Penn in Hand: Selected Manuscripts

[Collection of French poetry] [manuscript].

[Rouen, before 1560]

77 leaves : paper ; 199 x 145 (138 x 95) mm. bound to 207 x 154 mm.

A collection of 16th-century French poetry, including ballades and rondeaux, by Adrien de Saint-Gelais, Anne de Graville, André de la Vigne, Richard de la Porte, and Jean Marot, with additions perhaps by Robert de la Porte, son of original owner Richard de la Porte (Zacour-Hirsch).

Ms. codex.

Title supplied by cataloger (Zacour-Hirsch).

A more detailed description of the contents of Ms. Codex 850 supplied by the staff of bookseller Pierre Berès in 1953 is on file at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

Foliation: Paper, i (modern paper) + 77 + i (modern paper); modern pencil pagination, upper right recto.

Layout: Written in a single column of up to 21 lines; frame-ruled in ink with double verticals.

Decoration: First two poems start with a 2-line initial, one in red and one in blue; thereafter there are spaces and guide letters for initials which were never added. Calendar chart on p. 100.

Binding: 19th-century blind-stamped calf; upper and lower covers detached.

Origin: Written in Rouen in the first half of the 16th century (Zacour-Hirsch); spine date 1523, last date in text 1560 (p. 100, 122).

UPenn Ms. Codex 850.

Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts University of Pennsylvania Ms. Codex 850