Details

Other Title:

Illuminierbuch, künstlich alle Farben zu machen und bereiten

Subjects:

Illumination of books and manuscripts -- Early works to 1800.
Illumination of books and manuscripts -- Technique.
Illumination of books and manuscripts.

Form/Genre:

Codices.
Treatises.
Manuscripts, German.
Manuscripts, Renaissance.

Language:

Mostly in German, with significant sections of the text in Latin. Some notations on the front and back end-leaves (dating from later than the text itself) are in Latin.

Summary:

The majority of the manuscript comprises an approximately complete copy of Valentin Boltz's Illuminierbuch (Basel, 1549), on the practice of illumination of manuscripts, and the artistic use of pigments. The version of the title of Boltz's work given on the title page seems to correspond to that of editions published from 1552 on. With respect to the content of Boltz's work, the manuscript begins with the preface (f. 3r-4r), followed by a section on the preparation of inks (Von Dinten; f. 5r-6v) that occurs near the end of the published work. Roughly the second half of the manuscript corresponds to what seems to be the entire rest of the text (f. 51r-108v). In the first half, the manuscript contains additional material (f. 7r-48v), written partly in Latin, that appears to concern the same subject matter. The last part of the subtitle given on the title page refers to a division into seven books; however, the only noticeable division into books is a reference to the beginning of the third book (Incipit liber tertius; f. 88r), which occurs at the point corresponding to the beginning of the second of two books in Boltz's published work.

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title from title page (f. 1r).
Foliation: Paper, 102; 1, 3-39, 42-48, 51-72, 74-108; contemporary foliation in ink, modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto. Contemporary foliation sometimes partially or fully lost due to the trimming of pages. The following leaves appear to be missing: 40, 41, 49, 50, and 73. Folio 2 skipped in contemporary foliation but no leaf appears to be lacking. Additional leaves appear to be missing at the end of the manuscript.
Script: Written in a German cursive script with humanistic cursive book script for Latin passages.
Decoration: Some headings have been colored yellow, and some initial letters in headings or text have been colored blue or red. Occasional splashes or flecks of watercolor on some leaves, and later rough sketches in ink (f. 4v) and pencil (f. 26v-27r).
Binding: Contemporary vellum (Zacour-Hirsch).
Origin: Written in Lutzemburg (i.e., Luxembourg, f. 1r) or Germany (Zacour-Hirsch), 1570-1574. The date 1570 is given on the title page (f. 1r) and also on f. 30r. The dates 1571 (f. 88r) and 1574 (f. 48v) appear in association with passages that seem to have been added subsequent to the writing of the rest of the text.

Penn Provenance:

Formerly owned by Maximilian Heinrich, Archbishop of Cologne: "Wir Maximilian Heinrich Ertzbischoff zu Kollen" (f. 4v) in brown ink (likely contemporary with the notes written in Latin on the endleaves).
Sold by Emil Offenbacher (New York), 1955.

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. 79-80 (Ms. German 5).

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Codex 1073

Contributor:

Maximilian Heinrich, Archbishop and Elector of Cologne, 1621-1688, former owner.

OCLC:

181156350