Sonetti, capitoli, canzoni, et madrigali di Ms. Pietro Bembo

Item Information

Title:
Sonetti, capitoli, canzoni, et madrigali di Ms. Pietro Bembo
Description:
A collection of poems -- primarily sonnets -- by Pietro Bembo. This manuscript was copied for, or possibly by, one Guglielmo Perlano, of Bibbiena, who dedicates the copy to Girolamo di Taddeo Ducci, of Florence. In Perlano's dedication, he notes that he had met Bembo in person and lauds him as a master of the Tuscan language. In total, the copy contains 78 of Bembo's poems (68 sonnets, 4 capitoli, 4 canzoni, 1 madrigal, and 1 sestina), in addition to two unattributed sonnets.
Creator:
Bembo, Pietro, 1470-1547
Author of introduction, etc.:
Perlano, Guglielmo, active 16th century
Dedicatee:
Girolamo, di Taddeo Ducci, active 16th century
Former owner:
Zuccaro, Nello, active 20th century
Former owner:
Govi, Fabrizio
Former owner:
Gilhofer & Ranschburg (Lucerne, Switzerland)
Date:
[1538–1540]
Format:
Manuscripts
Books
Genre:
Manuscripts, Italian
Manuscripts, Renaissance
Poetry
Autographs
Inscriptions
Blind tooled bindings
Location:
Boston Public Library
Rare Books Department
Collection (local):
Medieval and Early Renaissance Manuscripts (Collection of Distinction)
Places:
Italy > Tuscany (region) > Lucca (province) > Lucca
Extent:
51 leaves : paper ; approximately 170 x 66 (175 x 103) mm, bound to 18 cm (8vo)
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/s7529583d
Terms of Use:
No known copyright restrictions.
No known restrictions on use.
Place of origin:
[Lucca, Italy]
Language:
Italian
Table of Contents:
1. fol. 1r-v: two encrypted notes, the first beginning with date "MDXXXX Alli 5 di Aprile."
2. fol. 2r: first of the two encrypted notes from fol. 1r, repeated.
3. fol. 3r-4r: dedication by Guglielmo Perlano da Bibbiena to Girolamo di Taddeo Ducci Fiorentino, dated "Lucca alli X di Giugno MDXXXVIII."
4. fol. 4v: title ("Sonetti, capitoli, canzoni, et madrigali di Ms. Pietro Bembo") within an inverted triangle.
5. fol. 5r-35r: LXVII [i.e., 68] sonnets, numbered in Roman numerals, with an additional, unnumbered poem: "Mad[rigale] p[rim]o." Sonnet XXXX wrongly numbered XXXIX, XXXXIIII repeated in numbering.
6. fol. 35v-40r: 4 numbered capitoli.
7. fol. 40v-47v: 4 numbered canzoni and 1 sestina.
8. fol. 48r-v: two unattributed sonnets, titled "di M.B." and "Della medesima," both dated MDXXXIX in a different hand than the main text.
9. fol. 49v: later ownership inscription of "Giovanni Cosi."
10. fol. 50v: ownership inscription "Bar Francesco diavaneto pandorfo suo fratelo."
11. fol. 51v: ca. 17th-century ownership inscription "Domenico Torsi."
Notes:
Ms. codex.
Title from caption on fol. 4v; date range from Perlano's dedication and from the date inscribed on fol. 1r; place of production from dedication; some elements of this record transcribed from dealer's description.
Origin: Copied for, or possibly by, one Guglielmo Perlano, of Bibbiena, in Lucca, Italy, on 10 June, 1538. Perlano dedicates the copy to Girolamo di Taddeo Ducci, of Florence.
Notes (ownership):
Provenance: Pen trials, notes, inscriptions, and autographs at front and back. These include an early/contemporary note on front pastedown: "Questo libro a facto Pietrantognio Muti da Bibbiena." Two encrypted notes at front dated 5 April, 1540. In lower margin of fol. 4v: "S. Ant. Corsetti." On fol. 49v, later inscription by Giovanni Cosi[?]. On fol. 50v: "Bar Francesco diavaneto Pandorfo suo fratelo." On 51v: ca. 17th-century ownership inscription of Domenico Torsi. The present manuscript was purchased in Arezzo in early 1938 by Nello Zuccaro, who describes it in a letter to Pietro Pancrazi -- see: Croce, Elena, ed. Caro Senatore: Benedetto Croce - Pietro Pancrazi, Epistolario, 1913-1952 (Florence: Passigli, 1989), p. 81. Pencil note from an Italian dealer or auctioneer on fol. 1r: "No. 72, 1938/₤.300.000." Later passed to Gilhofer & Ranschburg (Lucerne, Switzerland).
Notes (acquisition):
Immediate source of acquisition: Purchased from Govi Rare Books, New York, in June, 2022.
Purchase; Govi Rare Books; 20220609; 2022.39.
Notes (date):
This date is inferred.
Notes (object):
Collation: Paper, with watermark showing a paschal lamb inside a circle with a diameter of 40 mm, similar, but not identical to, Briquet 50 ; fol. 51 ; 1² 2⁸⁻¹ 3⁶ 4-7⁸ 8⁴ ; leaves unsigned, foliated in modern pencil in upper-outer margins, these numbers used here for reference.
Layout: Single column, 17 lines per page. Writing area, unruled, of approximately 170 x 66 mm.
Script: Written in a humanist cursive in brown ink.
Binding: Bound in contemporary blind tooled goatskin. Holes for ties on edges of both covers.
Notes (language):
In Italian.
Identifier:
06_01_018589
Call #:
RARE BKS MS q Med.286
Barcode:
39999090806942