De bello civili sive pharsalia, 1469

The first leaf of the text is a 17th century facsimile, the script similar to the original. It begins with a 6-line dark-red ink initial enclosed in a red frame which bears no resemblance to the later initials; on f. 39 a triangular repair written by this same scribe is glued to the original, replacing up to 15 lines of text. The final leaf has been mounted, concealing several lines of text on the verso.

Paper support (watermarks: unidentified, perhaps an unusual crown), ff. iii (contemporary paper) + 140 + i (contemporary paper).

19th century brown quarter-calf over lighter brown paper boards. Spine blind tooled. On parchment label on spine in ink: “M. A/ LUCANUS/ COD. MSC./ ITAL./ D 1469”; on small paper label in ink: “Ms.#35”.

293 x 200 (183 x 109) mm.

Written in 29 lines, ruled with double vertical bounding lines full length on the left and a single vertical bounding line on the right on both the recto and verso in ink (Derolez 13.21). Prickings visible in the outer margins.

Humanistic script, written by a single scribe.

The text is illustrated with three “Topographia”: stylized diagrams of the geography discussed in the poem--the city of Brundusium; the location of battles in Greece; and Asia, Europe and Africa on ff. 23v, 73,r and 118v respectively. These diagrams are very finely drawn in dark brown and red ink with a light brown wash. Each book of the poem begins with an illuminated initial, alternating between blue ink on a ground of decorative red ink penwork highlighted by a brown wash, or red ink on a purple ink penwork ground also washed with brown; on f. 67r, the blue initial is on a purple penwork ground. The initials vary in size from 9-line on f. 13r to 5-line for some of the later books. Chapter headings are in red. Later hands have enthusiastically decorated this text. The upper margin of f. 53v shows a castle, in the same reds and browns as the diagrams, but rendered by a less skilled hand. Other hands have augmented many of the initials with heads of men and women, beasts, etc.; some are finely rendered with color and wash, others much more crudely done.

Modern foliation.