibliothecse Nanian?e, 2 vol.

Mo. Venet. 1776 Morelli (J.) Opere notizie di disegno esistenti in Padova, etc. Svo. Bassano, 1800 Moreni (D.) Bibliogralia Storico-Ragionata della Toscana, 2 vol. Mo. Firenze, 1805 MORLEY (W.) Catalogue of the Historical Manuscripts in the Arabic and Persian

Languages preserved in the Library of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great

Britain Svo. London, 1856

Morley (W.) Description of a Planispheric Astrolabe folio. London, 1856

Moschini (G.) Della Litteratura Yeneziana, 3 vol. in 2 Mo. Ven. 1806

Muccioli (J. M.) Catalogus Codicum Bibliothecae Manuscriptorum Malatestianse, 2 vol.

folio. Ccesence, 1780 Munk (S.) Palestine Svo. Paris, 1856

Muratori (L. A.) Anecdota, 4 vol. Mo. Mediolan. et Patav. 1697-1713

Muratori (L. A.) Antiquitates, 6 vol. folio. Mediolani, 1738-42

Narbone (A.) Bibliografia Sicola Sistematica, 4 vol. Svo. Palermo, 1850-1857

Neale (J. M.) A general Introduction to the History of the Holy Eastern Church, 2 vol. Svo. London, 1850

Notices et Extraits des Manuscrits de le Bibliotheque du Roi Mo. Paris, (v. y.)

Nouveau Traite de Diplomatique, par deux religieux Benedictins, 6 vol.

Mo. Paris, 1750 65

* Although this excellent work is not actually quoted in the Catalogue, we have several times derived useful information from it. For instance, we found in it an additional proof of the rarity of the Gregorius de Anima in manuscript, the splendid collection of the Escurial having only a manuscript of the sixteenth century of that work, of which we have one (No. 430) of the ninth century.

xlvi LIST OF THE EDITIONS OF THE WOBKS

Nouvelle Biographie Universelle (dirigee par M. Hoefer, et publiee par Messrs. Didot a, Paris) Svo. Paris, (v. y.)

O'Connor (Ch.) Rerum Hibernicarum scriptores antiqui, 4 vol.

Ato. Buckinghamice, 1814-26 Oudinus (C.) de Scriptoribus Ecclesiae Antiquis, 3 vol. folio. Lipsice, 1722

Palermo (Fr.) i Manoscritti Palatini di Firenze Ato. Firenze, 1853

Panzer (G. W.) Annalen der altern Deutschen Litteratur Ato. Nurnberg, 1788

Panzer (G. W.) Annales Typographici, 11 vol. Ato. Norimb. 1793-1803

Paris (MatthJ Historia Major folio Londini, 1684

Paris (Paulin) Les Manuscrits Francois de la Bibliotheque du Roi, 7 vol.

Svo. Paris, 1836-48 Pasini (J.) * Rivautella et Berta; Codices Manuscript! Bibliothecse Regise Taurinensis, 2 vol. folio. Taurini, 1749

Peregrini (C.) Historia Principum Langobardorum, 5 vol. ho. Neapoli, 1749-54 Persii (A.) Satyrse, etc. (edid. P. Pithoeus) Svo. Lutetian, 1585

Pertz (G. H.) Monumenta Germanise Historica, 14 vol. folio. Hannoverw, 1826-56 Petrarca (F.) Epistohe Familiares Svo. (Geneva??) 1601

Petri Blesensis, Opera, 4 vol. Svo. Oxon. et Lond. 1846

Petrie (H.) Monumenta Historica Britannica folio. London, 1848

Petrus Diaconus de viris illustrib. Cassinensibus Svo. Lut. Paris, 1666

Pez (B.) Thesaurus Anecdotorum, 6 vol. folio Aug. Vindet. 1721-29

Poggiali (C.) Memorie per la Storia Letteraria di Piacenza, 2 vol. Ato. Piacenza, 1789 Poggiali (G.) Serie de Testi di Lingua, 2 vol. Svo. Livorno, 1813

Prisciani Opera (a Krehl), 2 vol. Svo. Lipsice, 1819

Prisciani Opera Minora, edidit F. Lindemannus Svo. Lugdun. Batav. 1818

Putschii (H.) Grammatic33 Latinse auctores Antiqui Ato. Hanoviai, 1605

Quadrio (F. S.) Delia Storia e della ragione d'ogni Poesia, 5 vol. in 7

Ato. Bologna, 1739, 1750 Quetif (J.) et Echard (J.) Scriptores ordinis Prsedicatorum, 2 vol.

folio. Lutetice Parisiorum, 1719-21

Raccolta di tutti i piu rinomati Scrittori dell' Istoria del Regno di Napoli, 23 vol.

Ato. Napoli, 1769-72 Raynouard (F. J. M.) Choix des Poesies des Troubadours, 6 vol. Svo. Par. 1816-21 Redi (Fr.) Lettere Svo. Firenze, 1825

Renzi (S- de) Collectio Salernitana, 4 vol. Svo. Neapoli, 1852-56

Repetti (E.) Dizionario della Toscana, 5 vol. Svo. Firenze, 1833-46

Revue des Deux Mondes Svo. Paris (v.y.)

Riccio (C. M.) Scrittori nati nel Regno di Napoli Ato. Napoli, 1844

Roberto Re di Gerusalemme delle virtu morali. II Tesoretto di Ser Brunetto Latini. Quattro Canzoni di Bindo Bonichi, con alcune Rime di Petrarca Svo. Torino, 1750 Roscoe (W.) Life of Leo X, 4 vol. Ato. Liverpool, 1805

Routh (Dr.) Opuscula Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum, 2 vol. Svo. Oxonii, 1840

Sacro Bosco (J. de) Sphericum Opusculum Ato. Augusta*, 1482

Sacy (Silvestre de) Clirestomathie Arabe, 3 vol. Svo. Paris, 1826-27

Sainte Beuve (C. A.) Port Royal, 3 vol. Svo. Paris, 1840

Sammarthani (Sc. et Lud.) Gallia Christiana, 13 vol. folio Paris. 1715-85

Santarem (Le Vicomte de) Recherches sur les Decouvertes des Portugais, &c. (with a

folio atlas) Svo. Paris, 1842

Santarem (Le Vicomte de) Essai sur l'Histoire de la Cosmographie et de la Carto-

graphie, 3 vol. Svo. Paris, 1849-52

Sartius (M.) De Archigymnasii Bononiensis Professoribus, 2 vol.

folio. Bononiai, 1769 Schilterii (J.) Thesaurus Antiquitatum Teutonicarum, etc. 3 vol.

folio. TJlmai, 1727-28

* In consequence of a misprint at No. 523 of the Catalogue, this work was quoted Rivautella instead of Pasini, etc.

EMPLOYED IN COMPILING THE CATALOGUE. xlvii

Sceopis (F.) Saggio Storico* degli Stati generali, &c, del Piemonte

Ato. Torino, 1851 Scott (Sir W.) Poetical Works Svo. Edinburgh, 1857

Servii Commentarium in Virgilium folio. Romai (1469-70)

Servii Commentarium in Virgilium (edid. Lion) 2 vol. Svo. Gottingm, 1826

Shaw (H.) Illuminated Ornaments, &c, with Descriptions by Sir Fr. Madden

folio. London, 1843 SniRWOOD (J.) Arithmomachia Ato. {Romas, 1482 ?)

Sigoli (S.) Viaggio al Monte Sinai Svo. Firenze, 1829

Solinus (Julius) De Situ et Memorabilis Orbis folio. Venetiis, 1473

Solini Polyhistor Svo. Biponti, 1790

Soria (Fr.) Memoire degli Storici Napoletani, 2 vol. Mo. Napoli, 1781

Spotorno (G. B.) Storia Letteraria della Liguria, 4 vols. 8vo. Genova, 1824-26

Sprengel (K.) Histoire de la Medicine, 7 vol. Svo. Paris, 1815

Strutt (Jos.) A complete View of the Manners of the Inhabitants of England, 3 vol.

Ato. London, 1775

Tanner (Th.) Bibliotheca Britannico-Hibernica folio. London, 1748

Targioni Tozzetti (G.) Notizie sulla Storia delle Scienze Fisiche in Toscana

Ato. Firenze, 1852 Tasso (Torquato) Opere, 12 vol. Ato. Venezia, 1722-42

Tasso (Torquato) Trattato della Dignita Svo. Torino, 1838

Terentianus Maurus de Litteris, Syllabis, Pedibus et Metris

Mo. Trajccti ad Rhenum, 1825 Tesaurus Pauperum Ato. Venecia, 1494

Theatrum Chemicum, 6 vol. Svo, Argentorati, 1659

Theodorus (Fl.) M.) De Metris Svo. Lugd. Bat. 1766

Tiraboschi (G.) Bibliotheca Modenese, 6 vol. Ato. Modena, 1781-86

Tiraboschi (G.) Storia della letteratura Italiana, 8 vol. Svo. Venezia, 1795

Toppi (N.) Biblioteca Napoletana folio. Napoli, 1678

Traversarii (A.) Latinse Epistolse (a L. Mehus), 2 vol. folio. Florentim, 1759

Trucchi (Francesco)f Poesie Italiane inedite di dugenti autori dalF origine della lingua, 4 vol. Svo. Prato, 1846-47

Ughi (L.) Dizionario Storico degli uomini illustri Ferraresi, 2 vol. in 1

Svo. Ferrara, 1804

Van Praet (J.) Catalogue des livres imprimes sur velin (de la Bibliotheque du roi, et d'autres Bibliotheques), 10 vol. Svo. Paris, 1822-28

Varro (M. Terentius) De Lingua Latina (a Muellero.) Svo. Lipsice, 1833

Vedova (G.) Biogratia degli Scrittori Padovani, 2 vol. in 7 parts Svo. Padova, 1832 Venturi (G.) Memorie e Lettere inedite finora disperse di Galileo Galilei, 2 vol.

