Great Britain

THE BRITISH ISLES: WEBB

My list of 1440 and earlier, for the British Isles, based on Petrarch Manuscripts in the British Isles, by Nicholas Mann, 1975, was first posted at viewtopic.php?f=11&t=868&p=13562#p13562. I begin with a summary of its documentation, which was prepared by Ross Caldwell on the basis of a detailed list from this source that I had made, which will follow the summary. There are seven manuscripts before 1440. Together with the places they were produced, when known, the manuscripts before 1500 are as follows:

Late 14th: Italy, no specific city identified
1400 Venice
1424 Prato
1426 Siena
1427 Florence
1431 Genoese Crimea
1431 Venice

Then after that date, we have, by my count:

c. 1450: 5 (3 Florentine style, 1 Florentine or Roman, 1 central italy, 1 unclear)
1451-1460: 5 (3 Florence, 1 Naples, 1 Venice)
1461-1470: 9
3rd quarter of century, not in preceding: 19
4th quarter: 14
2nd half, not in preceding: 7

Tentative conclusion: The "spike" in production seems to occur around 1450. But all of this is very tentative, without looking at the books for other countries.

Some illustrations of Petrarchan Triumphs are in manuscripts of other works. Editions of Viris Illustribus from the 1377 and 1388 have the Triumph of Glory, similar to later Triumphs of Fame, as a frontispiece. An edition of the Canzione of 1414 Padua has what appears to be a Triumph of Death or Fame; I discuss it at viewtopic.php?f=11&t=858&p=13428&hilit=Wilkins#p13428. In the same post I discuss a copy of Sonnetti, Triunfi that Avril says is from Padua or Venice of the 1st quarter of the 15th century, assigned to Crostoforo Cortese, active from 1409 to 1440. This seems to be included in Pelegrin's inventory of Petrarch manuscripts in France, which I will report on in relation to France, as I am going by where the manuscript is now located rather than where it originated.

In the following, I have checked Mann's listings against a 2018-2019 website sponsored by the University of Oxford reviewing numerous Italian editions of Petrarch, at https://petrarch.mml.ox.ac.uk/ and added notes accordingly.

MANN'S LIST

Petrarch Manuscripts in the British Isles, by Nicholas Mann, 1975, is a 500 page book, fortunately with a good index. I found what look likes descriptions of seven manuscripts of the Trionfi in Italy before 1441. 

Mann No. 57, p. 219ff: British Museum Additional 16564. Paper (Watermark: Ciseaux, BRIQUET 3660, att. 1427-35), XVth c. (1431)." Has the Rime (1r-139v)- and Trionfi (143r-177v), the latter in 12 sections, covering all 6 triumphs. Mann says (I put a dash where he has a little circle; and the emphasis is mine):

ORIGIN. Italian. Except for ff. 167ff-180r, written in a different humanistic cursive script, the text was copied by a scribe who signed f. 1r: "M-CCCC-XXXI a dì III Zenarro in Gaffa in prixone in una tore". (Footnote: Dr. Andre Watson tells me that Caffa is Feodosiya in the Crimea, where there are still the ruins of a Genoese tower; cf. Enciclopedia Italiana, VIIII 255-56.)

OWNERS. A few annotations, mostly later. In the bottom margin of f. 1r, a coat of arms has been sketched in: three tower gules; [footnote: the field, which is circular, is untinctured; the towers stand on mounds, and each has a coat of arms above its door, apparently argent, a cross gules]. to the right is drawn the lion of St. Mark with its paw on an open book. Bought by the British Museum from the bookseller Thomas Rodd, 9 January 1847.

Nice. The Genoese supposedly brought the Black Death from around there, the north shore of the Black Sea. A good place to send a budding Ovid. (This ms. # not listed on Oxford site.)

Mann No. 111, pp. 290ff. Brit. Mus. Harley 3478. Paper. (watermark: BRIQUET 15865, att. Prato 1427, Pistoia, Fabriano 1430), XVth c. (1424). Rime and Trionfi, the latter in 13 sections. Other contents: Dante, Canzone and ballate. Mann:

ORIGIN. Italian. small untidy semi-gothic cursive script. After the explicit, f. 163v, the scribe Giuliano Giovenzi da Poggibonsi signed "Scripte et complete per me Iulianum ser Michaelis Iacobi de Iuvenzis de Podio Bonizi sub anno 1424 die primo mensis Aprilis. Gratias agimus qui vivis et regnas in secula seculorum amen. Deo gratias. Amen"; decoration in Florentine style.

