Cosmographia

Description

Manuscript in Latin in Humanistic bookhand on parchment, containing Pomponius Mela 'Cosmographia' [fols. 1-30r], the anonymous 'Descriptio Ligustice regionis', a description of Liguria and Genoa, [fols. 30v-34r], and Gaius Julius Solinus 'Polyhistor' [34v-106v]. Decoration: 33 major initials in white vine-scroll style; smaller initials alternating in red and blue; manuscript guide letters. Ruled margins left and right, with small initials indented into the left-most border. Headings and captions in red ink. Initial and final two leaves blank, and not part of the main collation. Collation: [a-m]8, [n]10. Incipits: ‘Pomponii Melae Cosmographi liber primus incipit feliciter prologus’; ‘Descriptio Ligustice Regionis’; ‘Caii Solini Liber inscriptus Polyhistor’. A printed description of the manuscript cut from Bernard Quaritch Ltd. Cat. 138: A Catalogue of Manuscripts Arranged in Chronological Order (1893), item 100, pasted to the front pastedown. Annotations: Occasional marginal
annotations in two hands, mostly correcting errors in the text (cf. fol. 40v), some interlinear. A lengthy passage has been added at the end of the 'Descriptio Ligustice Regionis' (fols. 33v-34r) in a different hand, providing an account of what earlier authors have written about Liguria. MS note on front flyleaf in the hand of Michael Wodhull (1740-1816): ‘Leigh’s auction Dr. Askew’s manuscripts L1: s12: d- M. Wodull Mar: 15th 1785’; Wodhull’s MS contents on same leaf with the note: ‘collat: & complet’. Twentieth-century MS pencil notes describing the manuscript on front flyleaf and bookseller’s code on rear flyleaf. Leaf size: 233 x 160 mm; text frame: 165 x 100 mm.


Referenced in: Private pleasures: illuminated manuscripts from Persia to Paris: the collection of Denys Spittle (Cambridge : Fitzwilliam Museum, [2007]) pp. 59-60. Potten, Edward, 'From Byzantium to Alberto Sangorski: Treasures from the Thomas Edward Watson Collection at the Brotherton Library, University of Leeds', The Book Collector, Autumn 2023, pp. 1-16 (pp. 10-12).


This manuscript has previously been confused and conflated with another manuscript of Pomponius Mela, lot 947 in the 1859 auction of the manuscripts of Guglielmo Libri.

Features

Eighteenth-century full diced Russia calf; gilt roll and triple gilt fillet to form a panel, with a gilt fleuron in each corner; double gilt fillet to form an outer border; sewn onto six raised supports; spine gilt; spine direct-lettered in gilt: Pomp Mela & Solin M.S.; board edges gilt.

Provenance

Manuscript inscription on opening leaf: Petri Servij, Medci. [i.e.: Petrus Servius (fl. c. 1641)]. Some of Servius' library is in the Biblioteca Angelica in Rome, including one book signed by him in 1641 (see: Enrico Celani, 'Dediche, postille, dichiarazioni di proprietà ecc. nei libri a stampa della R. Biblioteca Angelica di Roma' in 'La Bibliofilia', 8, 1906, p. 105). Sold as lot number 512 in the Leigh and Sotheby sale of the manuscripts of Anthony Askew (1722-1774), 'Bibliotheca Askeviana Manuscripta' (7 March 1785). Acquired at Askew's sale by Michael Wodhull (1740-1816). Wodhull's books were bequeathed in 1816 to his sister-in-law, Mary Ingram (1748-1824), who bequeathed them to Samuel Amy Severne (1773-1846); thence to John Edmund Severne (1826-1899), who auctioned the collection at Sotheby’s in 1886, this manuscript lot 2094. Acquired [presumably at the Wodhull sale] by Bernard Quaritch Ltd. and listed by them in the following catalogues: Cat. 75: 'The Choicest Portion of
the Wodhull Library' (1886), item 284; Cat. 135: 'A catalogue of Greek and Latin classics also of modern latinists, and of works upon classical philology, Greek and Roman archaeology, and history' (1893), item 811; Cat. 138: 'A Catalogue of Manuscripts arranged in Chronological Order' (1893), item 100; Cat. 369: 'Catalogue of Manuscripts, chiefly illuminated, and remarkable as examples of antiquity, calligraphy and ornamentation, including also valuable texts' (1886), item 35754. Printed book label on front pastedown: Mr. T. E. Watson [i.e.: Sir Thomas Edward Watson (1851-1921)]; thence Sir Geoffrey Watson (1897-1961), Daphne Southwell [Watson] (1907-1998); Stanley Denys Trevor Spittle (1920–2003). Accepted in lieu of Estate Duty by H M Government and allocated to Special Collections & Galleries at the University of Leeds Libraries, 2022.

Access and usage

Reproduction

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