Ato. Modena, 1818 Vermiglioli (G. B.) Biogratia degli Scrittori Perugini, 2 vol. Ato. Perugia, 1829

Villani (F.) Vite d'Uomini illustri Fiorentini Ato. Venezia, 1747

Villani (G.) Storia Ato. Firenza, 1587

Villemain, Tableau de la Litterature du Moyen Age, 2 vol. Svo. Paris, 1841

Vincentii Speculum Naturale folio. Venetiis, 1494

Virgilii Opera, cum Servii Probique commentariis Svo. Venetiis, 1534

Virgilius (edid. Heyne), 4 vol. Svo. Lipsiai, 1803

Vita di S. Hieronymo Ato. Tarvisio, 1480

Vite de Santi Padri, 4 vol. Svo. Bologna, 1823

Vocabolario dell' Academica della Crusca, 6 vol. folio. Firenze, 1729-38

Voyage Litteraire de deux Religieux Benedictins, 2 vol. Ato. Paris, 1717

Waddingi (L.) Scriptores ordinis pra3dicatorum folio. Rornae, 1806

Wenrick (J. G.) de Auctorum Grsecorum versionibus Syriacis, Arabicis, etc.

Svo. Lipsim, 1842 Whewell (W.) History of the Inductive Sciences, 3 vol. Svo. London, 1837

This eminent Author published other works on similar subjects, which we regret we were not able to procure.

t At No. 865 of this Catalogue, the name of this editor was by mistake printed Truchi.

xlviii LIST OF THE EDITIONS, &c.

Witte (C.) Nuove Correzioni al Convito di Dante Alighieri Ato. Lipsia, 1854

Woepcke (F.) L'Algebre d'Omar Alkhayyami Svo. Paris, 1851

Wood (A.) Athenae Oxonienses, 4 vol. Ato. London, 1813-20

Wood (A.) The History and Antiquities of the University of Oxford, etc* (published by J. Gutch), 5 vol. Ato. Oxford, 1786-96

Yriarte (J.) Codices MSS. Grseci Eegise Bibliotheca? Matritensis folio. Matriti, 1767

Zacharia (Fr. A.) Bibliotheca Pistoriensis folio. Aug. Taur. 1752

Zacharia (F. A.) Excursus Litterarii per Italiam, 2 vol. 4to. Venetiis, 1754

Zanetti (A. M.) et Ant. Bongiovanni, Grseca, Latina, et Italica, D. Marci Bibliotheca 2 vol. folio. Venetiis, 1740-41

Zeno (Apostolo) Dissertazioni Vossiane, 2 vol. Ato. Venezia, 1752

Ziegelbauer, Historia Litteraria Ordinis S. Benedict!, 4 vol. fol. Augustcc-Vind. 1754

LIST OF THE F AC-SIMILES,

WITH IHE

PREFERENCES TO THE MANUSCRIPTS. (*)

Number in the Catalogue.

101— See Plate I.

102— See Plate II.

103— See Plate III.

104— See Plates III. and XIV.

105— See Plate IV.

Ill- -See Plate XXIII.

139— See Plate V.

140— See Plate VI.

160— Seef Plates I, VII, XVI,XXIX,

XXX, and XXXIV. 174— See Plate II. 217— See Plate XI. 229— See Plate XXXVI. 265— See Plate V. 269— See Plate XXI. 298— See Plates III, XVIII, and

XXVII. 299- See* Plates X. and XXVI. 313— See Plate XXX. 320— See Plate XVII. 354— See Plate XI. 355— See Plate XXXI. 356— See Plates VI. and XXXI.

Number in the Catalogue.

357— See Plate III. 358— See Plate XXXV. 359— See Plates XXVI. and

XXXVII. 399— See Plates I. and XXII. 424— See Plate XXVII. 430— See Plate XXIII. 431— See Plate V. 432— See Plate XIII. 433— See Plate XXV J. 477— See Plate IX. 483— See Plate XXIX. 486— See Plate VII. 490— See Plate XVII. 491— See Plate XX. 495— See Plate V. and XIII. 496— See Plate XII. 522— See Plates VIII. and XXIII. 523— See Plates X. and XI. 525— See Plate XXIV. 534-See Plate XXVI. 540— See See Plates XL and XXIII. 541— See Plate XX.

* In this list the Roman numerals refer to the progressive numbers of the plates, in each of which the Arahic figures indicate the numher of the Manuscript in the Catalogue, from which the facsimile was taken.

f In a few copies the No. 160 (page 38 of the Catalogue) his been erroneously printed 161, but every one will see it is a misprint, and that the .facsimiles numbered 160 in the plates I, VII, XVI, XXIX, XXX, and XXXIV, refer to the Biblia, in two volumes, described pages 38 and 39 of the Catalogue, with the note: See facsimile at the end.

% By a misprint in some of the copies of plate X, the No. 299 was erroneously printed 490.

1

LIST OF FAC-SIMILES.

Number in the Catalogue.

542— See Plate IV.

544— See Plate II.

545_See Plate II.

54G— See Plates VI, XXVIII, and

XXXI. 554— See Plate X. and XXVIII. 556— See Plate III. 562— See Plates XV. and XXIX. 573— See Plate XXII. 586— See Plate XXVI. 595— See Plates XX. and XXVI. 596— See Plate XXVII. 597— See Plate VII. 626— See Plate XIII. 665— See Plates XXIV. and XXIX. 683— See Plate XIV. 689— See Plate XXX. 721— See Plate XIII. 744— See Plate XVII. 747— See Plate XV. 748— See Plate XX. 760— See Plates XX. and XXI.

767— See Plate XX.

769— See Plates XIII. and XVI.

770— See Plate XI.

780— See Plate XV.

784— See Plates XXX. and XXXI.

785— See Plate XXXI.

786— See Plate IX.

792— See Plate VII.

804— See Plate V.

805— See Plate XVII.

Number in the Catalogue.

807— See Plate I. 826-See Plate XXXII. 827— See Plate XXXIII. 833-SeePlates XXXV,and XXXVI. 840— See Plate XV. 841— See Plate XIV. 842— See Plate XXVI. 844-See Plates XXIV, and XXVIII. 851— See Plate XVI. 870— See Plate XXXI. 891— See Plate VII. 892— See Plate XXXVI. 936— See Plate XXIV. 981— See Plate I. 982— See Plate XXII. 988— See Plate VII.* 993— See Plate XXVII. 1028— See Plate XV. 1053— See Plate XIII. 1054— See Plate XX. 1055— See Plate XX. 1074— See Plate XV. 1103— See Plates XX. and XXXVI. 1111— Seef Plates XIX, XXIV, XXV,

and XXIX. 1112— See Plates IV, XVIII, and XIX. 1113— See Plate XXV. 1114— See Plates X. and XXIV. 1116- See Plate XXIV. 1118— See Plate XXXVI. 1130— See Plates II. and XXIX.

* Besides the facsimile of the characters, we have given in the same Plate VII. a figure showing, in a reduced proportion, the singular size of this curious manuscript.

f By a misprint in some of the copies of Plate XXIV, the No. 1111 was erroneously printed 111.

The fac-similes were made hy Mr. E. W. Ashhee, of the firm of Ashbee & Dangerfield, 22, Bedford Street, Covent Garden.

CATALOGUE

OP

THE LIBRI COLLECTION

OE

MANUSCRIPTS,

IN VARIOUS LANGUAGES.

FIRST DAY'S SALE.

LOT

1 'Abd-al-'Ali Bif-Mithammad Barjandi, the " Sharh-i- Usturlab : " A

Treatise, in Persian, on the Astrolabe and the Sphere

Mo. iS^ic. xvii. ON PAPER

Written in the Naskh character, with Diagrams and Tables, on 137 leaves. This astronomical Treatise is very interesting, as the author says that he has borrowed largely from another treatise called Blst Bab (the twenty chap- ters) by the celebrated Nasir-al-Dln Tusi, whose works the writer claims to have studied. This work explains also the motions of the stars and the principles of astronomy. The numerical figures of the astronomical tables are generally alphabetical in this manuscript. The work was written during the reign of Abu-al-Fatah Sultan Mahmiid Shah Khuda Bunda, proclaimed King of Persia, a.d. 1577, whose miraculous escape from his brother's hatred, and subsequent reign may be seen in Malcolm's History of Persia (vol. I. p. 516).

In the Bibliotheque Orientate, D'Herbelot does not speak of this work of 'Abd-al-'Ali, which must be very scarce, as it is not included in the list of Oriental works on this subject, given by Mr. Morley in his excellent "Description of a Planispheric Astrolabe," (p. 2-3). The work of Nasir- al-DIn Tusi, from which 'Abd-al-'Ali took his treatise, is also very scarce. It is mentioned (under the title of Bait Bab) by D'Herbelot, and quoted by Jourdain in his " Memoire sur l'Observatoire de Megarah," (Magazin Encycl. 1809, vol. VI. p. 97,) but we have been unable to see a copy to compare with the work of 'Abd-al-'Ali. A copy (in twenty chapters) is in the Medicean Library at Florence.

2 'Abd-al-G-hani al-Nablis! (Shaikh) the " Bihlat-al-Tarabuliis," in

Arabic : Account of a Voyage from Damascus to Tripoli, made in the beginning of the Mohammedan month, " Babl'-al-awwal," Anno Hegirse 1112 (a.d. 1700) 4<to. S^:c. xviii. on paper

This is a curious relation. The author poetically describes the beauty of the places at which he arrives — the luncheons and the good honey, &c. — and sometimes, inspired by the beauty of the scenery, as well as by a good dinner, he is induced to write in verse. But the greatest value of this Manuscript is derived from a large collection of poems on the praises of

B

5 THE LIBEI MANUSCRIPTS.

Mohammed and other subjects, which form the second portion of it. These poems were written by very numerous poets, all Andalusi (natives of Andalusia, or of Spain generally according to D'Herbelot) in the time of the greatest splendour of the Arabian sovereigns of Spain. The names of all these Arabo-Spanish poets are here given, such as Abi-al-Hujjaj Yusuf Ibn Miisa ; Shaikh Abi-Zaid ; Ibn al-Jiyan ; Abii-al-Yaman Ibn 'Usakir; Abu-al -Kasim Sa'ad Ibn Muhammad; Abu-'Abd- Allah Ibnlmran; and many others. D'Herbelot in the Bibliotheque Orientate under the heading " Ketab Schoara Andalous " speaks of a work on the Arab poets, natives of Spain, written by " Abul Valid Abdallah," who died Anno Hegirse 403 (a.d. 1013).

