Beinecke MS 2                                                         Italy, ca. 1458
Jacopo Zeno, Vita Caroli Zeni

     1. ff. 1r-6r    In libros vitae morum rerumque gestarum. Caroli zeni
     veneti. Ad pium secundum pontificem maximum. Iacobi feltrensis et
     bellunensis antistitis. Praefatio. Gloriosa sanctitatis tuae. Ad
     Sublime pontificatus maximi culmen...gratiae tuae non expertem tuae
     Beatitudinis pietate et amore foveri.

          Dedicatory preface to Pope Pius II.

     2. ff. 6r-191r    Vitae morum rerumque gestarum caroli zeni. Ad pium
     secundum pontificem maximum. Liber primus. Qui venetae urbis originem
     incrementaque tradidere rerum scriptores...Pro laudantium officio
     gloria ut quidem par est. Haudquaquam fraudatam esse cognouimus.
     Finis.
     ff. 191v-192v ruled, but blank

          This manuscript is of special importance because it contains the
     complete work. Beinecke MS 2 is Codex A in the modern edition of G.
     Zonta, Vita Caroli Zeni auctore Iacobo Zeno in Rerum Italicarum
     Scriptores, Nuova ed., 19, Parte 6, fasc. 1-2 (Bologna, 1940-41). In
     the edition of Muratori (Rerum Italicarum Scriptores 19 [Milan, 1731]
     pp. 202-372), made from a manuscript in Padua (Episcopal Seminary MS
     46), the last seventeen lines are missing.

          Parchment, ff. ii (parchment) + 192 + i (paper), 271 x 177 (177 x
     106) mm. written in 28 long lines, double vertical and horizontal
     bounding lines, all full across. Ruled in hard point on hair side;
     remains of prickings along upper, lower and outer edges.
          I-XIX^^10, XX^^2. Quires signed with letters of the alphabet on
     verso of final folio and recto of following folio; letters placed
     between inner vertical bounding lines.
          Written in humanistic script by Franciscus de Tianis of Pistoia
     (see below).
          On f. 1r, a foliage border which includes hares, stork, vase, and
     arms of the Piccolomini family (argent, a cross azur with 5 crescents
     or; surmounted by keys in saltire argent and a papal tiara; supported
     by a pair of angels). Eleven elaborate initials, 11- to 7-line, in
     gold, red, blue, and green entwined with foliage. The style of
     decoration is decidedly Roman (see G. M. Canova, "Un saggio di gusto
     Rinascimentale: I libri miniati di Iacopo Zeno," Arte Veneta 32 [1978]
     pp. 46-55).
          Binding: s. xviii. Brownish-red goatskin, gold-tooled; pale green
     and gold, Dutch gilt paper boards.

          Written in Italy by Franciscus de Tianis (who was also responsible
     for Paris, B.N. lat. 8910, 8911, and 4192) as the dedication copy to
     Pope Pius II, whose arms appear in the border of f. 1r; the manuscript
     is datable between the election of Pius II in August 1458 and the
     election of Jacopo Zeno as bishop of Padua on 26 March 1460.
     Unidentified shelf-marks include "Prato" and "R.66." According to a
     newspaper clipping from the Yale files [n.d., n.p.] the manuscript came
     from the Trivulzio Library in Milan and was auctioned by George A.
     Leavitt and Company (New York, 27 Nov. 1886, no. 7). Purchased by
     William Loring Andrews (bookstamp and bookplate inside front cover) who
     presented it to Yale in 1894 (A. Van Name, comp., Catalogue of the
     William Loring Andrews Collection of Early Books in the Library of Yale
     University [New Haven, 1913] pp. 1-3, no. 1).

     secundo folio: [ne]mine me uspiam

     Bibliography: De Ricci, v. 1, p. 161, no. 2. 
     Exhibition Catalogue, pp. 229-30, no. 54, pl. 20 (f.1r). 
	     Catalogue of an Exhibition of Illuminated and Painted Manuscripts 
	Together with a Few Early Printed Books with Illuminations...(New York, 
	The Grolier Club, 1892) p. 4, no. 8.

Barbara A. Shailor