Beinecke MS 147                                                       Italy, ca. 1420
Valerius Maximus

          ff. 1r-149v    Valerij maximi dictorum factorum memorabilium ad
     tiberium cesarem domesticarum exterarumque gentium liber primus
     incipit. i. De religione capitulum primum...Urbis Rome exterarumque
     gentium facta simul ac dicta memoratu digna...De religione. Capitullum
     primum Rubrica i. Maiores statis solemnesque cerimonias
     pontificum...caput imperio clementer iminens iusto impendere supplitio
     coegit. Explicit liber valerij. Deo gratias. Amen.

          C. Kempf, ed., Teubner (1966) pp. 1-472.

          Parchment, ff. i (paper) + 149 + i (paper), 283 x 223 (170 x 112)
     mm. Written in 33 long lines; single (sometimes double outer) vertical
     bounding lines. Ruled in lead; remains of prickings at lower edge of
     leaf.
          I-XVIII^^8, XIX^^5[?]. Catchwords with penwork embellishments in
     center of lower margin.
          Written by a single scribe in a precise round gothic bookhand.
          Illuminated by Cristoforo Cortese ca. 1420, according to C. S.
     Huter; cf. Oxford, Bod. Lib., Canon. Misc. 251 (Venice, 1424) in Paecht
     and Alexander, v. 2, no. 443; see also C. S. Huter, "Cortese at
     Oxford," Apollo 3 (1980) pp. 10-17. Fine historiated initial (12-line)
     on f. 1r, the author seated at a lectern, pink, purple, green, red, and
     blue foliage on a gold ground, edged in black, with delicate white
     highlights; an exuberant vine and foliage border in three margins; the
     upper margin with a bar, gold and blue, with white highlights. Eight
     illuminated initials (9- or 8-line) on ff. 14v, 29v, 45r, 61r, 79r,
     98v, 115r, 132r in the same style, borders in outer margin. Fine
     penwork initials throughout, blue with red penwork or vice versa (7- to
     4-line). Several lines following initials written in ornate majuscules
     widely spaced on every other line, filled in with sepia penwork (some
     left unfinished, especially near end of manuscript). 2-line initials,
     blue with red or red with blue penwork, less ornate than above. Rubrics
     missing for major text divisions; paragraph marks in red or blue.
          Borders cut out on ff. 1r, 45r, and 79r, replaced with parchment,
     with initials and borders partially restored.
          Binding: s. xviii-xix. Mottled calf case, gold-tooled.

          Written in Northern Italy ca. 1420; early provenance unknown.
     Belonged to Prince Marco Antonio Borghese (bookplate; see P. Borghese,
     Bibliotheca burghesiana [Rome, 1842] v. 1, pp. 679-80, no. 4563).
     Acquired by David Wagstaff (bookplate); presented to Yale in 1943 by
     Mrs. David Wagstaff.

     secundo folio: figulus

     Bibliography: Faye and Bond, p. 35, no. 147.
          E. T. Silk, "The Wagstaff Collection of Classical and Mediaeval
     manuscripts," Gazette 19 (1944) p. 1 (reproduction of f. 1r appears as
     frontispiece).
          D. M. Schullian, "A Preliminary List of Manuscripts of Valerius
     Maximus," Studies in Honor of Ullman..., eds., L. Lawler, D. Robathan
     and W. Korfmacher (St. Louis, 1960) p. 88.
          Idem, "A Revised List of
     Manuscripts of Valerius Maximus," Miscellanea Augusto Campana in
     Medioevo e Umanesimo 45 (Padua, 1981) p. 712.

     Barbara A. Shailor