Details

Subjects:

Arithmetic -- Early works to 1900.
Arithmetic.
Mathematics -- Early works to 1800.
Mathematics.
Merchants -- Italy.
Merchants.
Nola (Italy).
Italy.

Form/Genre:

Codices (bound manuscripts)
Drawings (visual works)
Treatises.
Manuscripts, Renaissance.

Language:

Italian.

Summary:

Pedagogical treatise on commercial and practical arithmetic, with extensive use of arabic numerals and problems illustrated with scenes from daily life.

Contents:

1. f.i recto-iv verso: [Multiplication tables]
2. f.v recto-xii verso: [Table of contents]
3. f.1r-101v: Algorismus.

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title from introduction (f. 1r).
Collation: Parchment, 113; 1-2⁶ 3¹⁰ 4¹⁰(+1) 5-8¹⁰ 9¹⁰(-1) 10⁸ 11¹⁰(-1) 12¹⁰ 13⁴; [i-xii], 1-62, 63-79, 81-101, [102-103]; contemporary foliation in ink, upper center. Vertical catchwords on last verso of gatherings 3-13, lower right recto. Link to collation model at end of record.
Layout: Written in 31 long lines, with the table of contents in 2 columns; bounding lines ruled in faint ink, with the first line of text frequently above the upper horizontal bounding line.
Script: Written in a semi-cursive script in the hand of Pietro Paolo Muscarello.
Decoration: Full illuminated border including the arms of the Alberti family and 8-line inhabited initial showing a bearded man in a turban reading from a book (f. 1r); 54 illustrations in color (f. 58r-101r); one section of geometric diagrams (f. 87r-90r); 4 manicules (f. 17v, 46r, 48v, 49r); 3 initials in gold (f. v recto, 11r, 86r); decorated initials throughout in red or blue flourished in purple or red, sometimes including small images (for example, a rabbit (f. 2r) and a goose (f. 21r)); capitals touched in yellow; edges sprinkled in blue.
Binding: 18th-century mottled calf; gilt spine; marbled pastedowns.
Origin: Written in Nola, Italy, in 1478 (f. 101r).

Local notes:

Lawrence J. Schoenberg & Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative.

Penn Provenance:

Illuminated for a member of the Albertini family of Nola (their arms, f. 1r); 17th-century inscription, Stefano Scarella di San Remo (f. 102v).
Sold at auction at Sotheby's, 23 June 1992, lot 73, to Lawrence J. Schoenberg.
Deposit by Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2012.

Cited in:

Described in Transformation of knowledge: early manuscripts from the collection of Lawrence J. Schoenberg (London: Paul Holberton, 2006), p. 41-43 (LJS 27).

Publications about:

Partial facsimile edited by G. Chiarini, M. Nasti, M. L. Gengaro, and G. Martini. Algorismus: trattato di aritmetica practica e mercantile del secolo XV. Banca Commerciale Italiana, 1972.
Herman, Nicholas. Making the Renaissance Manuscript: Discoveries from Philadelphia Libraries (exh. cat.). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Libraries, 2020. 46, 258-61 (cat. 78).

Cited as:

LJS 27.

Contributor:

Scarella, Stefano, former owner.
Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

OCLC:

802407170

Web link:

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

Collation model