Beinecke MS 327               Venice, s. XIV^^2
Merchant's Commonplace Book

MS 327 has been published by A. Stussi, Zibaldone da Canal, manoscritto
mercantile del sec. XIV in Fonti per la storia di Venezia, sez. 5 (Venice,
1967).  The same publication includes a description of the manuscript
by T. E. Marston, a discussion of the handbook and of the drawing of the
ships by F. C. Lane, a discussion of mathematical problems by O. Ore,
several glossaries and indices, and 21 illustrations.  All page references
in square brackets listed below refer to this work.
1
1. ff. 1r-43v Mercantile arithmetic.  At the top of f. 26v is noted the
date 20 August 1311.  The text is devoted to weights, measures, sizes of
cloth, descriptions of merchandise, in addition to problems in commercial
arithmetic and accounting. [pp. 5-73, with detailed list of contents on
xvii-xix]

2. ff. 44r-45r De cio che introuene allo re Milliadus/ siando andado a
chacare.  Lo re Milliadus si staua cum soa dama la Raina Illiabella e
non aueua fiol ne fillia e vn ciorno...te vuolle atoxegare e uardatende
ben//

     Beginning of the Romance of King Meliades and the Birth of Tristan.
[pp. 73-75]

3. ff. 45v-46v Queste [sic] si e la chognossenca dele spllecarie
si chomo se Raxionera qua de soto per singollo. Inprima ciaschun
cucharo uuol esser blancho e secho e uuol essere...Item cenabrio e
ciaschun alltro sullimado se lauora ben in venica.

     Listing of spices on the market including ginger, pimento, cinnamon.
[pp. 75-78]

4. ff. 46v-52r Deuixion de le parte de li di naturalli.  Lo di natural
si e ore xxiiij, lora si a ponti iiij lo ponto...lo primo di del mexe et
alltre al quarto di del mexe et cetera.

     Astronomical and astrological information and notes on prognostication.
[pp. 78-88]

5. ff. 52r-57r Miscellaneous texts, including: charms, incantations,
prayers, in Latin and Venetian (f. 52r-v); beginning of the spurious
letter of Christ to King Abgarus of Edessa (f. 52v; incipit: Beatus est
abagare Rex qui no [sic] me vidisti....); medical recipes, in Venetian
(ff. 52v-53v; 55v-57r); extracts from the Liber de proprietatibus
of Bartholomaeus Anglicus, in Venetian (interspersed with medical
recipes, etc., on ff. 53r-54v); Ten Commandments, in Venetian (ff. 54v-55r);
Four Seasons, in Venetian (f. 55r); astronomical and astrological notes,
in Venetian (f. 55r-v); list of recipes for the use of rosemary in the
treatment of various diseases (ff. 55v-57r).  [pp. 88-97]

6. ff. 57r-59r I nomine domini Amen.  Adamo si fo auanti lo auegnimento
de Christo Ani ij^^m. viij^^c. lvij...et adusse li cenouexi che fo .ij^^m.
iiij^^c. in prexion.

     Venetian chronicle beginning with Adam; the latest date recorded is 1303.
[pp. 97-101]

7. ff. 59v-62v [In two columns:]  Li amaistramenti de Sallamon.  Al nome
de dio e bon commencare/ tute le cosse che lon vien a fare/...per tuto lo
mondo fo desperto/ ingraciato.  Amen.

     Dottrina dello Schiavo da Bari, entitled Li amaistramenti de Sallamon,
in sixty-six 4-line
stanzas; for comments on the text and various editions see Stussi, et al.,
pp. xxiv-xxvii.  [pp. 101-08]

8. f. 63r-v Mercantile notes entitled "Lo Corsso de la Iaca [sic]."
[pp. 108-10]

9. f. 64r Directions for bloodletting. [pp. 110-11]

10. f. 64v Proverbs including a 4-line fragment of the sonnet Tempo vene
of Re Enzo. [pp. 111-12]

11. ff. 65r-67r Ell dio damore.  Alltissimo Re pare de glloria/ Pregote
che me di, seno e memoria/...E como e de Carne e de diuersse uinexone/
E olltre casse.

