Franklin

Geometria / Geberti.

Author/Creator:
Sylvester II, Pope, approximately 945-1003.
Publication:
[Austria?], [between 1125 and 1175]
Format/Description:
Manuscript
56 leaves : parchment, illustrations ; 155 x 106 (121 x 78) mm bound to 163 x 113 mm
Status/Location:
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Details

Subjects:
Geometry -- Early works to 1800.
Geometry.
Astrolabes -- Early works to 1800.
Astrolabes.
Form/Genre:
Codices (bound manuscripts)
Annotations.
Diagrams.
Treatises.
Manuscripts, Medieval.
Language:
Latin.
Biography/History:
Mathematician and educator known as Gerbert of Auvergne (or Alvernia or Aurillac), elected Pope Sylvester II in 999.
Summary:
Collection of geometrical texts, including material from four chapters of the Isagoge geometriae; correspondence with Adelbaldus (also known as Adelbold or Albaldus, of Utrecht) about the area of isosceles triangles; and a treatise on the construction of astrolabes, in which the instrument is referred to by the latinized term astrolapsus. Annotated in the 12th century and also by an unknown late 15th- or early 16th-century humanist who collated the text with other manuscripts and noted the classical sources in the text.
Contents:
1. f.1r-48v: [Sections from the first four chapters of Isagoge geometriae]
2. f.49r-51v: [Letter from Gebert to Adelbaldus on the area of triangles, lacking beginning]
3. f.51v-52v: [Response from Adelbaldus to Gebert]
4. f.52v-53v: [Geometrical treatise]
5. f.53v-56r: [Treatise on construction of astrolabe]
6. f.56r-56v: [Additions in other hands, including a repetition of text on f. 22v-23r and a passage on measurement of distance]
Notes:
Ms. codex.
Title supplied by cataloger.
Foliation: Parchment, i (18th-century paper) + 56 leaves + i (18th-century paper); 1-7⁸; one gathering lacking after gathering 6 and perhaps some material at end also lacking; modern foliation in pencil, [1-56], upper right recto.
Layout: Written in 24-25 long lines; ruled in drypoint.
Script: Written in transitional script (or protogothic script) by two hands.
Decoration: Geometric diagrams throughout, including one that is an attempt to represent a cube in three dimensions (f. 4v; Charles Burnett); 4 large (3-line to 10-line) white-vine initials in red ink (f. 1r, 2r, 5r, 8r), 1 zoomorphic 5-line initial formed from a winged dragon (f. 7r), and 1 5-line initial drawn in brown ink (f. 22v); 1-, 3-, and 4-line painted initials in red throughout; some capitals touched in red; rubrics in red; a few manicules early in the manuscript (f. 2r-5v).
Binding: 18th-century blind-stamped calf; rebacked with spine laid on; GEOMETRIA written on head edge. Some loss to marginal notes and diagrams due to trimming.
Origin: Written in Bavaria, probably in modern northern Austria, in the mid-12th century, based on similarity of the script to that used at the Benedictine abbey of Saint Lambrecht (Lisa Fagin Davis)..
Local notes:
Lawrence J. Schoenberg & Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative.
Penn Provenance:
Formerly owned by M. Haimmiller (inscription, f. 1r).
Formerly owned by Hieronymus Wilhelm Ebner von Eschenbach, sold at auction in Nuremberg as part of his library, 2 Aug. 1813, lot 311.
Formerly owned by John Bohn and then Sir Thomas Phillipps (Ms. 4437, label on spine).
Probably sold by Robinson Brothers (London), 1945.
Formerly owned by Harrison D. Horblit (Ridgefield, Conn.).
Appeared in H. P. Kraus' cat. 155 (1979), no. 18; also handled by book and manuscript dealer Bruce Ferrini (Akron, Ohio); also appeared in Sam Fogg Ltd. cat. 14 (1991), no. 1.
Formerly owned by John D. Stanitz (Cleveland, Ohio), Ms. 25.
Acquired by Lawrence J. Schoenberg with other Stanitz manuscripts, Sept. 1997.
Deposit by Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2011.
Cited in:
Described in Transformation of knowledge: early manuscripts from the collection of Lawrence J. Schoenberg (London: Paul Holberton, 2006), p. 36 (LJS 194).
Publications about:
Gerberti postea Silvestri II papae Opera Mathematica, edited by Nicolaus Bubnov. Berlin: R. Friedländer und Sohn, 1899: Volume 1, 41-97. Critical edition of the Isagoge geometriae and letter to Adelbaldus, with LJS 194 denoted as Chl, for Cheltenham, where it was housed by Phillipps (Lisa Fagin Davis).
Herman, Nicholas. Making the Renaissance Manuscript: Discoveries from Philadelphia Libraries (exh. cat.). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Libraries, 2020. 46, 76-77 (cat. 8).
Cited as:
LJS 194.
Contributor:
Haimmiller, M., former owner.
Ebner von Eschenbach, Hieronymus Wilhelm, 1673-1752, former owner.
Bohn, John, 1757-1843, former owner.
Phillipps, Thomas, Sir, 1792-1872, former owner.
Horblit, Harrison D., former owner.
Stanitz, John D., former owner.
Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection (University of Pennsylvania)
Contains:
Adelboldus, Bishop of Utrecht, approximately 970-1027.
Isagoge geometriae.
OCLC:
784992921