Accession number
MS M.940
Object title
Pauline Epistles with commentary by Petrus Lombardus (MS M.940).
Display Date
ca. 1250.
Created
France or England, ca. 1250.
Binding
Red pigskin by Katharine Adams, 1912.
Credit line
Gift of John M. Crawford, in honor of twenty years of service by the Director, Frederick B. Adams, Jr., 1969.
Description
109 leaves (2 columns, 25 lines for Epistle and 50 for commentary), bound : vellum, ill. ; 375 x 265 mm
Provenance
A vellum leaf bound in the front incorrectly identifies the work as St. Ambrose's Commentary on the Pauline Epistles and the words "Fragmentum Bibliothecae Petrarchae." The false tradition of Petrarch's ownership goes back to 1650, when it appeared as no. VIII in J.P. Tomasini's list. Marchese Linterno (ca. 1640?); Certosa of Garegnano, Lombardy (to 1779?); Duke C. Visconti di Modrone, Milan (to 1834); Giuseppe Bruschetti, Milan; Gaetano Schiepatti?, Milan; Louis Arrigoni, Milan; Jacques Rosenthal, Munich; Sotheby's sale (London, 12-14 April 1899, lot 534) to J. and J. Leighton; Sir Sydney Cockerell bought the manuscript (184 leaves) from Leighton, 4 May 1899 (his first manuscript); sold 49 leaves to John Charrington in April 1913 (now in the Van Heek collection, 's-Heerenberg), 9 leaves were given to Brian Cron on 20 January 1955 (later sold by Quaritch cat. 1056, 1983, no. 23, at $3,250), now in a continental private collection) and apparently 17 leaves were given to friends. Quaritch kindly supplied copies of the nine leaves, which are in the department's manuscript folder. The main portion (the remaining 109 leaves) was in the Cockerell sale (Sotheby's London, 3 April 1957, lot 6) sold for £350 to Quaritch, their catalog 767 (1957), no. 5; purchased by Philip Duschnes (N.Y.) in 1958 for £600; sold for $2250 to John M. Crawford; presented to the Morgan Library by John M. Crawford in honor of twenty years of service by the director, Frederick B. Adams, Jr., in 1969.
Notes
Ms. Pauline Epistles (Ephesians to Hebrews only), with commentary by Petrus Lombardus; written and decorated in France or England around 1250.
On flyleaf, notes by Sir Sydney Cockerell (1867-1962) regarding the history of the manuscript and the notation "my first manuscript". Written in brown ink by several hands; collation: I⁹, II¹²-VIII¹², IX¹⁶, X².
The manuscript, as Cockerell originally purchased it, had 184 folios. Cockerell broke up the manuscript, had 49 leaves bound separately by the binder Katharine Adams, and sold them to John Charrington in April, 1913; this volume until recently belonged to van Heek at Huis Bergh, s'Heerenberg, in The Netherlands. Cockerell gave 9 further leaves to B.S. Cron on 20 January 1955; they were offered for sale by Quaritch, London, in 1985, Catalogue 1056. Cockerell also gave a bifolium to Siegfried Sasson, which was later purchased by Christopher De Hamel from Sasson's estate sale through Quaritch. 17 leaves of the original 184 are still missing.
M.940 is among the 25 manuscripts described by Louis Arrigoni in his Notice historique et bibliographique sur vingt-cinq manuscrits...ayant fait parti de la Bibliothèque de Francois Petrarque, Milan, 1883, including M.446 and M.447; this provenance has been discarded as false by scholars, since the supposed evidence, Petrarch's engraved coat of arms on the flyleaves, was only added to the manuscripts in the 17th century.
Decoration: 20 large red and blue penwork initials filled with green, rose, yellow, red, and blue foliate forms.
On flyleaf, notes by Sir Sydney Cockerell (1867-1962) regarding the history of the manuscript and the notation "my first manuscript". Written in brown ink by several hands; collation: I⁹, II¹²-VIII¹², IX¹⁶, X².
The manuscript, as Cockerell originally purchased it, had 184 folios. Cockerell broke up the manuscript, had 49 leaves bound separately by the binder Katharine Adams, and sold them to John Charrington in April, 1913; this volume until recently belonged to van Heek at Huis Bergh, s'Heerenberg, in The Netherlands. Cockerell gave 9 further leaves to B.S. Cron on 20 January 1955; they were offered for sale by Quaritch, London, in 1985, Catalogue 1056. Cockerell also gave a bifolium to Siegfried Sasson, which was later purchased by Christopher De Hamel from Sasson's estate sale through Quaritch. 17 leaves of the original 184 are still missing.
M.940 is among the 25 manuscripts described by Louis Arrigoni in his Notice historique et bibliographique sur vingt-cinq manuscrits...ayant fait parti de la Bibliothèque de Francois Petrarque, Milan, 1883, including M.446 and M.447; this provenance has been discarded as false by scholars, since the supposed evidence, Petrarch's engraved coat of arms on the flyleaves, was only added to the manuscripts in the 17th century.
Decoration: 20 large red and blue penwork initials filled with green, rose, yellow, red, and blue foliate forms.
Script
textura
Language
Latin
Resources
Century
Catalog link
Classification
Department