     Ell dio d'amore in 48 4-line stanzas. [pp. 112-17].

12. ff. 67v-69v Notes and inscriptions in at least 5 distinct hands,
s. xiv-xv, in
Latin and Italian, mostly of a religious and theological nature; including
5 attempts (some incomplete) at prayers beginning Aue maria.... [pp.
118-22]

     Paper (watermarks:  similar to Briquet Fruit 7372-76, Briquet Cheval
3564, and Briquet Fruit 7341), ff. 69 (early foliation in Arabic
numerals, 1-67) + i (paper), 280 x 215 (220 x 160) mm.  Written in 30-32 long
lines; frame-ruled in hard point or in lead.
Folios 59v-62v (art. 7) and ff. 65r-67r (art. 11) are 2 columns,
ruled in crayon.
     I-II^^8, III^^12, IV-VI^^10, VII^^10 (-10), VIII^^2.  Probably lacking
the original first quire.  Catchwords centered below written space, verso,
within dots and flourishes.
     Written by a single scribe in a neat notarial hand, through f. 67v.
Notes in art. 12 by various hands of s. xiv-xv.
     Drawings of ships, towers and merchants in ink, with added yellow,
brown, green, red and blue; many diagrams.  For photographic reproductions
of most drawings and diagrams see Stussi, op. cit..  Crude 2- and 1-line
initials in red, with guide-letters for rubricator showing beneath; headings
in red.
     Repair of f. 1 with later paper; some loss of text.  Repairs at outer
edges on this and other folios do not affect text.
     Binding:  s. xviii-xix.  Rigid vellum case with paste paper back endleaf and
pastedowns.  Central fold of each bifolium has been reinforced with a
strip of parchment.

Written in Venice; although the date 20 August 1311 is mentioned at the top
of f. 26v (art. 1), the overall appearance of the manuscript and the design
of the watermarks indicates that it was written in the second half of the
14th century.  Belonged to Nicolaus de Canali of Venice in August 1422
(inscriptions on ff. 67v and 68v).  Collection of Jacopo Soranzo (1688-1761),
a Venetian Senator.  Passed to Abate Matteo Luigi Canonici (1727-1805).
In the collection of the Rev. Walter Sneyd (bookplate).  Listed in an
unidentified Maggs catalogue for 1903.  Belonged to Giuseppe (Joseph)
Martini of Lugano; purchased from his estate by H. P. Kraus, ca. 1948.
Sold in 1957 by Kraus (Cat. 75, pp. 118-19, no. 110) to Thomas E. Marston
(bookplate),
who presented it to the Beinecke Library in 1967.  For more details on the
Provenance see the article by W. van Egmond cited below.

Bibliography:  Faye and Bond, pp. 80-81, no. 146 (while in T. E.
Marston's collection).
Exhibition Catalogue, pp. 200-01, no. 27.
     F. C. Lane, "Le vecchie monete di conto veneziane ed il ritorno
all'oro," Atti dell'Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti
117 (1958-59) pp. 49-78, with reproductions of ff. 13r, 7v.
     R. S. Lopez, "Un texte inedit:  le plus ancien manuel italien de
technique commerciale," Revue historique 94 (1970) pp. 67-76.
     F. Melis, Documenti per la storia economica dei secoli XIII-XVI
(Florence, 1972) p. 122, n. 1.
     The Secular Spirit:  Life and Art at the End of the Middle Ages,
exh. cat. (New York:  Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975) p. 128, no. 136.
     U. Tucci, "Manuali di mercatura e pratica degli affari nel medioevo,"
Fatti e idee di storia economica nei secoli XII-XX. Studi dedicati a
Franco Borlandi (Bologna, 1977) pp. 215-35.
     W. van Egmond, Practical Mathematics in the Italian Renaissance:
A Catalog of Italian Abbacus Manuscripts and Printed Books to 1600,
Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza, Monografia N. 4 (Florence, 1980) pp.
249-51.

Barbara A. Shailor