So large a collection of ancient Spanish poets, in Arabic, is of the utmost rarity. [n the great " Catalogus Manuscriptorum Bibliothecae Regiae Parisiensis," (vol. I. p. 245) there is a portion only of a collection of Ara- bian poets (including the Spanish) made by " Homadiddin " of Ispahan, and another portion of the same collection is described in the admirable Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts at the British Museum, by the Rev. W. Cureton (p. 273) ; but our collection seems quite a different one. Baron Silvestre de Sacy in his rich collection had only a few single speci- mens of the Spanish Arabic literature. They are ably described in the excellent Catalogue of his library by M. Merlin and M. Grangeret dl la Grange (MSS. p. 32-33). Independently of the interest derived from the fact that these celebrated Arabian poems were written on European soil at a period when Christian Europe was involved in darkness, the Arabo-Spanish poets are well known even to incipient Orientalists. It was a quotation made by D'Herbelot of two beantiful lines of one of them, Zaidun, which reduced Sir W. Jones almost to despair, and induced him to suggest a new system of orthography for Asiatic words. (See also No. 1079 in the present Catalogue).

3 'Abd-al-GhanI (Effendi) A Treatise in Turkish, on the Signs of the

Zodiac and of the Time when the Sun enters each, with Prayers, Religious Charms, &c. (in prose and verse) 4*to. S.&C. xviii. on paper

This curious work is both astronomical and astrological, with several astro- nomical tables ; it contains, as an example, the horoscope of Solomon. The volume contains also some prayers and extracts in Arabic and in Persian. In his " Catalogus Codicum MSS. Orientalium Bibl. Medicese," Assemanni mentions three anonymous Turkish Kalendaria, quite different from the present, the author of which asserts his descent from the great Shah 'Abbas.

4 'Abd-al-Rah!m Bin- Ahmad Sur, " Kashf-al-Lughat :" A popular Arabic

and Persian Dictionary folio. Sjbc. xviii. on paper

The work is valuable, full and complete. This copy was made at Gujarat, Anno Hegirse 1124, (a.d. 1711.) Haji Khalfa refers to this Dictionary in his Lexicon (vol. V. p. 214).

5 Abel (N. H.) Precis d'une Theorie des Fonctions Elliptiques

4<to. SJEC. xix. ON PAPER

An autograph manuscript (with the author's signature at the beginning) of this Norwegian mathematician, who died when only twenty-six years old, and whose admirable discoveries in the elliptical functions will be recorded as long as mathematics are held in honour. This Manuscript, consisting of fifty-six columns besides four pages of introduction, contains many cor- rections and alterations, which have never been printed in the Journal de M. Crelle, where this Precis was published.

G Abel (N. H.J Demonstration d'une Propriete generale d'une certaine Classe de Eonctions transcendantes Mo. 1829, on paper

In the author's handwriting, with a short German note, dated Christiana, 6 Jan. 1829, respecting the printing of this Demonstration and the illness of his intended bride, also in his autograph with signature. Abel died on the 6th of April, 1829.

THE LIBEI MANUSCEIPTS. 3

7 Abu-Nasr-al-'Utbi, the"Kitab-al-Yamlm;'or"T^lrIkll-al-'UtbI:', A His-

tory, in Arabic, of the Kings of Khorasan, copied iVnno Hegirse 1075 (a.d. 1664), bound in sheep, ivith case Mo. S^c. xvii. on paper

This work begins with the coronation of Yamln-al-Daulah Amin-al-Millut, in the year 365 of the Hegira. The history of Khorasan, where so many interesting remains of the ancient Persians are still in existence, is almost entirely unknown. In his History of Persia, Malcolm only says that in the year 967 of the Hegira (a.d 357.) during the intestine wars of Persia the family of Shemgur made themselves independent in Khorasan.

8 Abu-Nasr Muhammad Ibn 'Abd-al-Hahman Hamadam, (Imam)

" Kitfib-al-Sab'Iyfit," in Arabic, recording everything computed by Sevens (" God has created everything by Sevens," 7 week days, 7 heavens, 7 countries, &c.) in the Naskh character, S^;c. xiv — Arabic Grammar, by the Author of the " Kitab-al-'Arab," copied Anno Hegirse 916 (a.d. 1510) Oriental binding Ado. S^ec. xiv. and xvi. ON paper

Both unpublished. The work on the number 7 is very curious, and contains much historical, geographical, and astronomical information. It is an ancient and interesting manuscript. The Arabic Grammar is deficient at the beginning.

9 Abu-Talib, Persian Grammar Mo. S^ic. xix. on paper

An original Persian manuscript in the author's autograph, written by him Anno Hegirse 1218 (a.d. 1802) during his sojourn in London, but never published.

10 Adriani (Marcelli) Ennarationes in Demetrium Phaleraeum

autograph MS. 8vo. S^c. xvii. ON paper

The " Commentarii in Demetrium Phaleraeum," by M. Adriani, who died in 1604, were edited in 1562, but these Enarrationes seem still unpublished.

11 iEaiDius (Columna) Romanus, Ord. Fratrum Eremitarum S. Augustini,

de E-egimine Principum very distinctly written, in the original binding, Mo. $mc. xiv. on telltjm

iEgidius Columna, one of the most learned divines of his time, died at Avignon in 1316. This work was formerly very celebrated and popular.

12 ^Egidit Monachi Instituta de Pulsibus (Versibus composita cum Glossis

interlinearibus) — Constantini Aeri Monachi Cassinensis (vel

potius Isaaci Israelitse) Viaticum de Signis, Causis et Curis iEgritu-

dinum cum Glossis Girardi ? fol. Sjsc. xiv. on yellum

This Manuscript is finely written in two different Italian hands, and the work

of Constantinus is in double columns. At the beginning there are ancient

prescriptions for making various colours ; and at the end some medical

recipes.

According to Leland and Tanner, JEgidius, or Giles the Monk, was an Englishman living towards the end of the twelfth century, who first settled at Paris as Professor of Medicine, and subsequently entered the Order of S. Dominic (or rather S*- Benedict according to Leyser). Fabricius calls him a Greek, on the authority of Trithemius, and he must have been an Athenian if we credit Hendreich. In the Leipzig Library are manuscripts styling him Corboliensis. In France he is generally considered as a Frenchman. For further information respecting iEgidius, see Hist. Litt. de la France, (vol. XII, XVI, and XXI,) and Leyser, {Hist. Poet. p. 499.) According to an excellent article published in the "Biographical Dictionary of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge" all the discrepancies and doubts relating to iEgidius Corboliensis arise from his having been confounded with iEgidius de Sancto iEgidio, an Oxford Dominican Pro- fessor. In this manuscript the poem de Pulsibus differs considerably from a 4to. edition printed without place or date during the fifteenth century, which we compared with it. Constantine the African was a celebrated physician, who translated

b2

4 THE LIBRI MANUSCRIPTS.

largely from the Arabic, and this Viaticum is supposed to have been written in that language by Ishak-Ben-Honain, a famous Jewish doctor, and rendered into Latin by Constantine, after he became a Benedictine monk in the Monastery at Monte Cassino. Concerning his wonderful travels and unceasing exertions to introduce the Arabian sciences amongst the Christians, see Petrus Diaconus (De viris illust. Cassinensib. p. 45), and chiefly the excellent Collectio Salernitana, by M. De Renzi. (See also Nos. 279 and 280 in the present Catalogue.)

Respecting the Viaticum we must add that not only are the glosses of the present manuscript quite different from the glosses of Gerard us de Cremona, contained in the Manuscript described in No. 279, but that also the text of the Viaticum differs considerably in the two manuscripts, as will be ascertained at once by comparing the beginning of that work, taken from both Manuscripts.

Present Manuscript. Manuscript No. 279.

" Quidem ut in rethoricis tullius omne " Quoniam quidem ut ait in rethoricis

in quid experiendumvel propter sevel tullius omne inquit vel propter se vel

[propter aliud vel propter utrunque propter aliud vel propter utrumque

expetitur." expetitur experiendum."

And it differs also from the manuscript No. 280, which commences thus :

" Quoniam quidem in theoricis ait Tullius omne in quid est petendum vel propter aliud vel propter se vel propter utrumque expetitur."

13 iEsopi Fabulae Latinis Versibus expressse 4fo. S^ec. xiv. ON" yellum

Respecting this version of ^Esop's Fables, which begins : "Ut juvet et prosit conatur pagina prsesens," see Morelli (Cod. Lat. Bibl. Nan. p. 152), and the excellent Catalogue of the Bibl. Grenvilliana, (vol. I, p. 8). According to a note on the fly-leaf this manuscript contains some Fables not printed in the " iEsopus moralisatus." It belonged, during the XlVth or XVth century, to " Bertus Nicholai de Rosarmia de Pisis," and was written in Italy, probably at Pisa, during the first period of the XlVth century. It contains some curious rude ornaments.

14 iEsopi Fabulse — Amoeni vel Prudentii Liber Evse Columbae (Enchi-

ridion Historiarum Novi et Veteris Testament!) — Liber Cartula? — Theodtjli Ecloga " Ethiopum terras jam fervid a torruit sestas," cum Glossis — Liber Faceti — Joanjsts Chrisostomi Liber de VII Virtutibus et Viciis (metrice). calf extra, gilt edges, tooled sides 4<to. SiEC. xiv. on yellxjm

A valuable manuscript, containing several curious old poems, and affording im- portant various readings. The iEsop is the same Version, and generally agrees with the preceding manuscript which, however, contains several lines not in the present Concerning the " Liber Evae," see Leyser (Hist. Poet.\). 11.); see also No. 147 in the present Catalogue. The beginning of the Liber Cartuke is :

" Cartula nra tibi portat ranalde salutes Plura videbis ibi si non hec dona refutes." which shows it to be the same work (with curious variations, for instance the name oiRanaldus which does not occur in Fabricius) as the Speculum Mundi, attributed to Bernardus Morlanensis, who lived about 1140 (see Fabricius Bibl. Lat. vol. II, p. 254). In the Ecloga of Theodulus this manuscript affords many valuable emendations of the Text as printed in the Manuale Biblicum of Goldastus, and as these excellent various readings agree exactly with the specimen published by Leyser (Hist. Poet. p. 296) we have every reason to be- lieve that this is the identical manuscript so much praised by him. Respect- ing the age in which this Theodulus lived, there is a great discrepancy amongst biographers, some of them assigning him to the fifth, and others, with more probability, to the ninth century.

