YALE UNIVERSITY
BEINECKE RARE BOOK AND MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY
GENERAL COLLECTION OF RARE BOOKS AND
MANUSCRIPTS
PRE-1600 MANUSCRIPTS
Beinecke MS 701
Germany, s. XV 2
Ps.-Aristotle, De pomo sive de morte, mutilated
ff. 1r-7v Tractatus de pomo et morte incliti principis philosophorum Aristotilis incipit
feliciter. [prologue:] Cum homo creaturarum dignissima similitudo sit omnium ad ymaginem Dei
factus ... Nam dictum librum Aristotiles non notavit, sed notatus ab aliis extitit, qui causam
hylaritatis sue mortis discere voluerunt, sicut in libri serie continetur. [f. 2r, text:] Dum clausa
esset via veritatis sapientibus et impedita via rectitudinis intellectuum, convenerunt sapientes in
una domo et concordes estimarunt declarare et intelligere viam rectitudinis, per quam homines
vivere possent ... Ille qui recolligit philosophorum animas tuam recolligat animam et ponat eam in
thesauris suis, sicut dignum est animam hominis directi et perfecti, sicut tu
es. Explicit liber de
pomo et morte Aristotilis. Deo gratias semper.
Ps.-Aristoteles, Tractatus de pomo sive de morte, Latin translation attributed to Manfred, son of
Emperor Frederick II (1232-1266). Printed from c. 1472 onward (GKW 2450-2451). Incomplete.
Paper, ff. I + 6 + I, 210 x 145 mm. 4ø folding. Watermark: crowned fleur-de-lys over initials
"J.b.", var. Briquet 7252??
The remaining folios and bifolios have in modern times been united by means of parchment stays,
obscuring their original structure; ff. 3-4 and 5-6 are bifolios; text is missing between ff. 2 and 3
and 3 and 4.
Pricking in the outer margins and lead ruling for one column of 36 lines below top line, 164/165 x
92 mm. The last but one prick is double and the ruling type is in principle 16, but the number of
lower horizontal through lines varies from 1 to 3.
Copied by one hand in Gothica Semihybrida Libraria (Bastarda).
Red paragraph-marks and underlining. Heightening of majuscules in red. Red plain initials at the
beginning of the prologue (5 lines) and at the beginning of the text (2 lines); small guide-letters.
Binding s. XX: half parchment with corner pieces over pasteboard, the boards covered with grey
paper. On the front cover a blank paper label. On the spine the handwritten title in red in modern
Gothica Textualis Formata: "De Pomo et Morte".
The mutilated manuscript was no doubt part of a larger unit. The spelling "wltus" (for "vultus")
points to Germany as origin of the little codex. After the explicit on f. 7v there is the following s.
XVII note written by a German hand: " Huius de pomo libri (quo apocrypha eius philosophi
sensa perhibentur) meminit Ioannes Franciscus Picus Mirandul? dominus, Concordi? comes
[1463-1494], in eo quem de Dei providentia ?didit libro in philosophastros capitulo VIø".
Purchased from Laurence Witten on the Edwin J. Beinecke Fund.
Albert Derolez
R 18.02.09