Marston MS 129          Florence, ca. 1476-78
Naldo Naldi, Oratio

ff. 1r-18v  Naldi Naldi Florentini oratio de laudibus urbis venete atque
eius principis ad clarissimum andream venderminum illustrissimum
venetorum ducem.  [text:]  Etsi scio me onus aethna grauius subit utrum
illustrissime Princeps qui nulla [added above: fere] dicendi arte aut
exercitatione ingrediar intra tam angustos...tum in republica domi atque
foris ut ipsi quidem facitis sanctissime administranda.  [Greek]. f. 19r-v
ruled, but blank

Naldo Naldi, Oratio ad Andream Vendraminium (doge of Venice 1476-78).
This manuscript is cited by W. L. Grant, "The Life of Naldo Naldi,"
Studies in Philology 60 (1963) pp. 613-14, note 33; others are noted in
Cosenza, v. 3, p. 2410, card 31.

Parchment, ff. 19, 210 x 127 (122 x 57) mm.  20 long lines.  Double vertical
and horizontal bounding lines (Derolez 13.36); ruled in hard point on hair
side.  Prickings in upper and lower margins (Derolez 18.2).
I-II 8, III 4 (-4 blank).  Catchwords perpendicular to text along
innermost bounding line (Derolez 12.6), near lower edge.
Written in a round humanistic hand by a single scribe, below top line.
One illuminated initial of average quality, 3-line, gold against blue
ground with gold filigree.  Filled with half-length portrait of the doge
dressed in red robes and a red hat against green ground.  Dedication, 5 lines,
in alternating lines of gold and blue majuscules followed by the first
three lines of text in red majuscules.
The margins of f. 1 have been trimmed away from the written
space, which was then mounted on a another piece of parchment
conjugate to the front pastedown; hence, any marginal decoration, which may have
included a coat of arms, is now lost.
Binding:  Italy, s. xv-xvi.  Sewn on three tawed skin, slit straps laced
through tunnels in the edge of beech boards to channels on the outside
and nailed. Gilt edges.  Fragment of head endband.  The spine is lined
with tawed skin between supports.
Covered in red silk with traces of four fastenings on each board.

Copied by the poet Tommaso Baldinotti of Pistoia (1451-1511), who was
active in Florence ca. 1473-85 (regarding this scribe see A. C.
de la Mare, "The Frontispiece," in  Boethius: His Life, Thought and
Influence,
ed. M. Gibson [Oxford, 1981] pp. xvii-xix and J. F. Preston, "An Italian
Horae," Princeton University Library Chronicle 50, 1 [1988] pp. 74-75).
The manuscript must date from 1476 or slightly later; it appears to be the
presentation copy to Andrea Vendramin who was elected doge of Venice 5 March
1476 and died 6 May 1478.  Early modern provenance unknown.  Shelf mark,
s. xviii, in ink on front pastedown:  "Ms/ No/ 220/", and paper tag with
"220" on spine.  Unidentified modern notes, in pencil, on front pastedown:
"H/ 4/ c" and "IL/ 213".  Belonged to the Mostyn family library, Mostyn
Hall, Cheshire (Sotheby's, 13 July 1920, no. 85).  Purchased from H. P. Kraus
(Cat. 85, no. 85) in 1957 by Thomas E. Marston (bookplate).

secundo folio:  cupiditate

Bibliography:  Faye and Bond, p. 79, no. 129.

Barbara A. Shailor