Marston MS 90           Florence or Rome, s. XV 3/4
Leonardo Bruni, De primo bello punico

ff. 1r-58v  Leonardi Arretini commentariorum primi belli punici liber
primus incipit.  Prefatio.  Vereor ne qui me putent antiqua nimium
consectari si commentaria primj punicj belli...Finis proemii. [text,
f. 1v:]  Incipit liber primus.  Origo primj punicj belli quod populus
romanus aduersum carthaginenses terra marique...pauca loca excedere
iussi sunt.  Finis.  Gratis deo.  Amen.

	Leonardo Bruni, De primo bello punico, compiled largely from 
Polybius; text is defective, missing two leaves between 30 and 31 
("...suspicatj quinquaginta [catchword: nauibus] // stigio quadriremes 
premere abeuntem...") and between 36 and 37 ("...non dubitauit hoc // 
receperunt.  Consul post prelium cum...").  GKW, v. 5, no. 5603 
(Brescia:  Jacobus Britannicus, 24 October 1498) and thereafter; 
text of Preface edited by Baron, pp. 122-23. Marginal notes and rubrics 
by several hands, s. xv-xvi.

	Parchment (poor quality), ii (paper) + i (original parchment flyleaf
or wrapper?) + 58 (early foliation, 1-30, 33-38, 41-62, before leaves
were lost) + i (original parchment flyleaf or wrapper?) + ii (paper),
220 x 141 (151 x 80) mm.  28 long lines ruled in hard point.  Double
vertical bounding lines, full length (Derolez 13.31).
	I-III 10, IV 10 (-1, 2, 9, 10), V-VI 10, VI 4 (-3, 4, blank).  
Catchwords in gutter near lower edge, perpendicular to text (Derolez 12.7).
	Text written by a single scribe in humanistic cursive script, above
top line.  Marginal notes (mostly proper names and events) added by at least 
two hands, s. xv-xvi, with one set added throughout in red by a scribe who 
also placed Roman numerals for each book in upper margin.
	One large illuminated initial, 4-line, gold on blue, light green and
pink ground with white vine-stem ornament.  Initial joined to partial border,
white vine-stem ornament on blue, light green and pink ground with white
dots and gold balls with penwork extensions in brown ink.  Two smaller 
initials on ff. 23v and 38r, 4-line, gold, outlined in yellow on blue 
grounds with white highlights.  Plain initial, f. 1v, and headings in pale 
red.
	Binding:  England [?], s. xix.  Quarter bound in red, hard-grained 
goatskin, gold-tooled, with printed marbled paper sides.  Edges spattered 
yellow and black. Title on spine:  "Leonardi Aretini, Commentarii.  
MS. in membranis."

Written in Florence or Rome in the third quarter of the 15th century to 
judge from the styles of script and decoration; the manuscript has an owner 
produced appearance and was presumably copied for personal use.  
Unidentified armorial bookplate inside front cover, with motto "Excelsior."  
Ex libris of John A. Murphy inside front cover.  Purchased from Maggs Bros.,
London, in 1955 by L. C. Witten (inv. no. 655), who sold it in the same year
in 1954 by Thomas E. Marston (bookplate).

secundo folio:  [eni]xissime gessit

Bibliography:  Faye and Bond, pp. 74-75, no. 90.

Barbara A. Shailor