Penn in Hand: Selected Manuscripts

Boethius, -524.

[De institutione musica] [manuscript].

[France, ca. 1490]

52 leaves : paper, col. ill. ; 281 x 204 (206 x 142) mm. bound to 291 x 211 mm.

15th-century copy of a Latin treatise on the Pythagorean-based theory of ancient Greek music, in which the text reflects an older (10th-century) tradition and the numerous diagrams related to ratio and pitch demonstrate later developments in the tradition.

Title supplied by cataloger.

Collation: Paper, 52; 1¹²(missing first 2 leaves) 2-4¹⁰ 5⁸ 6⁴; [1-52]; modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto.

Layout: Written in 2 columns of 39-41 lines; ruled in lead, with little of the ruling now visible.

Script: Written in semi-humanistic script.

Decoration: Diagrams and tables throughout in various combinations of red, blue, and brown ink; 2-line initials and paragraph marks in red or blue; headings, roman numerals in text, and a few marginal notes in red; capitals touched with red.

Watermark: Similar to Briquet, Soleil, 13977 (Fleurus and Namur, 1487-1491) and 13979 (variants made in France and used in France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and the Rhineland, 1512-1540).

Binding: Early 18th-century (?) parchment over pasteboard with parchment-cord clasps and pastedowns and endleaves with the watermark S. Bartolomeo Delle Fabbriche; Boeci De Music Ms. written on spine in ink.

Origin: Written in France, ca. 1490.

LJS 47

Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts University of Pennsylvania LJS 47