OWNERS. Acquired by Robert Harley from the bookseller Nathaniel Noel, 20 January 1721/22.

Prato is 10 mi. NW of Florence, Pistoia another 10 mi. W. (Same dating on Oxford site.)

Mann No. 126, pp. 339ff. British Museum King's 321. Parch., XVth c. 1400. Rime (to 50ra), Trionfi, the latter in 14 sections; also Nota de Laura on f. 64ra-b, two Epystolae. Mann:

ORIGIN. Venetian: ff. 1-49 were copied by Andrea da Badagio; cf. f. 48rb, "Scrito per mano de Andrea da Badagio in le prison de Venexia 1400"; the remainder in a more markedly humanistic hand, perhaps later.

OWNERS. Joseph Smith, British Consul at Venice 1740-1760; sold to King George III in 1765.

So we don't really know when the Trionfi were added, but given the early date for the Rime, I'd guess before 1441. Mann also describes the historiated inital V on f. 1r, showing "Petrarch, reading, and Laura beside a laurel tree, holding a wreath." Lots of color and conventional foliage on the Rime. And "Trionfi initials left blank." (The Oxford website does not note any difference in script, defining it all as semi-gothic.)

Mann No. 144, p. 338f. Phillipps 9477. Paper (watermarks: Coutelas and Monts, not in BRIQUET), XVth c. (1426). Rime, then, Antonio da Tempo, Vita del Petrarca, then Trionfi in 12 sections. Mann:

ORIGIN: Italian; unsteady semi-humanistic script; the date MCCCCXXVI appears at the end of the Life of Petrarch, f. 134v.

OWNERS. Several members of the Minoccio family of Siena in the XVth and XVth c. . . . bought by Sir Thomas Phillipps from the bookseller Thomas Thorpe in 1836.

There is also a description of the lettering: "Red and blue pen initials alternating; red paragraph signs (later, red and blue alternating); in the Trionfi[/i], red and blue calligraphic initials; Rime numbered in ink." (The Oxford website says 14th-15th c.)

Mann No. 145, pp. 339ff. Phillipps 18797. Parch., XVth c. (1427). Trionfi in 13 sections, then Dante, Canzoni, sonetti and other works. Webb:

ORIGIN. Italian; two humanistic hands. The scribe of the Trionfi signed, f. 91r;: "Questi sonno li Trionfi de messer Francescho Petrarca, finiti per ser Gabriele di Francescho da Parma, ora in le Stinche di Firenci a di 10 di magio 1427".

OWNERS. Bought by Sir Thomas Phillipps at the sale of Count Guglielmo Libri's books in 1864; offered for sale in the Phillips sale in June 1919, but remained in the hands of the Robinson Trust until 1972; now Florence, Bibl. Laurenziana, Acq. e Doni, 688.

The Stinche is what used to be the town jail in Florence, then used for various things. Even though it is now in Florence, I include it here because Mann lists it. (This ms. # not listed on the Oxford website. Perhaps it is their Phillips 4044, 14th-15th c.)

Mann No. 192, p. 412f. Bodleian Library Canonica Ital. 79. Parch., XIVth c. (late). Rime, then Trionfi, in 14 sections. Mann:

ORIGIN. Italian; semi-humanistic script. The manuscript is palimpsest, written over various XIVth-c. Latin and Italian texts. (Footnote: Including some accounts and Latin verse. The Table is written over a devotional text.)

OWNERS. The emblem of an owner or notary, f. 1r, with the initials P.I.T.; (3) Matteo Luigi Canonici; his brother Giuseppe; Giovanni Perissinotti; acquired by the Bodleian Library in 1817. (Footnote: many annotations in S XV-XVIth-c. and later hands, including a large number of numerical references in the Rime, perhaps cross-references to another ms.

(This ms. is described similarly on the Oxford website.)

Mann No. 193. Bodleian Library, Canonici Ital. 80. Paper, (watermarks caught in spine, unidentifiable), XVth c. (1431). Trionfi in 16 sections. (I don't know why so many; there may be different versions of the Triumph of Fame.) Then a Table, followed by Epytaphim Petrarce, a biographical note, and extracts from the Rime. Webb:

ORIGIN. Venetian; two small mercantile cursive hands (footnote: the second begins at f. 44r); the first scribe signed f. 43r: "Finis adi 29 Iujo MIIIIcXXXI in Va" (Footnote: Mortara and Paecht and Alexander (cf. the works mentioned in the bibliography of this ms.) both read MCCCCXXVI.)

