Beschreibung:

Ɵ Vergil, Georgics III:259-458 and IV:393-564, in Latin didactic hexameter verse, leaves from a decorated manuscript on parchment in situ in an Oxford binding by Dominique Pinart[England, c. 1200] Remains of two bifolia, trimmed at edges with losses to one column on each, each leaf with single column of 48 lines in an early gothic book script, with initials set apart in margin as common for verse, simple red initials with baubles and pen flicks added to their bodies, one dark pastel green initial, contemporary running titles, some contemporary marginalia, modern pencil marks giving textual notes, some staining, scuffing and small holes, else in good condition, each leaf 190 by 100mm.; in situ in binding of a copy of a printed book: William Thomas The historie of Italie, London: Thomas Berthelet, 1549, binding of blindtooled calf, using rollstamps identified as nos. XII and XVIII in S. Gibson, Early Oxford Bindings, 1903 (see also Ker, Pastedowns in Oxford Bindings, 1955, pp. 210-11), suggesting a binding date of c. 1581 or before, sewn on 3 thongs, by Dominique Pinart, a French immigrant and the principal Oxford binder of this period, skilfully rebacked; with a letter from Neil R. Ker to a "Mr Edwards" dated 21 March 1964, noting that he had "not found Virgil before in Oxford bindings, save in one insignificant late manuscript" Provenance:1. Most probably written and decorated for English scholarly use around the turn of the thirteenth century, probably in Oxford. Later discarded and reused there for binding material at the close of the Middle Ages.2. Various English owners, with ex libris marks from "Peter ...son" in a sixteenth-century hand on the back pastedown, and another partly erased name dated 1676 on the front pastedown.3. William Charles de Meuron, 7th Earl Fitzwilliam (1872-1943): his armorial bookplate on front pastedown; his library sold in the Wentworth Woodhouse sale at Sotheby's, 27 April 1948, doubtless including this volume.4. Quaritch cat. 664 (1949), no. 289.5. Hodgson, 19 March 1964, lot 254, to "Mr. Edwards", an apparent bookseller.6. Quaritch, London, November 1991.7. Schøyen Collection, London and Oslo, their MS 1395, acquired from Quaritch. Text:The celebrated Roman poet, Vergil (70-19 BC.), wrote the Georgicsc. 29 BC. for Maecenas, the ally and political agent of Octavian, to whom it was reportedly read after his return from defeating Anthony and Cleopatra in 31 BC. The text surveys the field of agriculture, namely raising crops and trees, livestock and horses and beekeeping, set within the context of farming as a noble and senatorial pursuit in Roman society. It enjoyed great popularity and had enormous literary impact from its composition onwards, surviving in numerous fifth- and sixth-century manuscripts as well as an explosion of Carolingian witnesses, these demonstrating serious study and careful correction of the text in eighth- and ninth-century France.To view a video of this item, click here.