Details
DOMENICO DA CORELLA (o.p.). Theotocon, in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
Florence, 1468
245 x 160mm. 71 leaves: 13 (of 4, final blank cancelled), 2-710, 89 (of 10, final blank cancelled), COMPLETE, horizontal catchwords in the middle of the lower margin of the final versos of gatherings 2-7, red signature marks and a contemporary arabic foliation in brown survive in the lower outer corners of several folios, gatherings 2-8 with 30 lines written in black ink in an upright humanistic bookhand on 30 horizontal lines between 2 pairs of verticals ruled in ink, disregarding an earlier scored ruling on gathering 2, justification: 160 x95mm, gathering 1 up to 36 lines written in dark brown ink in a humanistic cursive between 2 pairs of vertical and up to 36 horizontal scored lines, 18th-century pagination 1-141 (followed
here), one-line initials on pp.2-4 and 140-1, rubrics, explicits and marginal titles in pink, two- to six-line initials in blue, ILLUMINATED WHITE-VINE INITIAL AND PART BORDER (lower margins of first folios thumbed, slight weakening of text on a few hair sides, occasional spotting, a few wormholes). 18th-century half sheep, spine in 5 compartments titled in gilt in the second (some light worming), modern black morocco box.
PROVENANCE:
1. The scribe, Jacopo di Nicolo di Chocho Donati of Florence; his ownership inscription on p.1 'Questo libro che tracta di nostra donna gloriosissima e di me scriptore Jacopo di Nicolo di Chocho Donati cittadino fiorentino'. The manuscript is dated below the explicit of book 4 on p. 138: 'Fuit finitum Anno Salutis Mcccclxviij'.
2. Library of S. Salvatore di Ognissanti, Florence; the gift of the book by Jacopo di Nicolo to the library of S. Salvatore - for the good of his soul - is recorded and confirmed in two inscriptions on p.1 'Istum librum largitus est prefatus Jacobus Nicholai Chochi librarie Sancti Salvatoris hac die 4a octobris 1475 pro remedio anime sue' followed by 'Io Jacopo Cocchi cosi affermo'. Two shelfmarks, 'in xiii B ad orientam' on p.1 and, in a 16th-century hand, 'Iste liber est ex banco 14 versus infirmarias numero vii' on p.142 locate the manuscript in the Biblioteca Ognissanti, where it was recorded by J. Quétif and J. Echard Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum Medii Aevi (Paris, 1719) i, pp.864-5.
CONTENTS:
Ode to the Virgin beginning Virgo que coeli retines habenas by Francesco Patrizio of Siena, pp.2-4; Preface to the Theotocon dedicating it to Piero de Medici beginning (V)irginis cultor studiose matris, pp.5-6; Theotocon or De laudibus beatae Mariae Virginis by Domenico di Giovanni da Corella, book 1 pp.6-44, book 2 pp.45-79, book 3 pp.79-109, book 4 pp.110-38; dedication of the Theotocon (as pp.5-6) pp.140-41.
This is the oldest manuscript copy of the Theotocon. The work was dedicated to Piero di Cosimo de' Medici (d.1469) - at this date gonfalonier of justice and effective ruler of Florence - because of his worth and his devotion to the Virgin.
Jacopo Cochi Donati was a member of a Florentine family of scribes. For other manuscripts written by him, including one in the British Library that he also gave to S. Salvatore (Harley 3651) see L. Miglio 'L'avventura grafica di Iacopo Cocchi-Donati, funzionario mediceo e copista', Scrittura e civiltà, vi (1982), p.226.
Florence, 1468
245 x 160mm. 71 leaves: 13 (of 4, final blank cancelled), 2-710, 89 (of 10, final blank cancelled), COMPLETE, horizontal catchwords in the middle of the lower margin of the final versos of gatherings 2-7, red signature marks and a contemporary arabic foliation in brown survive in the lower outer corners of several folios, gatherings 2-8 with 30 lines written in black ink in an upright humanistic bookhand on 30 horizontal lines between 2 pairs of verticals ruled in ink, disregarding an earlier scored ruling on gathering 2, justification: 160 x95mm, gathering 1 up to 36 lines written in dark brown ink in a humanistic cursive between 2 pairs of vertical and up to 36 horizontal scored lines, 18th-century pagination 1-141 (followed
here), one-line initials on pp.2-4 and 140-1, rubrics, explicits and marginal titles in pink, two- to six-line initials in blue, ILLUMINATED WHITE-VINE INITIAL AND PART BORDER (lower margins of first folios thumbed, slight weakening of text on a few hair sides, occasional spotting, a few wormholes). 18th-century half sheep, spine in 5 compartments titled in gilt in the second (some light worming), modern black morocco box.
PROVENANCE:
1. The scribe, Jacopo di Nicolo di Chocho Donati of Florence; his ownership inscription on p.1 'Questo libro che tracta di nostra donna gloriosissima e di me scriptore Jacopo di Nicolo di Chocho Donati cittadino fiorentino'. The manuscript is dated below the explicit of book 4 on p. 138: 'Fuit finitum Anno Salutis Mcccclxviij'.
2. Library of S. Salvatore di Ognissanti, Florence; the gift of the book by Jacopo di Nicolo to the library of S. Salvatore - for the good of his soul - is recorded and confirmed in two inscriptions on p.1 'Istum librum largitus est prefatus Jacobus Nicholai Chochi librarie Sancti Salvatoris hac die 4a octobris 1475 pro remedio anime sue' followed by 'Io Jacopo Cocchi cosi affermo'. Two shelfmarks, 'in xiii B ad orientam' on p.1 and, in a 16th-century hand, 'Iste liber est ex banco 14 versus infirmarias numero vii' on p.142 locate the manuscript in the Biblioteca Ognissanti, where it was recorded by J. Quétif and J. Echard Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum Medii Aevi (Paris, 1719) i, pp.864-5.
CONTENTS:
Ode to the Virgin beginning Virgo que coeli retines habenas by Francesco Patrizio of Siena, pp.2-4; Preface to the Theotocon dedicating it to Piero de Medici beginning (V)irginis cultor studiose matris, pp.5-6; Theotocon or De laudibus beatae Mariae Virginis by Domenico di Giovanni da Corella, book 1 pp.6-44, book 2 pp.45-79, book 3 pp.79-109, book 4 pp.110-38; dedication of the Theotocon (as pp.5-6) pp.140-41.
This is the oldest manuscript copy of the Theotocon. The work was dedicated to Piero di Cosimo de' Medici (d.1469) - at this date gonfalonier of justice and effective ruler of Florence - because of his worth and his devotion to the Virgin.
Jacopo Cochi Donati was a member of a Florentine family of scribes. For other manuscripts written by him, including one in the British Library that he also gave to S. Salvatore (Harley 3651) see L. Miglio 'L'avventura grafica di Iacopo Cocchi-Donati, funzionario mediceo e copista', Scrittura e civiltà, vi (1982), p.226.