OWNERS. Not known before Iacopo Soranzo; Matteo Luigi Canonici; his brother Giuseppe; Giovanni Perissinotti; acquired by the Bodleian Library in 1817.

f. 44r is immediately after the end of the Trionfi, at the Table. (The reference to Paecht and Alexander, Illuminated Manuscripts .  .., II, 47 no. 457, pl. XLV, might be worth a look.) (Described similarly on Oxford website but without mentioning owners. Says that there there is a historiated initial showing Petrarch sitting and holding his cheek and some annotations.)

I have mostly omitted descriptions of the illuminations, except where there was an actual depiction of something. Mostly it's just different colored inks in various patterns. 

Another source for editions of the Trionfi in Britain is a study by Gemma Guerrini, "I Trionfi del Petrarca," in Scrittura e civiltà 10 (1986) 121-197. It has a long list of where Petrarch manuscripts made in Italy in the 15th century are now located, or last known there. It has no information on what particular cities made them, or when in the 15th century. For present purposes, the list is not all that helpful by itself, but if one looks up the works in the individual library catalogs, there may be more information. There is also information about some of them on the Oxford University project site given earlier, which I have indicated in brackets where listed.

Guerrini 1. University Library, Aberdeen,  679. [Not on Oxford list.]

Guerrini 21 & 22. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, McClean 170 [15th c. on Oxford site], 172. [not listed, but is perhaps their 173, 14th cent.]

Guerrini 147. Hokham Hall, Earl of Leicester Library, 520. [Not on Oxford site.]

Guerrini 156-178. London, British Library: Add. 14818, 16564, 18784, 25487, 26784, 26885, 31843, 31844, 38125; Egerton 1148 [1474-1500 per Oxford site]; Harley 3385, Harley 3411 (1465 per Oxford), Harley 3442, Harley 3478 [1424], Harley 3496, Harley 3517 [15th c.], Harley 3567 [2nd half 15th c., with triumph illus.]. Harley 3990, Harley 4857 [mid-15th c.], Harley 5761 [1475-1500]; King's 321 [c. 1400]; Lansdowne 787 [1465-1470 per Oxford); Stowe 954 [mid-15th c. per Oxford]. [#s not commented on not on Oxford site. Does list Add. 25489, 3rd quarter 15th c.; Harley 3264, 15th c. ]

Guerrini 179. London, Coll. Thompson, XII. [Not on Oxford site.]

Guerrini 180. London, Exeter College, 187. [15th c. per Oxford site.]

Guerrini 181. London, ex-Robinson Trust, Phill. 24083 (now University of California at Los Angeles 170/547, she adds in a footnote). [Not on Oxford site.]

Guerrini 182. London, Robinson Trust, Phill. 9477. [Not on Oxford site.]

Guerrini 183 & 184. London, Victoria and Albert Museum, L.101.1947; For.Beq.486. [not on Oxford site.]

Guerrini 226. Newcastle upon Tyne, University Library: 4. [not on Oxford site.]

Guerrini 233-261. Oxford, Bodleian Library: Add.A. 12 & 15; Bodley 1027; Can. it. 50, 59, 60, 62 [c.1470-80], 64, 65 [1459], 67 [late 15th], 68 [1470-80], 70 [late 15th c. per Oxford site], 71 [1478], 72, 73 [1476], 74, 75, 78 [late 15th], 79 [late 14th], 80 [1431], 83 [late 15th, Trionfi only], 263; Digby 141 [1465]; D'Orville 514 [1450-60], 516; Montagu D32 [1470-80], D33 [3rd quarter], E1; Rawlinson A 430. [If no comments, Oxford site does not have it. It does have as Can. Ital. 23, just Fame 1a and commentary.]

Guerrini 262. Oxford, Merton College: 326. [2nd half 15th c. per Oxford site]

Guerrini 263. Oxford, Taylor Institute: 14. [15th c. per Oxford site.]

Guerrini 419 & 420. London, current whereabouts unknown:  Collection of Major J. R. Abbey, his A.3160 and A.7368. [The second one only is listed on Oxford site.]

 And from Sotheby's auction house, 2009, "Huck" posted the 6 illustrations from a Lombard ms. ca. 1470, https://forum.tarothistory.com/viewtopic.php?p=18076#p18076, probably originally belonging to a member of the Visconti family according to Sotheby's, https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-5260192/?from=searchresults&intObjectID=5260192&sid=b3895d88-9517-4231-b876-78fd2318dc49. It is ex- "Library of Sir Henry Hope Edwardes, Bart., and by descent to the present owner."