Beinecke MS 381               Italy, 1513
Venetian Document

Ducale issued in the name of Leonardo Loredan, doge of Venice (1438-1521),
giving instructions in Latin and Italian to Andrea Marcello as Governor of
Dulcigno (now Ulcinj, Yugoslavia).  The document is dated 8 August 1513, and
signed by "Victor Blanchus Secretarius," the same individual who signed
Beinecke MS 104, a Venetian ducale dated 1515.  On ff. 12v-13r is a directive
from the Venetian Council of the X, signed by Rafael Iordannis, regarding
Andrea Marcello, captain of Dulcingo, and the payment of custom duties;
followed by a yearly and quarterly outline of salaries owed, in a different
but contemporary hand, signed Zune (Giovanni) Spineli [?].  f. 13v blank

     Parchment, ff. ii (paper) + 12 (modern foliation 1-15 including all except
first flyleaf) + ii (paper), 242 x 167 (165 x 108) mm.  Written in 29 long
lines.  Single vertical bounding lines, full length; ruled in ink.
     Composed of a single gathering of 12 leaves.
     Written in elegant italic.
     One full border (f. 1r), flowers and swirling leaves extending from
a vase in lower right corner, gold on a dark purple ground, executed in a
style related to Benedetto Bordone; two inset panels at top of folio (framed
by thick gold bands), the upper containing the lion of St. Mark stepping
out of water and holding an open book, dolphins, and a castle on a cliff in
the background, the lower an inscription in gold majuscules on blue ground.
In lower margin the Marcello arms (see Provenance) against a landscape.
According to L. Armstrong, the style of illumination is very similar to that
in Yale Law School Deposit Mss J/ V53/ no. 1,4 (Faye and Bond, p. 54, no. 25).
2-line initials, on f. 1r only, gold on green and on red grounds respectively.
1-line initials, red, for ff. 1v-10r.
     Binding:  s. xix-xx.  Rigid vellum gold-tooled.

Produced in Venice in 1513; arms of the Marcello family (azure a bend
wavy or) on f. 1r.  Belonged to Herschel V. Jones of Minneapolis
(1861-1928; booklabel); his sale by Anderson Galleries, New York, cat. 1394
(29 January 1919) no. 1274.  Presented to the Beinecke Library in 1968
by Thomas E. Marston.

Barbara A. Shailor