De temporibus pauli II, liber V, 1425 - 1450

Written in Italy, possibly in Rome, in the second half of the fifteenth century. Early provenance uncertain. It has been conjectured that this is the manuscript once in the Biblioteca Nazionale at Florence described in the inventory of the Magliabecchiana collection (MS XXXVII, 103) written during the second half of the 17th century. This manuscript was subsequently reported as lost in that collection’s 1883 reorganization. The catalogue entry from the Magliabecchiana states: “De temporibus clementissimi pontificis Pauli II Quintum uolumen per Gasparem Veronensem; cod. chart. in-4o, scr. saec. XV, serico rubro tectus. In adversa tituli parte sequentes versus adnotati sunt:

Sunt deleta meis quedam, derosaque chartis: Magnatum imperium, qui sic uoluere, peregi.”

before giving an incipit of the first fifteen lines of the text and a brief description of the content (G. Zippel, ed., Le Vite di Paolo II di Gaspare da Verona e Michele Canensi [L. A. Muratori, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, III, pt. 16] (Città di Castello, 1904) xii.). Gordan MS 19 is written on parchment rather than paper, and lacks the distich opposite the title, but otherwise corresponds to the inventory description. Zippel conjectures that the manuscript was stolen by Guglielmo Libri (xii) who then sold it to Payne; Andrews concurs that Phillipps could have bought it from Payne, although the manuscript was not located in the Payne and Foss catalogues from this period (7-8). Sir Thomas Phillipps’ catalogue (Phillipps n. 6944, in ink on f. 1r) lists this MS under a heading “Ex Bibl. Miscellaneis”, with the notation “(Payne)” and no date (Andrews 7); Phillipps’ sale (London 1935) to E. P. Goldschmidt, Cat. 39 (Dec. 1935), n. 82. Obtained from Maggs by Howard Goodhart (bookplate), and given by him to Phyllis Goodhart Gordan (bookplate) and John Dozier Gordan, Jr.