Marston MS 23     Central Italy, s. XIV/XV
Collectanea drawn from Vincent of Beauvais

1. ff. 1r-3r  De abstinentia c. 4./ De Accidia c. 5/ De Acceptione uel
contentu munerum c. [5]/ De Amministratione rerum domesticarum...DE. V. De
ypocrisi et simulatione suy. 58/ DE. Z. De zelo et suy correptione.
Rubrica. 59.

Table of chapters.

2. f. 3v  Nullus redarguendum me putet.  si mihi copianti Prohemium huiusmodi
libri fore describendum persuasi...quo pretermisso nullum rite fundatur
exordium.

Prologue to art. 3.

3. ff. 3v-59v  Incipiunt Autoritates philosophorum et Poetarum secundum
Ordinem Alphabeti de diuersis materijs Compilate et aduersis libris extracte
per me fratrem Vincencium lectorem in prouincie francie ordinis fratrum
predicatorum.  [f. 4r:]  Incipit tractatus Secundum Ordinem Alphabeti
ut infra patebit et primo de astinentia. Videlicet Actor ait.  [A]bstinentia
est virtus qua gule uoluntates in nobis restrignimus [sic]...Seneca.  Si uis
omnia tibi subicere te ipsum primo subicias rationi.  Deo gratias.  [colophon:]
Explicit Opus Autoritatum Philosophorum et Poetarum secundum Ordinem Alphabeti
de uarijs materijs.  Compilatum et a diuersis libris extractum per
Venerabilem Virum fratrem Vincentium lectorem in prouincia francie Ordinis
fratrum predicatorum deo gratias.

An alphabetically arranged collection of extracts on the virtues and vices
and on moral subjects drawn from Vincent of Beauvais.  The text also appears 
in Basel, Universitaetsbibliothek MS B XI 3, ff. 238-308, and Ratisbonne,
Bibl. prov. 176, ff. 90-124; see P. Delhaye, "Un dictionnaire d'ethique
attribue a Vincent de Beauvais," Melanges de science religieuse 1 (1951) 
pp. 65-85.

	Parchment, ff. i (paper) + 59 + i (paper), 148 x 109 (124 x 71) mm.,
greatly trimmed.  31 long lines.  Single vertical bounding lines.  Ruled
in pale brown ink.
	I-V 10, VI 10 (-10).
	Written in a small neat gothic script.
	Twenty-one illuminated initials, 12- to 3-line, green, blue, pink, grey
or red with white filigree against gold ground edged in black.  Initials 
filled  with curling acanthus, red, green, grey and unburnished gold 
against blue ground with white filigree, and ending in foliage serifs, 
as above.  In the margins gold balls with a single hair-line spike.  
The style of the initials may be compared to Paris, BN lat. 6815 (cf. 
Avril and Gousset, v. 2, p. 179, no. 221, pl. CXXVI).  Numerous flourished 
initials with interior harping alternate blue and red with red and pale
yellow penwork.  Headings in red.  Paragraph marks alternate red and blue.  
Several marginal drawings, among them grotesques (ff. 53v, 54r) and human 
heads, a woman holding a flower (f. 39v), a snake impaled on a spear 
(f. 58v), in a nearly contemporary hand.  Guide letters for the decorator 
in red.  Space left unfilled for initial on f. 4r.
	Binding:  Italy, s. xix.  Half bound in brown mottled calf with a
gold-tooled spine and cream, blue-green, and red paste-paper sides.  Red and
olive green paste-paper pastedowns in a chevron pattern.  Red edges.

Written in Central Italy (perhaps Bologna?) at the end of the 14th or
beginning of the 15th century.  Contemporary ownership inscription on
scroll on f. 59v indicates the volume belonged to one Paulus:  "Si.
PA. Ponatur. u. coniugatur lu. condectatur [?]. s .sotiatur. Cuius est
liber sic nominatur."  Colophon rewritten by later hand on front
flyleaf; ownership note on front pastedown effaced.  Unidentified shelf-marks
and notes include:  "N. 4" in ink on upper cover; "282" and "100" in a
circle, both in pencil, on front flyleaf; "S. [?] 59" and undeciphered
series of numbers [?] on back flyleaf.  Purchased from C. A. Stonehill
in 1949 (note on back flyleaf) by Thomas E. Marston (bookplate).

secundo folio:  De doctoribus

Bibliography:  Faye and Bond, p. 67, no. 23.

Barbara A. Shailor