The Liber Faceti appears to be a totally different Poem from that cited by Fabricius in his " Bibliotheca Latina media? et infimse -ZEtatis," (vol. II, p. 138) as commencing: " Cum nihil utilius humanse credo saluti," for this begins thus : " Moribus et vita quisquis vult esse facetus," and is an

THE LIBEI MANUSCRIPTS. 5

obscene poem, similar to the Liber de Vetula, attributed to Ovid, and perhaps of the same time. See also Nos. 236 and 537 in the present Catalogue.

The Liber de VII virtutibus, which begins as follows : '•' Ardua virtu- tum facile cape lector ad usus," is written in a different and more ancient hand, and contains on the margins a very curious old drawing. Some old interlineary glosses on the first leaves contain an Italian translation of the most difficult words.

15 Agnolella da Foligno, Libro chiamato " Lume amoroso divino"

folio. S^ec. xiv. (mcccviiii) on paper

A very curious manuscript, containing the revelations of Agnola (or Agnolella) da Foligno, written by herself. This singular work, which has remained totally unknown to the various historians of Italian literature, begins as follows : " Nel nome d. y.u ho povero disprezzato et vostro hobediente nell' afio m.ccc0. del segnore et el primo di de marzo una dona chiamata Agnolella de la cita de Foligne (sic) essedo giovene et estando col suo marito comezo ad avere espiratione divine. ..et copuse questo libro. ..et prima dice de se medesima che estando col suo marito no adava cOtinoamete ne devotamete et atetamete alle predicationi tame io andava espesso alia ghiese degli frati....Et allora essedo io espirata da lo spirito sco," etc. This work consists of forty-seven leaves, written in double columns, and exhibits at the bottom of several pages a singular mixture of signatures and numerical figures.

16 Ahmad-i-KermanI, " Diwan-i- Ahmad," Persian Poems

4ttO. SiEC. xvi. ON INDIA PAPER

Unpublished. These Poems, though esteemed by Orientals as nearly equal to those of Hafiz, are exceedingly scarce. The author, a native of Kerrmin (Caramania), was the intimate friend of Tamerlane. D'Herbelot, who (at the words Kerman and Timour) speaks of the three poems on Alexander, on Tlmiir, and on Chinghiz Khan, by Ahmad-i-Kermani, did not know of this Dlwan.

17 Ahmad ab ad (Exact Measurement of the Fort of), with names of the

towns and villages, amount of revenue, nature of produce, number of police stations, law-courts, and other public buildings, their cost, &c, and a general statistical description of the whole Province of Gujarat, in Persian folio. ^>mc. xvii. on paper

An unpublished Statistical Report of considerable importance. In the Nasta'lik character.

18 Aiimad-Ein-Yusue Abu-al-'Aebas-al-Damashki, "Akhbar-al-Dawal wa-

athar-al-awwal," or Universal History, including an Account of the Mohammedan Dynasties to the year mviii. of the Hegira (a.d. 1599), and of the Remains of the Ancients, in Arabic in red sheep 4do. SiEC. xvii. ON paper

A fine early manuscript but slightly wormed. The author, who was called Al- Damashkl from the place of his birth, is one of the best of the Arabian Historians and was the contemporary of the famous Shah 'Abbas, with whose reign he concludes his work, which has never been printed, and which is mentioned by Hajl Khalfa (vol. I, p. 186).

19 AexImas, (or Aklimiis) the " Kitab-al-Kudais," containing " a full

and particular record of what I the author, Aklimas, was taught by the Apostle Simon Peter, (whose disciple I was) in regard to the Christian faith ; with an account of the History of the World, from its creation to the time of the Lord Jesus Christ, including his life and death, and also of what is to happen on this earth in future until the Day of Judgment ; the same having been all imparted to Peter by the Lord Jesus himself. Written originally by me the

THE LIBEI MANUSCEIPTS.

said Aklimas, who finished this record on Juma'rat (Thursday) the 23rd of Haziran, in the year of Alexander the Great, 367 (a.d. 53)." Arabic, in the Naskh character folio. SiEC. xvii. on paper

A curious and valuable manuscript, having a few leaves at the beginning and end supplied in a more recent writing. This Apocryphal Bible, containing a Pseudo-Gospel and Apocalypse, (professing to have been written imme- diately after the death of Jesus Christ ) seems totally unknown to every writer on the real or spurious Gospels and sacred Books, the name even of Aklimas having escaped D'Herbelot and all other Bibliographers which we have perused. To give an idea of this curious work, written no doubt by a Christian with all the eastern imagination, we subjoin the translation of a portion of the narration of the celebrated contest of St. Peter with Simon the Sorcerer, or Simon Magus, taken from this book (leaf 126), which bears a strong resemblance to the Arabian Nights.

" And the two Angels said to me, Peter, arise and mount. What shall I mount? said I. They answered, mount this cloud. I then mounted the cloud, and found it splendidly furnished like a chariot for a Bride. The cloud flew as soon as I mounted, and I felt at once that I was heing carried towards Rome. In the twinkling of an eye we saw a large city, and on asking the two Angels about it, they then answered me, that it was Wareeon, the city in which Paul had preached and which I had so much desired to see. I here heard loud voices saying, come out, let us meet the founder of the Church and the head of the Apostles, Peter. I then descended from the cloud at the gate of the city, and saw a large crowd of people, who had come out to meet me. The priests with wax candles in their hands, and others with incense vessels sending out a beautiful odour, approached with prayers and offerings. On meeting them, they worshipped me, and also asked me to bless them, which I did. I then asked them how they were, and they answered they were well, with the help of our Lord Jesus Christ, adding that there was no oil in their city, or any olives in their neighbourhood. ' We beg of you,' they said, ' to pray to God who is most merciful, to produce in this our city the olive-tree, in order that Ave may use the oil for Baptism and lamps.' I then prayed for this, and at once the olive-trees grew out and multiplied by the order of the Lord, and they became more numerous than in Syria. I also asked the Lord to banish the lions, the bears, the insects, and every injurious and corrupt thing, and was also answered and helped in this by Jesus Christ. I dwelt long in this city. * * * * I went also in the cloud to Rome, and recommenced the good work, preaching to the people, and calling on them to believe in Christ, and the Believers grew and multiplied every day, and became more and more zealous in the Lord.

" Simon the Sorcerer became then very jealous of us, and wished to oppose us, following, as usual, his tricks, intrigues, and deceit.

" So, one day, he brought a bull, and spoke in Ins ear, and the bull died imme- diately. We were then both sent for by the King of Rome. I went with my followers to the King. Simon then said tome, in the presence of the King, 'make this bull come to life, for you say that you are capable of performing miracles.' I answered, ' let the man who killed the bull give him life again.' The King said, ' Simon has done a great miracle in killing the bull with his words, you and your friends must make him arise again by your speech.' Simon then left us, and went home. Then Paul turned to me and said, 'why should we hesitate and wait any longer?' I then prayed to the Holy Spirit, and made on the bull the sign of the cross, and said, ' in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, whom the Jews crucified at Jerusalem, I call on thee to rise from the dead.' Then the bull rose at once as full of life as before. When the people saw this miracle, they glorified God. I then said to the bull, ' go to Simon the Sorcerer, and say to him that the Disciples of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Virgin Mary, call for you.' The bull went at once, followed by many people, to the house of Simon the Sorcerer, and spoke to him with eloquence and force of language, commanding him to come; and many believed on that day.

" Simon the Sorcerer came with the bull to the Palace. The King was on his throne, and he said to Simon the Sorcerer, ' see you what these people, the ■ Dis- ciples of Jesus Christ crucified, have done?' Then Simon the Sorcerer answered, ' Do not think much of these people, I can do what neither they nor any other can ; I will ascend to heaven.' He then called the evil spirits, who always surrounded and helped him, and spoke to them whilst I was looking at him. He went up into the air, and called out to me, ' Peter, is this enough, or shall I go up higher? ' I said, ' I wish you to ascend a little higher.' Then he mounted, the people looking on him, until many of them could see him no more. Then Paul said to me,

THE LIBEI MANUSCRIPTS. 7

• 0 ! my Lord and pious Master, it is not time now to hesitate and wait submitting to tire deceit of this Sorcerer. Let us unmask him.'

" Then the Spirit moved me, and I raised my head to the heavens, and said to the evil Spirits — ' In the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living and eternal God, let go your hands which support him.' The evil Spirits let go, and he fell to the ground, and was broken, and not one of his bones remained sound, and his brains came out of his nostrils, and all his body was scattered to the wind. The people called out with prayers and glory to our Lord Jesus Christ, and we in that day baptised innumerable persons.' "

From this fragment it is evident that the author calling himself Aklimas, and the author of the "Acta Petri et Pauli Apostolorum " (the real or pseudo Marcel- lus, concerning whom see Fabricius Cod. Apocr. Nov. Test. vol. III. p. 633) worked upon the same tradition, and although we are unable to assign the priority of invention to either, Aklimas seems to have amplified the sub- ject greatly, and has at once compiled a spurious Bible, a spurious Gospel, a spurious Book of Acts, and last, not least, a spurious Apocalypse.

We learn from Cave (Antiquitates Apostolicce, vol. I, p. 159) that St. Peter was supposed to be the author of a Gospel, Acts and Apocalypse, the latter rejected by the ancients as spurious, but read, as Sozomen informs us, in some churches in Palestine in his time. The Acts are mentioned by Origen, Eusebius, and others as supposititious. Serapion, Bishop of Antioch, suffered the gospel to be read in his church, believing it at first genuine, but after a more careful perusal he rejected it as apocryphal. Is the work of Aklimas composed, in some measure at least, from those old apocryphal works? (See also No. 769 hi the present Catalogue.)

