Marston MS 17     Roccacontrada, 1434
Petrarch, Itinerarium; Boccaccio, De montibus, silvis, fontibus, etc.

1. ff. 1r-7r  [Heading written three times by later hands; epistle:]
Raro admodum spei nostre exitus respondent.  Sepe premeditata destituunt:
insperata contingunt...suspiramus abeuntem jam reducem exoptamus.
[text, f. 1v:]  Poscis Ergo vir optime quoniam me [?] non [one word omitted
and added in margin, now lost] comites...superest pagendum christi ope
feliciter his spectaculis et hoc duce doctior nobis ac sanctior remeabis.
Explicit itinerarium francisci petrarce.  f. 7v blank

Petrarch, Itinerarium breve de Ianua usque ad Ierusalem et Terram
sanctam; text is defective: lower portion of f. 1 missing.  G. L.
Lumbroso, ed., L'Itinerarium del Petrarca in Atti della R. Accad. dei
Lincei, Rendiconti, s. IV, 4 (1888) pp. 390-403; reissued, La guida
compilata dal Petrarca ad uso d'un pellegrino in Memorie italiane del
buon tempo antico (Turin, 1889) pp. 16-49.  A new edition, translation,
and commentary is being prepared by J. Shey.  Names of geographical
locations written in margin by scribe of text.

2. ff. 8r-70r  Uiri clarissimi ac poete illustris Iohannis Boccatij de
Certaldo ciuis florentinj de montibus et fluminibus fontibus siluis
lacubus et maribus liber incipit.  Prohemium.  [S]urrexeram equidem
fessus a labore quodam egregio et aliquali otio...altitudines metitur et
conspicit.  [text:]  Aalac mons est cuius nomen alij diuidentem montem
interpetrantur [sic] alij uero lenem id est lepidum...Si quid uero congruum
suis conformet [sic] scriptis comperiatur diuine bonitati et doctrine
ascribatur sue.  [colophon:]  Sit nomen domini benedictum ex hoc/
Nunc et usque In seculum Amen/ Non nobis domine non nobis, sed nomine/
tuo da gloriam. [cf. Colophons, v. 6, no. 235555]/ hic est finis.
Laus altissimo.  amen/ In rocha contrata sub anno domini Millesimo/
cccc#o xxxiiij#o die xxviij#o Iulij.  f. 70v blank

Boccaccio, De montibus, silvis, fontibus...; printed in Venice (Wendelin
von Speyer), 13 January 1473 (GKW 4482), and thereafter.  The
text has the following running headings, in red:  Montes, Silue, Fontes,
Lacus, Flumina, Stagna, Maria.

	Paper, with parchment for inner and outer bifolia (watermarks:  similar
to Briquet Monts 11854), ff. ii (paper) + 70 + ii (paper), 289 x 220 
(225 x 150) mm.  2 columns, 38-41 lines.  Paper leaves:  frame-ruled in lead.
Parchment leaves:  single vertical bounding lines in lead or ink, text
rulings in pale brown ink.  Remains of prickings in upper, lower, and
outer margins.
	I 12 (-1), II 12, III 10, IV-V 12, VI 14 (-14).  Horizontal catchwords
centered beneath written space, verso (Derolez 12.1).
	Written in fere-humanistic script by a single scribe, above top line.
	Plain red initial, 5-line, f. 1r; space unfilled for 10-line initial,
f. 8r.  Plain red initials, 3- to 1-line, throughout.  Paragraph marks in
red, in art. 1.  Rubrics throughout, except f. 1r.
	First folio torn with loss of lower third of leaf; beginning and end of
manuscript stained; some stains and wormholes affect text.
	Binding:  France [?], s. xviii.  Brown, mottled sheepskin. Two blackish 
green labels (probably later additions) on gold-tooled spine:  "Petrarchae 
Itinerarium" and "Boccatius De Montibus et Fluuiis."  Contemporary green 
gold-tooled label on upper cover:  "Fr. Petrachi. Itinerarium J. Bouatii. 
De. Flauiis. M. S. 1434."

Written in 1434 at Roccacontrada (since 1816 called Arcevia, in the
province of Ancona; see colophon, art. 2).  M. Morici ("Le opere 
geografiche del Petrarca e del Boccaccio copiate da un
amanuense di Roccacontrada nel 1434," La Bibliofilia 6 [1905] pp. 321-26,
with photograph of colophon) identified the scribe as don Marco di
Antonio di Sante Massi of Roccacontrada who also copied another Boccaccio
manuscript (see colophon cited in Archivio storico messinese, 2, fasc.
3-4, 150).  Belonged to the Jesuit College of Agen; inscription on 
f. 1r:  "Collegii Agen Societ. Iesu Catal. Ins."  For additional
information on manuscripts from Agen see N. Mann, "Petrarch Manuscripts in the
British Isles,"  Italia medioevale e umanistica 18 (1975) p. 273, note 1.
From the collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps (stamp with no. 1025 [1024 above
cancelled] on  f. ii recto; inscription with 1025 on f. 1r; tag on spine), who
acquired it from Abate Luigi Celotti (ca. 1768-ca. 1846; see Phillipps 
Studies, v. 3, pp. 50-51).  Rosenthal, Munich (round paper label, damaged, with
"28278" on spine); unidentified label partly visible beneath Rosenthal
label.  Note on final rear flyleaf, recto, in pencil:  "Imp. Temp. N#o. 21
del 3-3-933"; "305" and "100"  within a circle, both in pencil, on f. i
verso.  On f. ii recto traces of an unidentified bookdealer's description,
in English, transcribed by Morici (op. cit., p. 324).  Purchased from
C. A. Stonehill in 1949 by Thomas E. Marston (bookplate).

secundo folio:  ciuitatem

Bibliography:  Faye and Bond, p. 66, no. 17.
	Ullman, p. 456, no. 46.
	Dutschke, pp. 174-76, no. 69.

Barbara A. Shailor