Beinecke MS 424               Italy, 1541; s. XVI
Euclid, Catoptrica, etc. (in Greek)

I.1. ff. 1r-8v  [Greek].  [added in left margin:]
[Greek] [addition in right
margin; [Greek]]...
[Greek]// text ends abruptly at end of
first quire; catchwords:  [Greek]

     Euclid, Catoptrica, with additional diagrams; I. L. Heiberg, ed.,
Teubner (1895) v. 7, pp. 285-338.

2. ff. 9r-23r  [No title; text begins abruptly at beginning of quire 3:]
//
[Greek] [?] [Greek].

     Euclid, Phaenomena, with standard alternative propositions and scholia;
H. Menge and I. L. Heiberg, eds., Teubner (1916) v. 8, pp. 42-156.

3. ff. 23r-41r  [Greek].
[Greek] [sic]
[Greek].

     Euclid, Opticarum recensio Theonis; I. L. Heiberg, ed., Teubner
(1895) v. 7, pp. 144-284.

4. ff. 41r-78v  [Greek].
[Greek].  [colophon:]
[Greek] [sic]
[Greek].

     Euclid, Data, with scholia; H. Menge, ed., Teubner (1896) v. 6,
pp. 1-186, 261-336.

II.5. ff. 79r-102v  [No title; text begins abruptly at beginning of
Part
II:]  //[Greek] [illegible]
[Greek]// catchwords:  [Greek]

     Euclid, Data, incomplete at beginning and end; H. Menge, op. cit.,
pp. 34-136.

III.6. ff. 103r-142r
[Greek].
[Greek]// [remainder of leaf left blank for canons]

     Theodore Metochites, Introductio in Ptolemaei compositionem
mathematicam; K. Sathas, ed., [Greek], v. 1 (Venice,
1872) pp. [Greek] (first section only; no complete text has yet been
published); see I. Sevcenko, Etudes sur la polemique entre Theodore
Metochite et Nicephore Choumnos (Brussels, 1962) pp. 280-286, for a list
of MSS and discussion of the MS tradition (Beinecke MS 424 not listed).

     Paper, ff. 142 + i (paper).  The manuscript was bound out of order when
purchased by Yale; the order has since been corrected.  Composed of 3 distinct
parts:
     Part I:  ff. 1-78.  Paper (thin, with a slight shine; watermarks:  Harlfinger
Ancre 51 [1540, 1541 A. D.]), 370 x 262 (228 x 115) mm. 30 long lines, ruled in
hard point, double vertical bounding lines full length.  I^^8 (quire missing
after f. 8; the next is signed with a gamma), II-IX^^8, X^^6.  Catchwords
perpendicular to text between inner bounding lines, verso.  Quires signed in
Greek notation on recto, within flourishes.  Written in Greek minuscule by
Valeriano da Forli, who also wrote marginal notes in red and labelled the
diagrams.  Headpiece, 3- and 2-line initials with stylized floral motifs and
headings in red.  Diagrams in margins of geometrical figures drawn with compass and
ruled in brown ink, labelled in red.  Water-stained, especially on f. 1r;
no loss of text.  On f. 57r, spills, dirt and pen trials; several words effaced
or obscured.  Discoloration on ff. 1r and 78v suggests that this part was once
separate.
     Part II:  ff. 79-102.  Paper (thicker than in Part I; watermarks similar
to those in Part I), 368 x 260 (222 x 125) mm. 30 long lines, ruled in hard
point, double vertical bounding lines full length.  XI-XIII^^8.  Catchwords
perpendicular to text between inner bounding lines.  Written by one person in
Greek minuscule.  Headings in red.  Diagrams drawn with compass and ruler,
labelled in red, and fitted into written space.  Waterstains on all folios, but
especially extensive on f. 79r; no loss of text.
     Part III:  ff. 103-142.  Paper (watermarks:  Harlfinger Lettres 66), 350 x
235 (220 x 125) mm.  30 long lines, ruled in hard point, double vertical
bounding lines full length.  XIV^^10 (-1?), XV-XVI^^10, XVII^^10 (+ 1 leaf,
f. 143).
Catchwords perpendicular to text between inner bounding lines.  Written by one
hand in an even Greek minuscule.  2- to 1-line initials with stylized floral
motifs and headings in pale red.  Waterstains throughout; loss of text only at top of
f. 103r-v.
     Binding:  s. xix.  Vellum case with a gold-tooled title.

Part I written by Valeriano da Forli, son of Albino, in the monastery of
S. Antonio in Castello, Venice, in 1541 (see art. 4 and Vogel-Gardthausen,
pp. 369-72).  For a facsimile of his script, see Omont, no. 48.  Parts II and
III have no colophons, but were probably also written in Italy in the 16th
century; early modern provenance unknown.  The parts were together by the
19th century,
when the present binding was done.  Acquired by H. P. Kraus from the New
York dealer John Fleming in 1965.  Purchased from Kraus in 1970 by Edwin
J. Beinecke for the Beinecke Library.

Barbara A. Shailor