20 Alani (' De Insulis') Doctrinale — Petei Hispani (Johannis XXI.) Dia-

lectics "Deo Gracias Anno dfii 1455" — Supposiciones Confusiones — Auctoritates et Flores secundum Ordinem Alphabeti — Tractatus de Obedientia, Humilitate, &c. — De Excommunicato non vitandis, (a.d. 1435) — Speculum Amatorum Mundi — Veritas Veritatum (Poenia) — Collacio coram P. Innocentio et alia

8VO. SiEC. XV. ON PAPER

From the Carthusian monastery of Erfurth. The Doctrinale is a poem on Latin grammar, by Alan of the Isles, (a Scotchman according to Dempster, in insula Mona natus, but it is well known that Dempster contrived to make every author a Scotchman) and quite different from the Doctrinale altum, (" rectius Doctrinale minus," says Fabricius) which commences "A Phcebo Phoebe lumen capit, dtc." instead of as this, " Scribere clericulis." It is not mentioned by Fabricius or Leyser. There is much obscurity as regards the various authors of the name of Alanus, who lived in the middle of the twelfth century. (See Hist. Litt. vol. XIV, p. 355.)

21 Alberti Magni, Ordinis Fratrum Prsedicatorum, de anima libri tres

4ito. SiEC. XV. ON PAPER

Published in the third volume of the edition of the work of this author, printed at Lyons, in twenty-one folio volumes, in 1651,

22 Alberti Magni, Ordinis Fratrum Prsedicatorum, Compendium Theo-

logical Veritatis ; accedunt perpulchra Miracula B. Mariae Virginis in the original binding, with brass bosses 4<to. S^c. xv. (1477) on paper

Prefixed is another Treatise, in the same handwriting, entitled, " In Agenda Mortuorum" at the end of which is " Sermo pro mortuis Fratris Pauli de Cumis Ordinis Praidicatorum" an author totally unknown to Quetif. This volume was written in 1477, by " Presb. Franciscus Captaneus (Cattaneo) de Placentia in quadam cella quae Sancta Justina nuncupatur." The Miracula at the end are really, perpulchra.

23 Alberto (P. Gio. Andrea, " della Compagnia di Giesu") II Sole Ligure

nella Casa Lercara Oratione detta al S. Gio. Batt. Lercaro Doge della Bepublica di Genova l'Anno 1643 — Ejusdem Lercariorum Elogia Poetica, (illustrated ivith 9 large engraved portraits of the Lercari family, prooes which are vert rare) folio, 1643, on paper An autograph manuscript of this celebrated Jesuit, with the License for printing the work, which appears to have been published at Genova, in 1644.

8 THE LIBEI MANUSCKIPTS.

24 Albini Heremitse Epistola ad Heribertum Coloniensem Episcopum de

diversis Yirtutibus 8vo. SiEC. xv. on paper

Albinus the Hermit must have lived about the year 1000, as Heribert was Bishop of Cologne from 999 to 1021. This work is mentioned by Fabri- cius (Bibl. Lat.Med. vol.1, p. 52) as existing in manuscript in the library of St. Peter's, at Hamburg. See also Ziegelbauer {Hist. Litt. Ord. S. Benedicti, vol. I. p. 503.)

25 Albtthali Astrologi Liber in Scientia Judiciorum Astrorum — A lbtjmaz ab

de Annomm Revolutionibus — Astrologia incerti Auctoris

folio. S^c. xv. ON PAPEB

This manuscript with diagrams was written in the year 1480, which date will be found at the end of the Treatise of Albumazar, having the following colophon : " 1480. — Deo Gracias. — Liber Revolutionum est translatus de Grseco in Latinum a Magistro Steffano. Messanse. anno xpi dni. 1262." This is a curious instance of an Arabic author translated into Latin from the Greek at a very early period. In all probability this Steffanus was no other than the celebrated Italian poet, Stefano pronotaro da Messina, who, according to Mongitore, lived about 1262, and whose poems were quoted by Dante, but whose translation from the Greek nobody seems to have known, as they remained unknown even to Padre Narbone, who recently published a learned bibliographical work on the Sicilian Authors, in four volumes. At the end of the first work there is the following subscription : " Iste est liber intitulatus Alboali Alcanah translatus de Arabico in Latinum a Platone Thiburtino in civitate Barcelania cum laude Dei et in ejus adjutorio qui factus est anno Arabum 530(?), etc." In his learned biography of Platone Tiburtino Prince Boncompagni only mentions from the ancient " Catalogus librorum manuscriptorum Angliae et Hibernia?," tYiQExcerpta ex libro Abohali, translated by Platone Tiburtino ; but this translation of the Liber in scientia judiciorum astrorum seems to be quite unknown, for it cannot be the work of Ptolomaeus Affaludhi, quoted by Prince Boncompagni, as this last work, divided into four books, is quite different from the work contained in the present Manuscript.

26 Alchemie : " Cy commence le Livre appelle Tmage de Vie traictant des

Secrez des Philosophes sur la fleur d' Alchemie"

4itO. SMC. XV. ON PAPER

Written at the end of the fifteenth century, and illustrated with numerous coloured drawings of Furnaces, Stills, Retorts and other Instruments used in Alchemy. At the end are various additional secrets in a different handwriting of about the same period. This Manuscript contains a general treatise of chemistry, very slightly tinged with the dreams of the ancient Alchemists. The description it contains of real chemical operations and preparations is extremely useful for the history of chemical science, and the drawings (several hundred in number) representing the whole of the instru- ments used at that time (amongst which we find scales, bellows, various descriptions of filters, improved furnaces, &c.) render this Manuscript of peculiar interest.

27 Alchemy : Das Buch genannt die kostlichest Gaab Gottes gemacht

durch Franciscum Epimetbium 4to. Sjec. xviii. on paper

28 Alchemy: " Kitab fi 'Ilm-al-Klmiya," An Anonymous Treatise on

Alchemy — Another Treatise on Natural History and Alchemy, being a translation from the Khorasani, of a work by Astanis (or Ostanes) copied the same year as above, Anno Hegirae 706 (a.d. 1306) — Arabic Notes of a more recent date half bound 4<to. Smc. xiv. ON paper

Ostanes, or Otanes, as Herodotus spells the name, (Utana in the Behistun inscriptionj was one of the Magi who lived prior to the time of Homer, and is supposed to have been the Master of Zoroaster. Pliny, {Hist. Nat. lib. XXX, §§ 2, 3, et 5) however, makes him posterior to Homer, placing

THE LIBEI MANUSCKIPTS. 9

him in the reign of Xerxes, with the statement, " Primus quod extet, ut equidem invenio (de Magia,)" and afterwards he quotes a Second Ostanes in the time of Alexander the Great. We find in Zanetti et Bongiovanni, that a Manuscript on Alchemy, by Ostanes, in Greek, is in the library of St. Mark, at Venice, (Cod. Grcec. ccic.) but we do not know if it is the same work from which this was taken. According to Lenglet du Fresnoy (Hist. de la Phil. Herm. vol. I, p. 460) the works attributed to the Persian Ostanes were written by Ostanes the Egyptian, who lived in the fifth century after Jesus Christ, but as there were several of the name, the true age of the author is still very doubtful (See also Cat. MSS. Bibl. Reg. Paris. vol. I, p. 204, and Lambecius, Coram. Bibl. Ccesar. vol. VI, col. 383). We subjoin a portion of the curious preface of the compiler of this treatise (Abu Bakr Yahya Ibn Khan Asani) in which he speaks of the works from which he took his compilation :

" Astanls (Ostanes) Hakim, the philosopher, says, this is a translation from a book called Jami', which is a collection on the art of chemistry, relating the qualities of minerals, botany, animals, the extraction of their essences, &c. Abu Bakr says, I translated this book into Arabic from the KhorasanI language which is spoken in Iran. I translated from the statement of Astanls Hakim. I have added two more chapters at its conclusion, from statements of Harkal al-Ruml, and of Khalid-al-Hindl, Aristotle of Egypt, Hormis, Runakhus, Bokraz, Iskandar, Jabir, and Hamsl."

This treatise seems worthy of considerable attention, and, on account of the many Greek authors mentioned in so ancient a manuscript (which affords a fresh instance of Arabians having made the Greek scientific writers their peculiar study) a translation of the entire work would no doubt prove acceptable both to Greek and Arabic scholars. Notwithstanding the disfiguration the names have undergone in their change into Arabic, it is not difficult to recognize in those cited by Abu Bakr some of the most celebrated of the ancient Alchemists, such as Archelaus, Aristotle the Alchemist, Hermes, Hippocrates, Alexander, Geber, &c. &c. As regards the statement of Abu Bakr that he translated the work of Ostanes from the language of Khorasan into the Arabic, this fact ought to be carefully investigated, for the inquiry is one of great interest, inasmuch as we have on this point two conflicting statements, that of Ibn-Khaldun, who says that the Arabians destroyed the ancient works of the Persians, and that of Mas'udi, who affirms that the works of the Magi were still in existence when he lived, that is about the middle of the tenth century after Jesus Christ, and, although we are aware how, for the sake of gaining more credit, Alchemists have not scrupled to palm off as writings of ancient authors those of modern composition, the labour is one which will probably amply repay the trouble of research. The quotation from a Hindoo Alchemist is also very interesting as it confirms a statement made by the same Mas'udi respecting the literary intercourse of the Arabians with the Hindoos (see Notices et Extraits, vol I, p. 7, 38, &c). No mention of this Abu Bakr could we find either in Lenglet du Fresnoy, or Mangetus. In the Theatrum Chemicum (vol. V, p. 55) a " Brakus Philosophus" is men- tioned, which might possibly be a corruption from Abu Bakr. We did not find any mention of these translations from the Greek alchemists by this Abu Bakr in the excellent work of M. Wenrich (De Auctor. Graicorma Versionibus Syriacis, Arabicis, &c.)

29 Alchimia : Secreti Mirabili per 1' Alchimia 4<to. S^:c. xvi. on paper

This interesting unpublished Manuscript contains also a great number of pre- scriptions and secrets relating to useful things, such as cosmetics, cement for Majolica ware, &c.

30 Alchimia : Segreti della Distillazione royal folio. Sjsc. xvii. on paper

Beautifully written within painted borders of flowers, with coloured drawings of Stills and Furnaces. At the beginning and end there are painted arms of different persons. From a small poem at the beginning it seems that this fine Manuscript was written for and addressed to the then Emperor of Austria (Cesar e).

