Beinecke MS 172                                                        Italy, s. XV^^2
Vergil, Bucolica, etc.

     1. ff. 1r-14r    Incipit liber Bucolicorum Virgilij maronis Ad
     Pollionem. Titire tu patule recubans sub tegmine fagi/ Siluestrem tenui
     musam meditaris auena/...Iuniperi grauis umbra nocent et frugibus
     umbrae/ Ite domum sature uenit hesperus ite capellae. Publij uirgilij
     maronis Buccolicorum liber explicit.

          R. A. B. Mynors, ed., OCT (1969) pp. 1-28.

     2. ff. 14r-48v    Publij uirgilij maronis Georgicorum liber primus
     incipit feliciter. Quid faciat letas segetes quo sidere terram/ Vertere
     mecenas ulmisque adiungere uites/...Carmina qui lusi pastoram audaxque
     iuuenta/ Tityre te patule cecini sub tegmine fagi. Finis Amen. Publij
     Virgilij Maronis Georgicorum quartus et ultimus explit [sic] feliciter.
     Deo gratias Amen. f. 49r blank

          Mynors, op. cit., pp. 29-101. Each book is preceded by the Pseudo-
     Ovidian arguments in four lines.

     3. ff. 49v-50r    [Two short summaries of the Aeneid, followed by one
     of the Georgics, all in verse:] Primus habet libyam ueniunt ut troes in
     urbem/...Vltimus imponit bello turni nece finem; Eneas primo libiae
     depellitur oris/...Excidium troiae iussus narrare parabat; Qualis
     buccolicis quantus tellure domandi/...Contineat que quisque liber lege
     carmina nostra.

          Walther, Initia, 14661, 580, 15117.

     4. ff. 50r-202v    Arma uirumque cano troiae qui primus ab oris/
     Italiam fato profugus lauinaque uenit/...Feruidus ast illi soluuntur
     frigore membra/ Vitaque cum gemitu fugit indignata sub umbras. Finis
     libri duodecimi et ultimi Publij Virgilij Maronis Eneidos liber
     explicit Deo Gratias Amen. Mantua me genuit calabri rapuere tenet nunc/
     Partonope cecini pascua rura duces.

          Mynors, op. cit., pp. 103-422; for the epitaph see Walther,
     Initia, 10656. Each book of the Aeneid is preceded by several lines of
     verse attributed to Ovid (Walther, Initia, 8699).

          Parchment, ff. i (parchment) + 202 + i (parchment) 250 x 165 (167
     x 104) mm. Written in 32 lines of verse; double vertical bounding lines
     full across. Ruled in hard point on the hair side for bounding lines,
     mostly in ink for the written space; remains of prickings along upper,
     lower, and outer edges.
          I-IV^^10, V^^8 ( + 1 leaf at end, f. 49), VI-XVIII^^10, XIX^^8, XX^^12,
     XXI^^4 (-4). Catchwords perpendicular to text between inner bounding
     lines, accompanied by dots and flourishes.
          Written by one scribe in neat round humanistic script.
          Two initials (ff. 1r, 50r), 8-line, gold capitals, embedded in
     white-vine ornament on a green, blue, and dark red ground with white dots; the
     former initial extending into inner margin. On f. 50r bar border in the
     lateral margins, red, green, and gold, divided into segments by
     quatrelobes, with dense flower-spray terminals, blue, green and dark
     red, and gold dots which fill the upper and lower margins. Effaced arms
     within a laurel wreath at bottom center. Many other gold initials, 7-
     to 2-line, on red, blue and green grounds, with yellow and white
     highlights; small initials in red or blue. Rubrics throughout.
          Binding: s. xvii. Dark brown calf with spine gold-tooled and a
     red-brown label added.

          Written in Central Italy in the second half of the 15th century;
     original owner's arms effaced from f. 50r. Although white-vine
     decoration is characteristic of Florence, the style of the flower
     sprays as well as the bar borders suggest Emilia Romagna, perhaps
     Ferrara. For the flower-sprays cf. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Canon. Liturg. 131
     and 383, both attributed to Ferrara by Paecht and Alexander (v. 2, nos.
     396, 433); for the white-vine initials, Oxford, Bod. Lib. Canon. Class.
     Lat. 229, Ferrara, 1461 (ibid., no. 391). Clues concerning its early
     provenance include: signature "priuli" (barely visible on f. 202v); "GG
     16" on f. 1r; "A 21" on f. 1r and inside front cover. Belonged to
     Wilfred M. Voynich; sale by Sotheby's (London, 5 March 1934, no. 15) to
     Quaritch. Belonged to David Wagstaff (booklabel); gift of Mrs. David
     Wagstaff in 1944.

     secundo folio: Ti. Ante

     Bibliography: De Ricci, v. 2, p. 1905, no. 19; Faye and Bond, p. 36,
     no. 172.
     
     Barbara A. Shailor