Beschreibung:

CICERO, Marcus Tullius (106-43BC). Epistolae ad Familiares , in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM Florence, 1442 328 x 198mm. i + 179 leaves: 1 1 0, 2 9(of 10, lacking ii), 3 9(of 10, lacking i), 4 9(of 10, lacking ii), 5 9(of 10, lacking ii), 6 8(of 10, lacking v and vi), 7 9(of 10, lacking viii), 8 9(of 10, lacking x), 9 1 0, 10 9(of 10, lacking i), 11 9(of 10, lacking iv), 12 1 0, 13 9(of 10, lacking i), 14-19 1 0, horizontal catchwords in inner lower margin, some cropped, 34 lines written in dark brown ink in an upright humanistic bookhand between two pairs of verticals and 35 horizontals ruled in blind, justification: 225 x 115mm, headings, side-notes, nota-bene marks and hands, and other marginalia in pink, title on opening folio in highly burnished gold capitals, SIX LARGE WHITE-VINE INITIALS AND BORDERS INHABITED BY PUTTI, the initials with staves of burnished gold against a ground of blue and with the entwined stems infilled with pink and green, similar two-line initials throughout, the opening folio with a full-page border with music-making putti, a duck and a medallion with a green-bodied harpy among the scrolling vine tendrils (slight smudging to large initials, ff.2, 4, 8 and 15 creased, spots or stains on ff.3-7 and 13-15, a few wormholes in final eight leaves, small pentrial in outer margin of many folios). CONTEMPORARY PANELLED GOATSKIN tooled in blind with ropework border and inner panel, central section to a geometric design, some annular dots and disks in painted gold, upper and lower covers with four small star-shaped brass bosses, brass studs securing remains of clasp straps on upper cover, lower cover with round brass catches with beaded edges, spine in six compartments tooled to a diapered and dotted design (lacking clasps, some scratches, rebacked retaining original spine with traces of old paper label with title, corners restored). Brown morocco box. PROVENANCE: 1. Angelus da Spoleto, 1442: the Latin colophon on f.179 names him as the commissioner of the manuscript -- Finit feliciter transcriptus .... pro d. angelo spoletano litera[rum] ap[osto]lica[rum] scriptore & absolutus fuit 1442 v non aprilis florentie in ede carmelita[rum] . 2. Federigo Malaspina (d.1580): Mr A. Van de Put provided this identity for Cockerell as the bearer of the roughly drawn coat of arms on the first endleaf. It shows Malaspina impaling Cibò over Medici; Federigo was married to Elena Cibo, natural daughter of Innocenzo Cibo, Archbishop of Genoa. 3. Inscriptions on the lower pastedown include 'Ego Clemens filius revere[n]dis cardinalis'. 4. Cardinal Antonio Saverio Gentili (1681-1753): his erased library stamp on f.2. His library passed to the Principe del Drago and later to Marchese Campana. 5. Marchese Campana: his sale Sotheby's 20 June 1860, lot 143, when it was said to have belonged to the Medici Pope Leo X (1513-21). 6. Sir Thomas Phillipps: purchased by him in 1860 and his label and inscriptions, Phillipps 15727 MHC, inside upper cover and on front endleaf, then lot 204 in the ninth Phillipps sale, Sotheby's 7 June 1898. 7. Rev. P. Hateley Waddell: his sale Sotheby's 27 July 1920, lot 372, purchased by Ascherson 8. C.S. Ascherson: his bookplate inside front cover annotated with date of Hateley Waddell sale and his collation written in pencil on front endleaf 9. Sir Sydney Cockerell (1867-1962): purchased by him from Quaritch in 1945. His record of purchase and results of his 'provenancing' written in his own hand on front endleaf. Letters in response to his enquiries on early ownership are kept with the manuscript, along with his notes and printed extracts. His sale Sotheby's 3 April 1957, lot 12. SCRIBES: The explicit on folio 179 is followed by a colophon in pink capitals reading: Finit feliciter transcriptus p[er] me Dominicu[m] Cassii De Narnia pro D. Angelo Spoletano litera[rum] ap[osto]lica[rum] scriptore & absolutus fuit 1442 v non. Aprilis Florentie in ede carmelita[rum] t[em]p[or]e Eugenii qu