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Livre du gouvernement des rois et des princes.

Accession number
MS M.122
Object title
Livre du gouvernement des rois et des princes.
Created
France, ca. 1300-1325.
Binding
French 18th-century purple velvet with brass corners and impressions of Clermont arms (2 keys) in center, back of old tan velvet, lettered: Gouvernement des Rois.
Credit line
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), 1903.
Description
106 leaves (2 columns, 40 lines), bound : vellum, ill. ; 350 x 230 mm
Provenance
Owned in the 15th century by Gylliam Sonnyng, alderman of Calais (inscription on fol. 106r); ca. 1500 belonged to an Englishman (numerous marginal notes of translation); bequeathed (1640) by Charles-Henri de Clermont, Comte de Tonnerre to the Minimes of Tonnerre; sold (1788) to Cardinal Etienne Charles Loménie de Brienne (1727-1794); sale of Bibliotheca Parisina (London, 1791, no. 80) to L. Concannon; his sale (London, Christies, May 1, 1800, no. 295) to M. Woodhull; his sale (London, 1886, no. 1149) to Quaritch, catalogue 369 (1886), no. 35703; bought by Gerald E. Hart, Montreal; his sale, Boston, C.F. Libbie, 1890, lot 1528; bought by David Hunt; his sale, Boston, C.F. Libbie, 17 November 1891, lot 2010; Quaritch, catalogue 138 (1893), no. 23; bought in 1895 by John E. Kerr (catalogue 1903, p.7, no. 2); purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) with the Kerr Collection in 1903; J.P. Morgan (1867-1943).
Notes
Ms. translation (into French by Henri de Gauchy) of De regimine principum; written and illuminated in France, ca. 1300-1325.
Decoration: 8-line historiated initial on fol. 1r depicting the author in Augustinian habit presenting his book to King Philip IV, ivy border in all margins, with animals and drolleries, 6 large gold initials on blue and rose fields; many penwork initials.
Revised: 2017
Script
textura
Language
Old French
Century
Classification