Details

Other Title:

Liber litterarum simulationis et de zifris

Subjects:

Cryptography -- Early works to 1800.
Cryptography.
Ciphers -- Early works to 1800.
Ciphers.

Form/Genre:

Codices (bound manuscripts)
illuminations (visual works)
Manuals (instructional materials)
Treatises.
Manuscripts, Renaissance.

Language:

Latin (f. 1r-5r) and Italian with rubrics in Latin (f. 5v-20r).

Biography/History:

Humanist from Sacile (Sacilensis, f. 1r), north of Venice; secretary to Duke Louis of Savoy from 1450; released in 1452 from imprisonment by Francesco Sforza.

Summary:

Presentation copy for Pope Callistus III of a work on cryptography that describes two systems: in the first, Italian words beginning with one letter are all represented by Italian words beginning with another letter; in the second, signs or symbols represent letters or entire Italian words (titles, city names, and numbers).

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title from opening rubric (f. 1r); alternate title, Liber litterarum simulationis et de zifris, from early note inside front cover.
Collation: Parchment, i + 20 + i; 1⁵ 2⁵; catchword with simple ornamentation on last verso of first gathering (f. 10v).
Layout: Written in 24 long lines; ruled in lead, vertical bounding lines occasionally visible.
Script: Written in humanistic script.
Decoration: 1 full-page white vine-stem (bianchi girari) border with 3 birds in the outer border and 2 putti with necklaces holding the arms of Pope Callistus III in the lower border (f. 1r) and 1 7-line initial in gold on a white vine-stem ground (f. 1r), illuminated by Gioacchino di Giovanni di Gigantibus of Rothenberg, Germany, a professional illuminator for the papal court from 1448 onward; 2-line initials in gold filled with green and/or pink throughout; rubrics in faint red ink.
Binding: Contemporary calf blind-stamped in the Florentine style (modo fiorentino), with an ornamental pattern based on Islamic ropework, over wooden boards, with remnants of 4 pairs of ties.
Origin: Probably written in Rome, between 1455 and 1458 (during the papacy of Callistus III).

Local notes:

Lawrence J. Schoenberg & Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative.

Penn Provenance:

Illuminated for Pope Callistus III, between 1455 and 1458.
Sold at auction at Sotheby's, 20 June 1989, lot 49.
Sold by Martin Breslauer, 1989.
Sold at auction at Christie's, 26 June 1996, lot 19, to Lawrence J. Schoenberg.
Gift of Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle in honor of Tina Skov Cowan, Director, Development & External Affairs, Penn Libraries, 2013.

Cited in:

Described in Transformation of knowledge: early manuscripts from the collection of Lawrence J. Schoenberg (London: Paul Holberton, 2006), p. 43-45 (LJS 225).

Publications about:

Herman, Nicholas. Making the Renaissance Manuscript: Discoveries from Philadelphia Libraries (exh. cat.). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Libraries, 2020. 64-65 (cat. 4).

Cited as:

UPenn LJS 225.

Contributor:

Callistus III, Pope, 1378-1458, dedicatee.
Gioacchino, di Giovanni, illuminator.
Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

OCLC:

787857733

Web link:

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