Details

Subjects:

Italian literature -- 17th century.
Italian literature.
Italian literature -- Italy -- Sicily.
Italy -- Sicily.
Italian poetry -- 17th century.
Italian poetry.

Form/Genre:

Codices.
Anthologies.
Poems.
Manuscripts, Italian.
Manuscripts, European.

Language:

Italian, in the Sicilian dialect.

Summary:

Anthology of Sicilian dialect poetry in ottava rima, extending to nearly 700 stanzas. Apparently compiled by Domnus Josephus Amarchius.

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title from title page (f. 1r).
Appears to have been compiled by a Domnus Josephus Amarchius, who wrote his name and the date beneath the title, in Greek letters: [Domnos Ēosephos Amarchēos. Anno a partou ouēpgēnēs 1653]. Only the letters are Greek--the inscription is actually written in Latin, e.g.: "anno a partu virginis". Amarchius consistently uses Greek eta [ē] to represent Latin "i". Amarchius was probably a titled nobleman or a Benedictine monk.
Foliation: Paper, ii + 176 + ii; [i], 1-133, 133-174; contemporary foliation in ink, upper right recto. The numbers at the upper center verso appear to be stanza numbers.
Script: Written in a single cursive hand, probably that of the compiler.
Binding: Venetian 18th-century parchment. Various stains and smudges.
Origin: Written in Sicily, 1653.
Brief description of the item, probably by an unidentified bookseller, on file in the Library. This description was the source of some descriptive information.

Penn Provenance:

Former owners include: Jacopo Soranzo (1686-1761); Matteo Luigi Canonici (1727-1806); Walter Sneyd (bookplate, inside upper cover); Arthur John Butler (bookplate, recto of front flyleaf; Giuseppe Martini collection.
Purchased, 1960.

Cited in:

Described in Zacour, Norman P. and Hirsch, Rudolf. Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Libraries of the University of Pennsylvania to 1800 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1965), p. 115 (Ms. Italian 114).
Mitchell, J.B. "Trevisan and Soranzo ..." The Bodleian Library Record, vol. VIII, no. 3 (February 1969), p. 125-135. Discusses the provenance of this item.

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Codex 356

Contributor:

Canonici, Matteo Luigi, 1727-1805, former owner.
Sneyd, Walter, 1809-1888, former owner.
Butler, Arthur John, 1844-1910, former owner.
Martini, Giuseppe, 1870-1944, former owner.

OCLC:

155964473