Beinecke MS 361               Byzantium, s. XIV^^2
Aristotle, Rhetorica, etc. (in Greek)

1. ff. 1r-4v blank; ff. 5r-110r
[Greek].  [Greek] [s.1. [Greek]]
[Greek].

     Aristotle, Rhetorica; I. Bekker, ed., Opera, v. 2,
pp. 1354a-1420b; R. Kassel, Der Text der aristotelischen Rhetorik (Berlin,
1971) pp. 10, 57-61, siglum Yal.

2. f. 110v [Title:]
[Greek]:  [in margin:]  [[Greek]][Greek]:  [text:]
[Greek].

     Joannes Philoponus, excerpt from In Analytica Posteriora Commentarius;
CAG, v. 13, 3, pp. 5-6.

     Paper (watermarks of four different types:  unidentified coat of arms
[ff. i-iv]; similar in design to Briquet Tete de licorne 15771 [quires 2,
10]; similar in design to Briquet Fruit 7371 [quires 3, 10, 14-15]; similar to
Briquet Cloche 4030 [quires 4-9, 11-13, 14-15]), ff. iv (paper) + 106 (foliated
5-110) + i (paper), 212 x 142 (155 x 92) mm.
     I-VII^^8, VIII^^8 (-8 following f. 67), IX^^8, X^^6, XI-XIII^^8, XIV^^4 (-4
following f. 108), XV^^2.
     Written by 9 scribes in Greek minuscule:  Scribe 1:  ff. 5r-20v;
2:  ff. 21r-36v; 3:  ff. 37r-52v; 4:  ff. 53r-67v (this hand is very similar to
Florence, Laur. 32, 27 dated 1339, cf. A. Turyn, >I?Dated Greek Manuscripts of
the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries in the Libraries of Italy [Urbana,
Ill., 1972], pl. 155); 5:  ff. 68r-81v; 6:  ff. 82r-83v; 7:  ff. 83v-84r;
8:  ff. 84v-97v; 9:  ff. 98v-110r.  Arrangements of rulings, all in hard point,
vary according to the scribe.  Scribe I:  double vertical bounding lines full
length with additional single rulings in upper, lower, and outer margins;
horizontal rulings for written space extend through gutter.  Scribe 2:  single
horizontal and vertical bounding lines full length; horizontal rulings for
written space extend through gutter.  Scribe 3:  double vertical bounding lines
full length with additional single rulings in upper and outer margins, and
double in lower margins.  Scribe 4:  double vertical bounding lines
full length; single upper (not used consistently) and double lower rulings in
margins that extend only between bounding lines.  Scribes 5 and 9:  same as for
Scribe 4 except that single upper marginal rulings appear throughout.  Scribes
6, 7, 8:  double vertical bounding lines full length; single ruling
in lower margin that extends only between bounding lines.
     2-line initials with stylized floral motifs in brown and red.  Headings
in red.
     Waterstains in upper and outer margins; lower edge of back cover and lower
margin of final leaves chewed; no loss of text.
     Binding:  s. xvii-xviii.  Sewn on three tawed, kermes pink, slit strap
supports with holes, possibly for fastening them while sewing, visible
on the upper side.  The endbands are sewn on twisted leather cores extending
about 18 mm. inside the cover, the supports and endband cores laced into a
vellum case.  Four tawed fastening ribbons, mostly wanting.  Endband cores
broken and lower side badly rodent-eaten. On cover, large capitals in brown
ink:  "Rectorica [corrected to Rhetorica] Aristotelis Graeca."

Written in Byzantium in the second half of the 14th century; Latin
marginalia of the 15th century (ff. 7r, 8v, 9v, 10r, 11r, 12v, 13r, 15v).  A
partially legible note on f. 110v reads:  "Argento dato in mano di mastro
guglielmo di leche unc viij...".  Later marginalia in a Western style of Greek
writing is found on ff. 28v, 92v, 93r-v, 95r, 96v.  Purchased from L. C.
Witten in 1965 by Edwin J. Beinecke and Frederick W. Beinecke, for the Beinecke
Library.

Barbara A. Shailor