Details

Subject(s)

• Manuscripts, Latin (Medieval and modern)—New Jersey—Princeton [Browse]
• Rome (Italy)—Antiquities [Browse]

Dedicatee

• Malatesta Novello, Domenico, 1418-1465 [Browse]

Donor

• Garrett, Robert, 1875-1961 [Browse]

Related name

• Princeton University. Library. Manuscript. Garrett 158 [Browse]

Getty AAT genre

• Manuscripts—Italy—15th century [Browse]
• Drawings—Italy—15th century [Browse]
• Parchment [Browse]
• Rustic capitals—Italy [Browse]

Related work(s)

• Petrus, Diaconus, of Monte Cassino, approximately 1107-approximately 1140. Notae. [Browse]
• Josephus, Flavius. Antiquitates Judaicae. Latin. Selections. [Browse]

Summary note

Collectio antiquitatum by Giovanni Marcanova, with addition extracts from classical texts and inscriptions. See digitized facsimile with full description for complete information.

Notes

• Ms. codex.
• Title and statement of responsibility from fol. 17v.
• Collation: Parchment; ff. i (marbled paper) + iii (parchment) + 215 + i (marbled paper); 1¹⁰⁻¹, 28; 3-22¹⁰. Quire signatures: a at end of quire 3 (fol. 26), B to Q at end of quires 4-18, S and T on quires 20 and 21, each letter decorated with 4 small dots, below text on right margin ruling.
• Layout: 2 columns of 29 lines; occasional prickmarks on bottom edge (e.g. fols. 48-56) but usually trimmed; ruling in lead point, single vertical bounding lines for two columns; script below top line; running heads in letter-spaced square capitals, fols. 18r-202r.
• Decoration: Garrett MS. 158 begins with 15 full-page drawings in brown ink with a golden-brown wash (fols. 1v, 2v, 3v, 4v, 5v, 6r, 7r, 8r, 9r, 10v, 10(a)v, 11v, 12v, 13r, 14r, 15r-v, 16r-v). The drawings show Roman antiquities, many of which are brought together or rendered in the manner of "fantasy architecture." The original set of 18 full-page drawings in the Modena manuscript are the ultimate source for the drawings in Garrett MS. 158. In the text of the Collectio antiquitatum are drawings (also in brown ink, some with a golden-brown wash) depicting ancient monuments, sarcophagi, vases, aedicules, and stele with inscriptions, as well as several Renaissance seals with mottos. Some of these interior illustrations are accompanied by depictions of classical and mythological figures. Other decoration includes 4- and 2-line gold square-capital initials, especially on fols. 17r-v, 176v-188r; red paraph marks.
• Origin: Probably written in Bologna in 1471 or after 1473.
• Princeton copy 1 The early provenance of the manuscript is unknown. It was owned by Marc Antoine Muret, the French humanist (1526-1585), who died in Rome, where it was inherited by Marc Antoine Muret, his nephew (d. 1586), a student in Rome, who donated it to the Collegio Romano, a Jesuit school in Rome, founded 1551 and later renamed Gregorian University. The school was closed 1870-1874, and many books and manuscripts (including Garrett MS. 158) were lost or sold in 1873. It is unknown who owned or had possession of the manuscript immediately after it left the Collegio Romano. The Marcanova manuscript was part of the Voynich Collection, the personal collection of the New York antiquarian dealer Wilfred Voynich; in 1915 and 1920 the manuscript was exhibited with a group of Western illuminated manuscripts the General Library of the University of Michigan. It was described at the time as having been illustrated by Maso da Finiguerra (1426-1464), according to an article in University of Michigan, General Library Building (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1920), p. 35; copy on file in the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. Wilfrid Voynich sold the manuscript to Robert Garrett of Baltimore, Maryland, Class of 1897, in August 1924. Garrett deposited the manuscript in the Princeton University Library (deposit no. 7542) and donated it in 1942.

Binding note

18th century Italian parchment over pasteboards, gilt stamped on spine with spine title: "Marcanova Antiqua Monumenta," marbled paper pastedowns and flyleaves.

Language note

Latin, with some Greek.

Script

Written in Italian humanistic book hand; contemporary hand (less formal version of main hand) writes some comments in red in the margin, often pointing out errors, and also added texts (fols. 206r-209r).

Contents

• 1. fols. 1r-14v: Fifteen full-page drawings of the antiquities of ancient Rome.
• 2. fols. 15r-16v: Blank.
• 3. fols. 17r-176r: Collectio antiquitatum / Giovanni Marcanova. Dedication to Malatesta Novella.
• 4. 176v-190r: Extracts from various classical authors.
• 5. fols. 190v-202r: De notis antiquis / Petrus Diaconus.
• 6. fols. 202r-204v: Various inscriptions.
• 7. fol. 205r-v: Blank.
• 8. fol. 206r: Extract from Antiquitates Judaicae / Flavius Josephus: "Fuit hisdem temporibus Iesus sapiens vir ... et nomen perseverat et genus."
• 9. fols. 206r-v: Apocryphal letter of Publius Lentulus, procurator of Judea, to the Emperor Tiberius: "Apparuit temporibus istis et adhuc est homo magne virtutis: cui nomen est Iesus Christus ... speciosus inter filios hominum."
• 10. fols. 206v: Apocryphal letter of Pontius Pilate to the Emperor Tiberius: "De Iesu Christo ... Vale. Hierosolimis v. kalendae aprilis."
• 11. fols. 207r-209r: Inscriptions.
• 12. fols. 209v-213v: Blank.

Show 9 more Contents items

Source acquisition

Gift of Robert Garrett, 1942; deposited in Princeton University Library, 1924, no. 7542.

Publications about

• Dennis, Holmes Van Mater "The Garrett Manuscript of Marcanova." Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome, 6 (1927), p. 113-126.
• Lawrence, Elizabeth Baily "The illustrations of the Garrett and Modena manuscripts of Marcanova." Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome, 6 (1927) p. 127-131.
• The Painted Page: Italian Renaissance Book Illumination, 1430-1550. Edited by Jonathan J. G. Alexander. Munich : Prestel, 1994, p. 144-145.

References

De Ricci, p. 897

Cite as

Garrett MS. 158, Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Other format(s)

• Also available in an electronic version.
• Available in color digital images of full-page drawings (fols. 1r-14v); black-and-white digital images of the entire MS.; a full set of color transparencies, slides, and prints; and black-and-white microfilm.

Place name(s)

Italy Bologna.

Other title(s)

Antiqua Monumenta

OCLC

1340430168

Other standard number

• Garrett MS. 158

Statement on language in description

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