10 THE LIBRI MANUSCRIPTS.

31 Alchimia : Collectio Auctorum qui scripserunt de Lapide Philoso-

phorum, Latine vel Italice 4>to. S^ec. xvi. (1568) on paper

This important and valuable collection, consisting of more than 400 pages, contains : Arnaldi de Villanova Rosa novella — Liber Stephani Medici de Lapide Philosophico — Epistola Marise Prophetissse SororisMoisi — Clavicula Raymundi Lulii — Liber de Transmutatione Metallorum Comitis de Treves et de Neges in Gallia et ex Gallico conversus in Latinum per Guilielmum Rogozannum — L'Alfabeto apertoriale dell' Eccmo Filosofo Christoforo Parigino — Tractatus Doctoris subtilis Michaelis Scoti de Lapide phi- losophico majore — Tractatus Rogerii Bachonis (mutilus ?) — Liber per- fecti Magisterii B. Thomse de Aquino — Lilium Intelligentise Magistri Artis generalis de Florentia — Alberti Magni Secretorum Tractatus — Tractatus Zenonis Philosophi de Lapide Philosophico — Qusestiones tam essentiales quam accidentales Magistri Arnaldi de Villanova super Arte Transmuta- tionis declaratse Papse Bonifacio VIII, ab eo petitse super Compositione Lapidis Philosophici — Tractatus de Basilisco ad Opus facilimum Alchimise — Epistola M. Alamani Bohemi ad Bonifacium VIII super Lapide philo- sophico— Modus conficiendi Oleum Camphoree — Particulare " quod Toxites pro singulari Secreto mihi communicavit affirmans se illud ex ipsius Theo- phrasti Paracelsi autographo transcripsisse Aurum potabile absque Corro- sivo Th." Several of these works are unpublished and even unknown. The "Tractatus de Lapide philosophico majore" was unknown to Fabri- cius, as well as to Lenglet du Fresnoy, neither of whom quote it in their lists of the works of the Wizard, Michael Scott. The Liber Stephani de lapide philosophico, the Alfabeto, the Lilium, the Tractatus Zenonis, and the Epistola Alamani, have remained also quite unknown to Lenglet du Fresnoy and all the other bibliographers we have been able to consult.

32 Alchimie : Des Lettres des Hebreux et de la Cabale des Juifs — De

l'Esprit du Monde contenant sommairement les Principes de toute la Phisiologie (Sonnets) — Le Ltjcidaire de Christophle de Paris (le second livre qui traite des choses naturelles)

in 1 vol. 4ito. Smc. xvii. on paper

A curious collection. The Sonnets (twenty in number) were written by some French poet of the sixteenth century. The "Lucidaire" is a curious treatise on natural philosophy, written in the thirteenth century, according to Lenglet du Fresnoy (Hist. vol. III. p. 135) who did not know of this French translation.

33 Alembert (J. Le Rond D') Geometrie Pratique pour l'lnstruction des

Artistes 4fo. Sjsc. xviii. on paper

This valuable Manuscript (without the name of the author) is divided into six books, and was written before the middle of the last century. It is partly autograph, and partly written by a copyist with autograph corrections ; and these corrections, as well as the autograph portion, are undoubtedly in the handwriting of the celebrated D'Alembert, who very probably wrote it when low in fortune. (See the Isographie des Hommes Celebres, vol. I.)

34 Aleotti (Gio. Batta-) Delia Alteratione del Po di Ferrara et della Rivo-

lutione di esso nel Ramo di Figarolo

folio. SiEC. xvi — xvii. on paper A most interesting autograph work of this distinguished Hydraulic Engineer and Architect, with two of his autograph letters addressed " Alii Molto 111" miei SSri Ossmi g\[ Sigri et Sindiei della Comunita d'Argenta," with his seal, dated 1601 and 1634; the latter date is important, since it proves that he did not die in 1630, as was engraved on his tombstone prior to his decease and never altered by his heirs. In the same volume is bound up an autograph Treatise by Aleotti, entitled " Dell Architettura Libro V." Aleotti was the author of a well known translation of the Pneumatics of Hero, and made the river Po his peculiar study. This important Manuscript was quite unknown to Mazzuchelli, who has written at length of this celebrated man in his Scrittori d ) Italia.

THE LIBKL MANUSCRIPTS. 11

35 Alexandri Magni prudentissimi Liber, in the original oak hoards

folio. SiEC. XW. ON VELLUM Written in double columns upon twelve leaves, of which the first has an illuminated border, and a large capital representing the King on his Throne, in gold and colours. The Manuscripts of this celebrated work, which is generally placed amongst the Romances of Chivalry are of very uncommon occurrence.

36 Alexandri Magni Macedonis qui totum mundum sibi subjugavit

Historia, French blue morocco folio. Sjec. xv. on yellum

Another fine Manuscript of this romance, with illuminated capitals. The text of this Manuscript is very different from the previous one, as it is easy to ascertain by comparing the beginning of each.

Previous MS. Present MS.

" Sapientissimi quippe egyptii scientes " Sapientissinii egyptiorum scientes

mensuram terre undasque maris et ce- mensuram terre atque undas maris

lestium ordines cognoscentes id est stel- dinumerantes et celestium siderum vim

lanim cursum motus et firmamenti cognoscentes id est stellarum cursum

tradiderunt. computantes tradiderunt."

But besides the difference in the reading, there are more important varia- tions, as the present Manuscript contains many chapters, and letters, etc., which are not to be found in the preceding one ; and although the end is similar in both, this one contains also the curious work " Alexandri Magni Macedonis ad Aristotelem magistrum suum de itinere suo et de Situ Indie," which is not in the other.

37 Algazelis Logica folio. S^so. xiv. on vellum

Written in a small semi-gothic character, on fine Italian vellum, with capitals illuminated in gold and colours. This volume was formerly in the celebrated Library of Santa Giustina of Padua, and contains the curious book-plate of that library, with the Autograph of Mabillon. From page 1 to 12, and 59 to 72, this Manuscript contains some additional matter, which is not in the Medicean Manuscript, as described by Bandini. {Cat. Bibl. Med. vol. IV. p. 118.) The last fourteen pages of this manuscript are also different in the Algazelis Philosophia et Logica, printed at Venice, 1506, in 4to.

38 'Ali (Shaikh) " Slrat-al-Halabiah ;" an Account of the Wars of "the

Prophet," and of his Expeditions against the " Infidels," by Shaikh 'All of Aleppo 4ito. in case. SiEC. xv. on paper

Well written in theNaskh character, with the title on the first page illuminated. It has never been printed.

39 Almanac (cum Theorica et Tabulis Planetarum, Lunse, Solis, &c.)

folio. SiEC. XV. ON PAPER

The numerous astronomical Tables are all with Arabic numerical figures. The Almanac seems to have been calculated in the year 1391. In the page containing the " Tabula ad sciendum introitus solis in principia 12 signorum celi, etc." we find a note beginning thus : a Scias quod ista tabula facta est ad meridiem pisuis (?) anno domini 1330." This Manuscript was written in Italy, and probably contains the "Theorica planetarum" of Andalone de Nigro, who was the master of Boccaccio, to which at a later period was added the Almanac. In the year 1330 or 1331 Joannes de Saxonia wrote an astronomical commentary on the work of Alchabitius, but it does not seem that the present Manuscript has anything to do with that commentary.

40 Almanac (fiir 1494) in German, with Astronomical and Astrological

Figures, the Signs of the Zodiac in colours vellum cover 4<to. Smc. xv. on yellum and paper

A very curious Manuscript consisting of several hundred pages, with directions (including those for Phlebotomy) for every day in the year. It contains the description of the properties of the seven Planets in verse. The High-

12 THE LIBEI MANTTSCEIPTS.

German in which the work is written is remarkably pure, and probably by a Saxon as, for instance, he writes Paden for Baden. The Almanac begins with the year 1494. It contains a great number of figures (volvelles, Astro- nomical Tables, etc. of " Pythagoras, Aristotle, Plato, Bartholomseus," &c.) in red and black ink; the whole of them with Arabic numeral figures. The Calendar contains a very full list of Saints, and each month is intro- duced by a metrical Quatrain in the style of Poor Kobin. There are several Treatises on the Signs of the Zodiac, the last with elegant coloured drawings. This Manuscript has the autograph and arms of Hans Apfel- berth on the first leaf.

41 Almanac. An Egyptian-Arabic Prophetical and Fortune-Telling

Almanac, written in the reign of Sultan Muzaffar Ahmad Khan, by Sulaihan al-Falki-al-Hanaei-al-Samani (Astronomer)

folio. S-ffic. xvii. on paper

This Almanac is for a twelvemonth, including the last two months of the year of the Hegira 1012, and the first 10 of the following year, answering to a.d. 1603. The author predicts the events of each coming month, so as to make what is called in the East TakwimAblahan, or a "Fool's Almanac." Parties consulting it in a certain prescribed manner are assured that thereby they can learn their future fortune. The following dates are given :

Beginning of the World - before the Hegira 174,706

Banishment of Adam from Paradise „ „ 5,364

Noah's Deluge ... ?j w 4J06

Departure of Alexander from Macedonia „ „ 1,915

A very curious work, which has never been printed.

42 Alsace, Memoire Militaire sur la Province d' Alsace

folio. S^c. xviii. (1791) on paper

An autograph manuscript, dated Strasbourg, 28 Xbre- 1791. It will be seen by a note near the end, that it was an official and private document for the then Minister at War of France.

43 Altjgara (Lorenzo) Descrizione Istorica del Contagio sviluppatosi in

una Tartanella Idriota esistente nel Canal di Poveglia nel G-iugno, 1793, e de' Mezzi practicati a rinserrarlo in quell' Isola. Illustrata da una Eaccolta di Fatti seguiti in altri Tempi e di Nozioni relative alia Peste ed ai Mezzi di Preservazione calf extra, gilt edges 4to. Smc. xviii. (1793) on paper

With a coloured map. This valuable, historical as well as medical, Treatise, is not mentioned in the excellent Saggio di Bibliografia Veneziana, by M. Cicogna, and does not appear to have been printed. Amongst the ancient unpublished documents inserted in this work, there is one of the year 1347, written in the Venetian dialect.

