Marston MS 190     Veneto, s. XV med
Bartolomeus Facius, De vitae felicitate, etc.

1. ff. 1r-43r  Ad Alfosum [sic] Regem Gloriosissimum Bartolomei Facii
In Dialogum De Vite Felicitate Proemium Incipit.  [dedication to 
Alfonso V:] Humane vite condicionem sepius michi reputanti.  Rex 
clementissime illud maxime mirandum...a te consecutum existimabo.  
[text, f. 2v:]  Incipit Dialogus.  Cum Antonius panormita clarus ex 
singulis poeta iureque consultus ferrariam sese aliquando contulisset...
datum est. [letter, f. 41v:] Adnimauerti [sic] vir ornatissime et 
litteris tuis perbreuibus id quod per hosce dies...Alterius augere si 
modo possum uehementer cupio.  Vale.

Bartolomeus Facius (or Fazio), De vitae felicitate, composed in 1445
or 1446; a dialogue between Antonius Panormita, Guarino da Verona and
Johannes Lamola, dedicated to King Alfonso V of Aragon and with added
letter to Roberto Strozzi.  Text printed in F. M. Sandeus, De regibus 
Siciliae et Apuliae (Hanover, 1611) pp. 106-48; Facius' letter to 
Strozzi edited by T. De Marinis, La biblioteca napoletana dei Re 
d'Aragona (Milan, 1952) v. 1, p. 25. For a recent summary of Facius' 
life and works, as well as bibliography, see E. I. Rao, Bartolomeo 
Facio, Invective in Laurentium Vallam (Naples, 1978) pp. 13-25.  
Proper names written in red by scribe in margins, many trimmed; 
names of interlocutors in red.

2. ff. 43v-47v  In Cena domini Oratiuncula.  Quoniam sepe ac multum
superioribus annis a maioribus meis de diuinissimo eucaristie 
sacramento luculenter peroratum est patres optimi...eterne felicitatis 
inueniamur epartes [?].  Dixi.

3. ff. 47v-50v  [Heading:]  De dominica resurectione oratiuncula 
incipit. [text:]  TAn [?] et si pro ingenij mei paruitate rem michi 
et ut uerius dicam imposibilem impositam fuisse conspexerim...in hoc 
mundo quo tandem cum ipso in perpetuum triumphare mereamur in celo.  
Amen.

	Paper (watermarks, in gutter and obscured by reinforcement stays:
unidentified mountain), ff. i (paper) + 50 (contemporary foliation, 
arabic numerals), 214 x 154 (150 x 98) mm.  24 long lines. Frame-ruled
in lead.
	I-V 10.  Horizontal catchwords in lower margin to left of inner
bounding line, verso (Derolez 12.2).
	Written in a sloping humanistic bookhand with cursive features, 
above top line.
	Two finely drawn vine-stem initials in pen, unfilled and unpainted;
f. 1r, 6-line; f. 2v, 4-line; sketches, in lead, for initials visible
beneath.  Headings, in red, f. 1r and 1v, and continuation letters for 
first words of text, f. 1r, in majuscules heavily influenced by Greek 
models.
	Binding:  Italy, s. xix.  Rigid vellum case with title in ink on
spine: "Incerti auctoris manuscriptum De uite felicitate."  Edges 
spattered orange.

Written in the middle of the 15th century, probably in the Veneto according
to A. C. de la Mare; early provenance unknown.  Purchased in 1958 from
C. A. Stonehill (inv. no. 13686) by Thomas E. Marston (bookplate).

secundo folio:  in me

Bibliography:  Faye and Bond, p. 85, no. 190.

Barbara A. Shailor