Beinecke MS 277               Italy, s. XV^^2
Lexicon Greco-Latinum

1. ff. 1r-319r [Arranged in two columns with Greek in the first and
Latin in the second:]  [Greek] Insaciabilis et illesus/
[Greek][Greek]
Intangibilis innocuus cui non potest noceri/ [Greek] Infrangibile/...
[Greek] Pallor [Greek] Palliditas/ [Greek]
uultus aspectus frons.

2. ff. 319r-323v [Greek].
[Greek][Greek]
si uel utique/ [Greek] sed/ [Greek] Num an/...[Greek]
Interea/[Greek] Eua. [Greek]. ff. 324r-325v blank

     Beinecke MS 277 is similar with respect to both its physical format and its
text to the lexicon of Girolamo Aleandro, published in Paris in 1512 by Gilles
de Gourmant. The entries are not arranged in strict alphabetical order,
but rather by the first two or three letters of the Greek word.

     Paper (sturdy; watermarks similar to Briquet Chapeau 3387 and Harlfinger
Chapeau 12), ff. ii (paper) + 325 + ii (paper), 291 x 200 (210 x
115) mm.  Ruled in 32 long lines, but written in 2 columns.  Three outer and
single inner vertical bounding lines; ruled in hard point.
     I-XXI^^8 (+1 leaf added at end, f. 177), XXII-XL^^8, XLI^^4.  The order of the
quires is confused
after IX:  XIII, XIV, X, XV, XII, XI, XVI, XVII.  Signatures do not appear
consistently:  letters of the alphabet are located at the beginning and end of
some quires, in lower margin near outer bounding lines; occasionally there are
also leaf signatures on the first four folios of a gathering at the very bottom
of the page (many lost due to trimming).
     Written by three scribes:  Scribe 1 wrote the Greek words
in precise minuscule, using dark ink.  Scribe 2 supplied the Latin equivalents
for ff. 1r-56r in a delicate humanistic cursive; Scribe 3 supplied them for
ff. 57r-323v in a more flamboyant calligraphic style of writing.  According to
A. C. de la Mare the work of Scribe 3 is quite similar to that of Felice
Feliciano of Verona.
     Intricate but faded headpiece (f. 1r) in red, with intertwining foliage left
uncolored, accompanied by a 4-line initial with floral
motifs.  Small initials, in red, throughout text.
     Binding:  s. xix.  Brown calf spine, gold-tooled with
decorated paper sides.

Written in Italy in the second half of the 15th century; early provenance
unknown.  Belonged to Sir Thomas Phillipps (no. 11870, tag on spine).
Purchased from L. C. Witten in 1956 by Thomas E. Marston; his gift to
Yale in 1957.

Bibliography:  Faye and Bond, p. 48, no. 277.
Exhibition Catalogue, p. 229, no. 53.
     The Secular Spirit:  Life and Art at the End of the Middle
Ages, exhib. cat. (New York:  Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975)
p. 170, no. 187.

Barbara A. Shailor