Details

Standardized Title:

Sphaera mundi

Other Title:

Tractatus de sphaera

Subjects:

Arithmetic -- Early works to 1900.
Arithmetic.
Astronomy -- Early works to 1800.
Astronomy.
Astronomy, Medieval.
Cosmology -- Early works to 1800.
Cosmology.
Time measurements -- Early works to 1800.
Time measurements.

Form/Genre:

Codices (bound manuscripts)
Diagrams.
Illuminations.
Treatises.
Manuscripts, Medieval.

Language:

Latin.

Summary:

Collection of three scientific works, nearly contemporary with the life of the author: one work on cosmology and astronomy, one on arithmetic, and one on the division of time according to the movements of the sun and moon. The first work originally followed the second and third, and the beginning of the second work is missing.

Contents:

1. f.1r-19v: [Sphaera mundi]
2. f.20r-28v: [Algorismus, or Tractatus de arte numerandi, beginning missing]
3. f.29r-58r: [Computus lunaris, or De computo ecclesiastico]

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title from incipit (f. 1r).
Foliation: Parchment, i (modern parchment) + 58 + i (modern parchment); 1⁸(-1) 2¹² 3⁸(-2) 4⁸(-1) 5⁸(-1) 6⁶ 7⁸ 8⁶(-1); contemporary foliation in ink, [59], 60-77, 3-44, [45], upper right recto, many trimmed; modern foliation in pencil, [1-45, 45-57], upper right recto. References in this record are to modern foliation. Gatherings 3-7 have framed horizontal catchwords, lower right verso (f. 25v, 32v leading to a missing leaf, 39v, 45v, 52v).
Layout: Written in 26 long lines; frame-ruled in lead with double bounding lines (2 double bounding lines in outer margins).
Script: Written in Gothic book script by a single hand.
Decoration: 3 8-line historiated initials related stylistically to those of the Bari workshop showing the author teaching astronomy to 2 students, all tonsured (f. 1r, 29r, 43v); 7 illustrations including a diagram of the zones of the earth (painted, f. 16v); diagrams of the movements of the sun and moon around the earth and lunar and solar eclipses (colored drawings, f. 18r, 19r, 19v); a circular image of a serpent biting its tail (painted, f. 36r); a table of solar conjunctions (painted, f. 40r); and an image of circles surrounding a flower (painted, f. 55v); first lines next to historiated initials in ornamented display uncials (f. 1r, 29r); 2-line initials in red or blue with penwork infilling and marginal extensions in red and blue; rubrics in red gothic script or black chancery script; paragraph marks in red or blue.
Binding: Modern velvet.
Origin: Probably written in Paris between 1256 and 1270.

Local notes:

Lawrence J. Schoenberg & Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative.

Penn Provenance:

Formerly owned by Robert B. Honeyman (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.), Ms. Astron. 11/Ms. 56.
Sold at auction at Sotheby's in the Honeyman collection of scientific books and manuscripts, Part III, 2 May 1979, lot 1089.
Handled by Maggs Bros.; appeared in a Sam Fogg Ltd. catalog (Autumn/Winter 1995).
Formerly owned by John D. Stanitz (Cleveland, Ohio), Ms. 47.
Acquired by Lawrence J. Schoenberg with other Stanitz manuscripts, Sept. 1997.
Deposit by Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2011.

Cited in:

Listed in Faye, C. U., and Bond, W. H. Supplement to the Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada (New York: Bibliographical Society of America, 1962), p. 22 (no. 22).
Described in Transformation of knowledge: early manuscripts from the collection of Lawrence J. Schoenberg (London: Paul Holberton, 2006), p. 39-40 (LJS 216).

Publications about:

Herman, Nicholas. Making the Renaissance Manuscript: Discoveries from Philadelphia Libraries (exh. cat.). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Libraries, 2020. 52 n. 157.

Cited as:

LJS 216.

Contributor:

Honeyman, Robert B., former owner.
Stanitz, John D., former owner.
Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Contains:

Algorismus.
Tractatus de arte numerandi.
Computus lunaris.
De computo ecclesiastico.

OCLC:

784993135

Web link:

The Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative Fund Home Page

Access Restriction:

Access to this item is subject to staff review.