44 Amp.ro sn Camaldulensis (Traversarii) Itinerarium Anno Domini

MCCCCXXXI. — MCCCCXXXIY. 4<tO. S^C. XV. ON PAPER

This Manuscript of one of the most interesting works of this celebrated General of the Camalduli Monks was formerly in the Library of the " Monasterium Angelorum " at Florence, and on the inside of the cover has the following special memorandum respecting its loss : " Itinerarium Rmi- Cardinalis Ambrosii perditum, postea inventum et sum Bibliothecai appositum A.D. mdxlvii." This circumstance shows the high estimation in which this Manuscript was held, and would induce us to suppose that it was the original one given to his monastery by the author. General history (for instance the narrative of the exile of Cosmo dei Medici) is mixed with monastical matters in this visitation. A curious fact is that when, in this Itinerarium, the learned Ambrosius has to complain of the moral habits of the monks or nuns of his own order, he writes in Greek.

THE LIBEI MANUSCEIPTS. 13

45 America. Diario do succedido desde o dia (Dec. 1755) em que princi-

piarao a sahir as Tropas Portuguezas do Bio Grande de S. Pedro, para o Torre de S. Goncallo ; da jun9ao dellas no detto Forte ; e da Marcha que fizerao a se ajuntar com o Exercito de S. M. C. para unidos hirem a Expulcao dos sette Povos sublevados que pelo Tratado de Limites cede a Coroa de Espanha a de Portugal

8vo. Smc. x-viii. on paper

An autograph Diary, very interesting. With regard to America, see also Nos. 620 and 825-827 in the present Catalogue.

46 Amir Khund (Sayid) The " Tawarikh-al-'Alam," in Persian, containing

Historical Accounts of Thamra (Samrah), JSTishapur, Samarkand, Khorasan, Bokhara, Constantinople and other places, with Biographi- cal Notices of several Eastern Potentates and Mohammedan Saints

4to. S^:c. xvii. on paper

This manuscript is written in the Nasta'lik character. It is dated Anno Hegirae 1057 (a.d. 1647). This work is mostly taken from the great work of Sayid Amir Khund (commonly called Mirkhand, or Mirkhond,) with some additions. To fully appreciate the importance of that renowned historian, of whose celebrated history only a few extracts have appeared in European languages, it will be useful to peruse the Catalogue of the " Historical Manuscripts of the R. Asiatic Society of Great Britain," by Mr. Morley (p. 30-38).

47 Ammirato (Scipione) Orazione contra il Turco

4<to. Sjec. xvii. on paper

This work was published at Florence in 1598.

48 Ammirato (Scipione) il Dedalione over del Poeta Dialogo

4:tO. SJSC. X\i. ON PAPER

An autograph manuscript of this celebrated author, with a Dedication to Geronimo Seripando Arcivescovo di Salerno.

49 Angeli (Johannis Christophori) Dancksagungs-Predigt ex Psalmo 122,

Thanksgiving-Sermon at Kelsterbach, 30 May, 1627, for the Foun- dation of Marpurg University in 1527 ito. 1627, on paper

An autograph Sermon at the centenary Jubilee, by the Incumbent.

50 Annales Sainctes depuis la Creation du Monde jusques a la Passion de

Jesus Christ old French red morocco, with Anns on sides

2 vol. folio, xvii Century, on paper

Written in a beautifully clear hand on upwards of 1300 pages. From the celebrated Library of Le Tellier de Courtanvaux. At the beginning of this manuscript there are numerous marginal notes, some of which seem to be in the handwriting of Louis de Bourbon, the great warrior, called Le Grand Conde, (see the Isographie, vol. I.) who in the decline of his life was disposed to be religious.

51 Anonxmi doctissimi Dictata in Pomponium Melam

4fo. Sjec. xviii. on paper

In all probability the Lectures of Abraham Gronovius.

52 Anselmi (B. Archiepiscopi Cantuariensis) Tractatus de Casu Dyaboli et

Omelise IV. super Missus est Gabriel — Isidori (S.) Synonima

folio. 8mc. xiv. on vellum

These rare Homilies are not quoted by Fabricius in the list of the works of S. Anselm, and no Manuscript of them is to be found in the great "Cata- logus Bibliothecse Regiae Parisiensis." (See also Nos. 105, 465, &c. in the present Catalogue).

14 THE LIBRI MANUSCRIPTS.

53 Antidotarium Mo. SiEC. xv. on paper

At the end of this early Medical Manuscript are twenty-three leaves of various Recipes both in Italian (or rather in the Venetian dialect) and Latin, amongst which, one is entitled Ungucnto de li Monichi de lordeno de Inghil- terra. ^ This .Antidotarium, (wherein are such prescriptions as Lohoc, a pollyrium with Litharge, a composition to make sealing-wax, &c.) is interesting for the history of Physic.

54 Antonii Aretini Novae Regulse de Constructionibus

S^IC. XV. (1426), ON VELLUM

A Grammatical Treatise, which seems quite unknown, written on 84 leaves of pure Italian vellum, with the capitals in colours, and the name of the scribe, "Iste liber est mei ieronimi de orlandis," and the date a.d. mccccxxvi. The name of this Grammarian appears to have escaped all the Biographers and Bibliographers perused by us. Several leaves of this Manuscript are palimpsest, but the ancient handwriting is hardly visible, although in some instances (see the chapter de Consequentiis) it seems to have contained some old Italian words, which is seldom the case in palimpsests.

55 Antonini, (S. Archiepiscopi Elorentini,) Summa brevis informatio ac in-

terogatio Confessionis — Tractatus super VII Peccata mortalia — Regul^e ex Dictis B. Thomse — Bonaventur^ Cardmalis Trac- tatus super Magistrum Sententiarum de Peccatis — Egregius Trac- tatus de Peccatis mortalibus (metrice) — De Restitutions — De Ludo Alese, &c. — Manus duodecim peccantes — Rustitianus Prater Eratri Antouio de Elorentia, missiva et responsiva simul — De Excom- municatione (Excommunicationes reservata3,etc.) — De Defectibus Missse, &c. &c. 8vo. Sjec. xv. on paper

This very complete Manual for a Father Confessor, formerly belonged to the Congregation of S. Justina at Padua. The " Tractatus de Peccatis mortalibus " is a Latin poem of about 100 lines. In the Manus duodecim we find Manus lusoria, where is mentioned as a common sin Supponere falsos taxillos, and other tricks of the Greeks of those days. An uncommon occurrence in these instructions for Confession is the mention, that in certain sins that of the husband is more abominable than that of the wife.

56 Antonino (S.) de l'Ordine de Erati Predicatori, Arziveschovo de Eio-

renza, Somma dei Vizii, dei Peccati e dei Sacramenti — Specchio della Mondicia del Core — Ambrosii Episcopi (S.) Liber Viciorum et Virtutum — Cesarei Episcopi (B.) Liber Sermouum B. ad Monacos solitarios qui merito dicitur Speculum Monacorum — Bernardus (S.) de Praecepto et Dispensatione vellum small folio. S^c. xv. on vellum

A fine Italian Manuscript written in double columns. The " Somma dei Vizii" is the celebrated "Confessionale" of St. Antoninus, quoted by the Crusca, and begins with Omnis mortalium cura. In comparing the text with one of the most ancient 4to. editions of this work, without date, we find a great many various readings. For instance, at the beginning

Manusceipt. Edition.

" Ma pure ad uno fine tutti intendono " Ma pure ad uno fine tuti inten-

e sforzano de venire, cioe a beatitudine. deno e forzano de venire zioe de bea-

In generale ciascuno appetisce d'essere titudine in generale ciascuno desidera

beato." desser beato."

As to the Specchio, whether this work has any connection with those numerous manuscript works cited under the title of Trattato, by the Crusca we have been unable to discover, but undoubtedly the Italian of this work is old and pure. The Latin works, but chiefly those of Csesarius, contained in this Manuscript would afford curious various readings to a new editor. At the end there is this colophon " Iste liber est monasterii Sti. Georgii di Ferraria, ordinis Montis Oliveti."

THE LIBEI MANUSCRIPTS. 15

57 Antontno (S.) Trattato intitolato " Curam illius habe " (cioe il Con-

fessionale in volgare) in the original binding 4to. Sjec. xv. on vellum

Avery elegant Manuscript of a work which ranks among the " Testi di Lingua." During the XVth Century it was often printed, probably because the author at the beginning strongly recommended its perusal, which, says he, " Sara piu salutifero che leg g ere Dante o le cento novelle et corbaccio di messere Giovanni (Boccaccio) o sonecti o cantare de paladini et libri di Ceccho d^Ascholi heretico." But the sainted Archbishop seems little confident of being read by the clergymen and curates of the country, of whom he says, che si dilettano poco di leggere, adding " Chi non sa queste cose sopraddette piu tosto vadi a zappare che lui si meita a confessare et meglio li sarebbe di guardare le pecore che avere cura delV anime." The text of this Manuscript, written in Tuscany, is exceedingly pure, and affords valuable various readings. In comparing it with the 4to. edition of this work, printed at Florence by Lorenzo Morgiani, in 1493, we found that this Manuscript contains 24 pages in Italian relating to Excommunication, which are not in that edition, but which appeared in Latin only at Venice as early as 1474.

58 Apologues, ou Parables — Tractatus moralis cum Sententiis Patrum —

De Cohabitacione Mulierum cum Sacerdotibus — Tractatus de Missa — Boethius de Scholarium Disciplina cum Commentario vetusto — Exorcismi Eormula — Olossarium Latinum — Tractatus de Grrammatica ex Prisciano " ad Julianum Imperatorem Consulem etPatricium" excerptus — Gr alert di deVinosalvo (Angli) seupotius Johannis de Garlandia (Angli) Liber de iEquivoeis et Opus Synony- morum, cum Commentario — Opus de Barbarismo — Carmen de Barbarismo — Ars Grrauimaticse 4ito. SiEC. xiii. on yellum

A very extraordinary collection of ancient manuscripts in different handwritings, of the early part of the XHIth Century. The Apologues in French are of the highest interest for the Language of the period. The work " de Scholarium Disciplina" has been falsely attributed to Boethius, of whom it is totally unworthy ; and although it may probably have been the produc- tion of Thomas de Cantimprato, who was born in 1201, yet the age of this early Manuscript distinctly disproves that Dionysius a Ryckel, the Car- thusian, who died in 1471, could, as is stated by Labbe and Cave, have been the author. The Glossarium is of no small importance for philo- logists. The " Tractatus de Grammatica," is an abridgement of Priscian. On the blank page at the end of this treatise is a memorandum, in a writing certainly more than a century later than the Manuscript dated

o XX

mccc1"1!!!!6 (1394), and another dated mccccxi. On the same page is the following verses :

En Ian de lincarnacion

Qui couroit mil cccc et sept

Auint la grand destrucion

Des Cretines et du grand fret.

