Beinecke MS 221                                                       Italy, s. XV^^in
Valerius Maximus

     1. f. 1r blank, f. 1v    Miscellaneous notes, in Latin (16th century),
     with references to various classical authors.

     2. f. 2r-v    [Table of contents:] Liber j. De religione. De neglecta
     religione... Liber x. De prenomine.

     3. ff. 3r-126r    Valerij maximi factorum et dictorum memorabilium ad
     Tiberium cesarem liber primus incipit. j. de religione.
     ij....Prohemium. Urbis rome exterarumque gentium facta simul ac dicta
     memoratu digna... De Religione. C. j. Maiores statas solennesque
     cerimonias pontificum scientia...Animaduerto enim in consulum fastis
     perplexum usum prenominum et cognominum fuisse dictum postumium cominum
     aruntum et postumium ebutium eluam. Explicit liber decimus de
     prenomine.

          C. Kempf, ed., Teubner (1966) pp. 1-472 (lacks spurious Book 10).

          Parchment, ff. 126 + i (original parchment), 286 x 210 (167 x 132)
     mm. Written in 2 columns of 32 lines; single vertical bounding lines.
     Vertical lines (full across) ruled in ink, horizontal in lead;
     prickings in all margins except inner, also four (arranged in a
     rectangle) for running book notations, in upper margin.
          I^^2, II-XIII^^10, XIV^^4. Catchwords in center of lower margins.
          Written by a single scribe in fere-humanistic script. Marginal and
     interlinear notes in several contemporary and later hands.
          On f. 3r, a good historiated initial, 7-line: the author in armor,
     holding his book; thick, curling foliage forms, pink, orange, blue, and
     green, on an irregular gold ground, edged in black. Nine illuminated
     initials (ff. 16r, 29v, 43r, 57r, 72r, 85v, 98r, 111v, and 126r) to
     open Books 2-10, composed of foliage, as above, and striated color
     strips, in vibrant blue, orange, crimson, mauve, green, and
     occasionally yellow, highlighted in white and variations of the same
     basic hues. 4-, 2-line initials, blue with red penwork or vice versa.
     Book numbers at top of page, red and blue; rubrics throughout. Remains
     of guides for rubricator.
          Binding: s. xv-xvi. Resewn on four tawed, slit straps laced
     through the edge of wooden boards and nailed in channels which are
     filled in with plaster. There is a piece of leather at the exit from
     one tunnel and what may be the tips of nails just inside the channel so
     earlier supports may have been of leather, nailed twice. The endbands,
     sewn on twisted leather cores laid in grooves, were tied down through a
     leather spine lining, the embroidery with three beads. The edges are
     gilt with a design scratched on them, the spine square. Covered in dark
     brown goatskin with corner tongues, blind-tooled with a star in a
     circle with wide rope interlace panels above and below, inside
     concentric outer borders. Small diamonds and dots on the spine. Four
     brass catches on the lower board and stubs of velvet straps nailed to
     the upper. One joint cracked and repaired and one endband added.

          Written in Italy (probably Florence) in the early 15th century in
     a script that shows the influence of Coluccio Salutati; early
     provenance unknown, but the manuscript was heavily used as is indicated
     by the variety of marginal notes. Unidentified shelf mark inside front
     cover: "n. 298.27." Presented to Yale in 1953 by Thomas G. Bergin.

     secundo folio: [table, f. 2] liber j.
          [text, f. 4] uidentur

     Bibliography: Faye and Bond, pp. 42-43, no. 221.
          D. M. Schullian, "A Preliminary List of Manuscripts of Valerius
     Maximus," Studies in Honor of Ullmann, ed., L. B. Lawler, D. M.
     Robathan and W. C. 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