YALE UNIVERSITY
BEINECKE RARE BOOK AND MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY
GENERAL COLLECTION OF RARE BOOKS AND
MANUSCRIPTS
MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE MANUSCRIPTS
Marston MS 104 Italy, s. XIV 2
Gualterus Anglicus, Fabulae
ff. 1r-8v [Prologue:] [U]t iuuet et prosit conatur pagina presens./
Dulcius arrident seria pieta iocis./...Verborum leuitas morum fert
podus [sic] honestum./ Et nucleum celat arrida testa bonum.
[Fabula 1:] De gallo qui inuenit in aspidem [sic]. [D]um rigido
fodit ore fimum dum queritat escam./ Dum stupet inueta [sic]
iaspide gallus ait./...[conclusion of Fable 36, beginning of 37:]
Verba solent odium ligua [sic] fidemque parit/ [R]espondere lupo
de furti labe tenetur//
Text ends imperfectly; K. McKenzie and W. A. Oldfather, ed.,
Ysopet-Avionnet: The Latin and French Texts in University
of Illinois Studies in Language and Literature 6 (1919).
Order of the fables: Prologue, 1-18, 24-25, 59, 19, 21-22, 20, 23,
26-33, 60, 34-37.
Parchment, ff. iii (paper) + 8 (old foliation begins with 8 on f.
1r) + iii (paper), 206 x 146 (143 x 93) mm. 34 lines of verse. Single or
double vertical bounding lines on left, single on right (f. 1r ruled for 2
cols.). Ruled in hard point. Prickings at four corners of written space and
in outer margin; additional two prickings in upper and lower margins indicate
format was originally for 2 cols.
A single gathering of 8 leaves.
Written in gothic bookhand by a single scribe, below top line.
Rubrics on ff. 2r-6v by same scribe who copied text; another hand
added rubrics on f. 1r-v. Spaces for initials left unfilled; guide letters
for decorator.
Binding: Place uncertain, s. xix-xx. Greyish green paper case with a black
gold-tooled label: "Aesopus. Sec. XIV."
Written in Italy in the second half of the 14th century as part of a
larger codex (ff. 8-15); early provenance unknown. Collection of Baron
Horace de Landau (1824-1903; bookplate stamped with no. "287" on
front pastedown; Catalogue des livres manuscrits et imprimes
composant la bibliotheque de M. Horace de Landau [Florence, 1890]
precise reference unverified); the collection was maintained by his niece Madame
Finaly, of Florence (d. 1938). Purchased from C. A. Stonehill (inv. no. 1295)
in 1952 by Thomas E. Marston (bookplate).
Bibliography: Faye and Bond, p. 76, no. 104.
Barbara A. Shailor