At the end of John Garland's " Liber de iEquivocis" is written " Explicit Liber Equivocorum Ms G. de barqto," and the commentator at the com- mencement of the "Opus Synonymorum," informs us that it was by Galfridus de Vinosalvo, " qui construxit novam poetriam et istum libellum et libellum de asquivocis." This may be correct, but both these last works have been long known under the name of Garland as the author. The text of this manuscript affords many valuable various readings, and is far superior to that given by Leyser (Hist. Poet, p. 312-339). The following specimens taken from near the commencement of both poems will suffice :

LlBEB DE iEQUIYOCIS. MS. LeTSEE.

" Hec acus est stibium calamistrum subua " Hasc acus est stilus, calamistrum, subula,

rome rome

Portula ruricole stimulus pugioque draconis Hoc aceris faciet, sed acus dabit htec ge-

Hoc acus est palea sutoribus ha3c acus apta nitivo

Hoc aceris faciet sed acus dabit hsec ge- Hoc acus est palea, sicut ha3c acus, hie

nitivo." acus ornat."

16 THE LIBEI MANUSCEIPTS.

Opus Stnonymoetjm. MS. Leyser.

" Nil veteram curis euro superaddere dictis " Ad veterum curas cura superaddere nostras Sed dare lac tenuis proponens pauca pusillis." Sed dare lac pueris, proponens pauca, pusillis."

As is well known Leyser published only the first nine lines of the Poem de yEquivocis ; but the whole of this Poem, written about the year 1040 by a celebrated English Poet, will be found in this manuscript. The work de Barbarismo is nothing more than the third book of the " Ars Grammatica Donati ; " but the Poem de Barbarismo seems unknown, as well as the Ars Grammatical and the Commentaries on the Works of J. de Garlandia, which are replete with curious matter; for instance, a comparison between the cock and the preacher, which is truly singular. The Abreviatio Prisciani is a considerable work, written early and founded upon ancient manuscripts, and would afford considerable help to a new editor. (Is this abreviatio the work of Petrus Elias quoted by Fabricius ?) The Donatus also, with an old Commentary, would supply a great number of various readings. Almost at every page this manuscript con- tains curious facts and notes — one very interesting about Cato's Moral Works, so celebrated during the middle ages. But unquestionably the most interesting portion of this volume are the singular French Contes, written against both the wealthy and the monks, from the beginning of which we subjoin a specimen :

" Un enchanteor passa par reis e princeps la ou seient e touz les aweugla se un tel venist a la meson aucun de nos fous serions si nos le receusum. E cestui en- ehanteor ci est apele Robert le riche. Ce sont les riches qui asveugle les juges e les reis, etc."

We did not find any mention of these Apologues either in the Fables inedites, published at Paris by M. Robert in 1825, or in the invaluable Catalogue des Manuscrits Francois de la Bibliotlieque du Moi, published more recently by M. P. Paris. See also Nos. 283, 683, 742 and 993 in the present Catalogue.

59 Aquino (B. Thomse de) Compendium Theologise — Ejusdem Exposicio Ora-

tionis Dominicge — Opusculum quatuor novissimorum — Tractatus qui Cordiale dicitur — Ars bene moriendi cum Orationibus devotis

8VO. S^C. XV. ON YELLUM

Written in Italy upon fine vellum, with illuminated initials. The "Opusculum" is in prose and in verse.

60 Arabic : Dictionnaire Francois-Arabe 4to. Sjec. xvii. on paper

This valuable Dictionary, consisting of several hundred pages, and which formerly belonged to the Order of " Capucins de Bagdad," has also the pronunciation of the Arabic words written under each, in Roman letters. It is unfortunately imperfect at the commencement. In some parts it appears to be in the handwriting of the celebrated Peiresc, who, as is well known, applied himself to the study of the Oriental languages, and was in correspondence with the most learned Maronites.

61 Arabic Syntax : A Translation from an Arabic work into English

folio. Smc. xix. ON PAPER

62 Arati " Vettjstissimtjm hoc Fragmenttjm in Sicilia compertum cum

Comentario Vide " — Aratus a M. Tullio Cicerone (Seu potius a G-ermanico) traductus blue morocco, gilt edges 8vo. Smc. xv. on vellum

Beautifully written on Italian vellum, with the two initial letters elegantly painted in gold and colours, having the first page adorned with a rich border and the arms of an ancient owner. This is a very interesting manuscript, the title of which reads as above. It not only contains great variations from and additions to the printed edition, but (a singular fact) attributes to Cicero a translation of Aratus with a commentary, which in all the editions is published under the name of Germanicus. This frag- ment of Aratus, as is stated in the title-page, was found in Sicily in the fifteenth century, and was first printed in 4to. at Venice, in 1488, by Antonius de Strata Cremonensis, with other astronomical and medical poems

THE LIBEI MANUSCKIPTS. 17

by Avienus, Serenus, &c. In this edition, as subsequently, the trans- lation and the commentary were attributed to Gcrmanicus. This Manu- script, however, must have been a transcript from the original manuscript found in Sicily, as at the end we read (Sic) : " Finis Arati : Sed plura deficiunt propter vetustatem et quinternionum fractionem collegi nequa- quam potuerunt et cum maxima difficultate." As we find on the first leaf the name, written in the fifteenth century, of "Petri de Joannis et Amicorum," which is that of a well known Sicilian family, we may believe that this Manuscript was written in Sicily at the time of the discovery of the ancient fragment now lost, and that it is a most genuine transcript of the vetvstissimumjragmentum mentioned in our Manuscript. By comparing the Editio Princeps (in which this work is also stated to have been Nnper inSicilia repertum) with this Manuscript, Ave learn several interesting facts. Firstly, we see how ancient editors were induced to supply (often without any foundation, and even without giving any notice of it to the reader) the deficiencies and lacunce which they found in a manuscript in which (as in the present volume) the scribes had indicated them by leaving a blank space. Secondly, by perusing the dedication of Victor Pisani to Paul Pisani, a Venetian senator, we see that at that time printers and publishers were pressing learned men. to supply them with ancient authors, or at least fragments, such being apparently the most popular works for selling, and looked upon as Godsends, equal to what a fashionable novel by some favourite writer would be in the present day This first edition contains the Germanici Arathea Phamomena and Prognostzca, following each other, as in this Manuscript, without the distinction which was introduced after- wards. But the Manuscript contains besides twenty-stx pages, which seem quite unknown, de Sole, de Mundo, etc. (following immediately the last sentence of " Prognostica" as printed, " In cauda tres, sunt omnesxx.'") which are not in the editions, and which exhibit much astronomical and cosmographical information. At the beginning there is a biography of Aratus, with considerable variations from the editions.

It is not only hi the first edition that the lacunae, or blank spaces of the manuscript were erroneously supplied, or even passed over without notice, as if they had never existed. In the absence of a good manuscript, the blunders of the first edition were unavoidably reproduced in this century by Buhle in his classical edition of Aratus, as will be seen from a single specimen of comparison between the manuscript with its lacuncc, and the Buhle edition (vol. II, p. 36 et 37).

Manuscript. Edition.

" Homerum dixisse ' Homerum dixisse Jovem in aliqua

Jovem in aliqua parte coelum parte coelum. Et ipse Aratus quod

et ipe . . . dicit Herodotus Jovem dictum aera et

Aratus qu dixit Herodotus Jovem Crates quidem ejusdem est opinionis,

dictum aera Crates quidem testemque esse Phil on em comicum dicit

ejusdem est opinionis teste, ee Hoc autem constat et ipsum dicere.

comicu Philone qui dicit . . . Nam quia nihil aliud est vox."

Hoc aut co stat et ipm dicere

nam quia nihil aliude

vox.

No wonder if, having such a text to deal with, Buhle (vol. II, p. 479) was so severe upon this ancient commentator. We believe that, after this, Ave may safely state that :

For a new editor of Aratus, as well as for the student of the history of science this Manuscript is invaluable.

It is almost unnecessary to add here that the present manuscript has nothing in common with the celebrated Harleian Manuscript, now in the British Museum, containing the translation of Aratus, by Cicero, with a commentary entirely different from the present one, and so accurately described by Mr. Ottley in the sixteenth volume of the Arcliwologia. (Respecting a fragment of Aratus, translated by Gcrmanicus, see also Yriarte, Codices Manuscripii Greci Bill. Matritensw, p. 203).

c

18 THE LIBEI MANUSCRIPTS.

63 Abcudii (Antonii) do Syntaxi verborum G-rsecorum Liber, Graece et Latine, vellum 4<to. SiEC. xvii. on paper

Antonio Arcudio was much employed by Clement VIII, and under the Papal patronage he published a Greek Breviary, in order to unite if possible, the Greek and Roman churches. This work on Syntax is quite unknown to bibliographers, even to the learned and minute Mazzuchelli.

G4 Archjtettura. Drawings of Columns, &c. with Explanations in Italian

folio. SiEC. xviii. on paper

This is the autograph work of some first-rate Italian architect of the last century.

65 Architecture, &c. Plans and Sections of Roofs — Notes respecting Major Knaspole's House at Eastwell — Account of Dials (including Sir C. Wren's) — The Manner to lay a House or Building in Per- spective— On Organs, with Account of tbe Stops in that of the Temple — Account of Freemasonry, by Henery Heade, 1675 — On Arches, with a Diagram of that " by the Traytor's Grate in the Tower" — Rule for Arches, with an Autograph Letter to Captain Wind, unsigned, dated 1689 — Notes on Grunnery — Treatise on Mathematics, with Diagrams, &c. calf gilt edges folio. SiEC. xvii. on paper

At folio 190 is a drawing of a truss for a stack of chimneys, signed James Whithead. This interesting Manuscript contains a great variety of tracts on mathematical and mechanical subjects, with drawings of several early engines and inventions. At leaf 129 there is the description of a weather cloch, by Dr. Chr. Wren, which was a writing instrument marking by itself in pencil upon a sheet of paper, the changes of the wind and weather. (See Elmes, Sir Chr. Wren and his times, p. 192.) Some of the tracts included in this collection are evidently in the handwritings