Details

Subjects:

Navigation -- Mediterranean Region -- Early works to 1800.
Naval art and science -- Italy -- Venice -- Early works to 1800.
Shipbuilding -- Italy -- Venice -- Early works to 1800.
Astronomy -- Early works to 1800.
Astronomy.
Shipbuilding.
Naval art and science.
Navigation.
Italy -- Venice.
Mediterranean Region.

Form/Genre:

codices (bound manuscripts)
diagrams.
treatises.
Tables (Data)
Manuscripts, Italian -- 15th century.
Manuscripts, Renaissance.

Language:

Italian, with a preface in Latin.

Summary:

Unattributed copy of Benedetto Cotrugli's treatise on ships and shipbuilding, composed in 1464-1465, including information on cartography, construction and use of the compass, types of ships, and meteorology and astronomy for use in navigation. Includes references to classical and medieval authors, which at the beginning of the manuscript are noted in the margins with red ink (f. 1v-4r). Dedicated to the doge (Cristoforo Moro, who served 1462-1471) and senate of Venice.

Contents:

1. f.1r-3r: [Preface]
2. f.3v-27r: Descriptio totius orbis.
3. f.28r-47r: [Types of ships and roles of officers]
4. f.47r-72v: [Meteorology and astronomy]
5. f.72v-80v: [Maps and cartography]

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title supplied by cataloger.
Foliation: Parchment and paper, ii (19th-century paper) + 84 + ii (19th-century paper); 1-4¹⁰ 5⁹(-1) 6⁹(-1) 7-8¹⁰ 9⁶; [1-84]; modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto.
Layout: Written in 30 long lines; vertical bounding lines ruled in blind visible on some leaves.
Script: Written in italic script.
Decoration: 3 colored diagrams (world map surrounded by concentric circles and zodiac signs, f. 8r; world divided into temperature zones surrounded by concentric circles, f. 12r; benches for rowers, f. 30v); 1 ink diagram (compass points, f. 49v); 3 astronomical tables in black and red (f. 66r, 66v, 68v); 1 three-quarter white vine-stem border with a 10-line illuminated initial in gold on gold with blue vines (f. 1r); 3 illuminated initials, 4 to 6 lines in height, in gold with white vine-stem ornamentation and extensions (f. 28r, 47r, 72v); 2-line initials in red or blue at the beginning of chapters; some marginal notes (f. 1v-4r) and headings throughout in red.
Binding: 19th-century English blind-tooled morocco, with marbled endleaves.
Origin: Written in northeastern Italy, probably Venice, in 1464 (f. 19v) and 1465 (f. 66v).

Local notes:

Lawrence J. Schoenberg & Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative.

Penn Provenance:

Formerly owned by Frederick North, fifth Earl of Guilford (armorial bookplate inside upper cover); sold as part of his collection at auction at Evans, 13 Dec. 1830, lot 563 (note on second flyleaf).
Formerly owned by English astronomer, mathematician, antiquarian, barrister, and numismatist John Lee (armorial bookplate inside upper cover); sold as part of his collection at auction at Sotheby's, 8 Nov. 1888, lot 266.
Offered for sale at auction at Sotheby's, 10 July 1968, lot 283.
Sold at auction at Sotheby's, 7 December 2004, lot 40, to Lawrence J. Schoenberg.
Deposit by Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2011.
Gift of Barbara Brizdle Schoenberg, 2019.

Cited in:

Described in Transformation of knowledge: early manuscripts from the collection of Lawrence J. Schoenberg (London: Paul Holberton, 2006), p. 118 (LJS 473).

Publications about:

Saibanti, Claudio de Polo. "Arte del navigare, manoscritto inedito datato 1464-1465." In Imago et mensura mundi: Atti del IX Congresso Internazionale di Storia della Cartografia (Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, 1985).
Falchetta, Piero. "II trattato 'De navigatione' di Benedetto Cotrugli (1464-65): Edizione commentata del ms. Schoenberg 473 con il testo del ms. 557 di Yale." Studi Veneziani 57 (2009): pp. 15-335.
Van Duzer, Chet. "Benedetto Cotrugli's lost Mappamundi found--three times." Imago Mundi 65.1 (2013), pp. 1-14.
Herman, Nicholas. Making the Renaissance Manuscript: Discoveries from Philadelphia Libraries (exh. cat.). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Libraries, 2020. 286-89 (cat. 87).

Cited as:

Benedetto Cotrugli, De navigatione (LJS 473). Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania.

Contributor:

Moro, Cristoforo, 1390-1471, dedicatee.
North, Frederick, Earl of Guilford, 1766-1827, former owner.
Lee, John, 1783-1866, former owner.
Venice (Republic : To 1797). Senato, dedicatee.
Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

OCLC:

793018002

Web link:

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

Collation model