MS. Bywater 5
Contents
With marginal and interlinear annotations by an early reader.
tr. Leonardo Bruni
preface
Followed (fols. 36r-44v) by Bruni's commentary:
tr. Leonardo Bruni
Prologue
Dedicatory letter to Pope Martin V (pr. H. Baron, Leonardo Bruni Humanistiche-Philosophiche Schriften (Leipzig, 1928), 75.
Text
tr. Leonardo Bruni , preceded by the dedicatory letter to Pope Eugene IV (pr. Baron, op. cit., 70–3); fol. 189r-v ruled, otherwise blank.
Added in another 15th-century hand,they seem to show a mendicant and scholarly interest.
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
Ruled in light drypoint, barely visible except on fol. 189, which has 41 lines in a single column, the single bounding vertical lines extending the full height of the page. 40 lines of text per page.
Hand(s)
Written in a neat semi-cursive hand, with
Decoration
Headings, chapter numbers, running titles, paraphs in red; underlinings, and capitals touched in red, in text 4 and the first few leaves of text 5.
Plain red initials; that on fol. 1r enclosing a repeat design in brown ink.
Binding
Sewn on four(?) cords, and bound in 19th/20th-century three-quarter green leather (faded to brown on the spine) and mottled yellow paper over pasteboards (cf. Ms. Bywater 12); the spine with five false raised bands, lettered in gilt 'ARISTOTELIS | DE ANIMA. | OECONOMICA | ETH. NICOM. | POLITICA.' and 'LATINE | MS. | SAEC. XV.' in the second and fourth compartments; the edges of the leaves coloured yellow.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Written in Germany, and since the added table on fols. 190r-193v extend to the year 1459, the main text was presumably written before this date.
Inscribed with marginal notes throughout, mainly in two 15th/16th-century hands.
Ingram Bywater ; the upper pastedown inscribed in pencil with his Elenchus no: 'By. | 359'.
Bequeathed to the Bodleian by Bywater in 1915; originally allocated the Summary catalogue number 40037, now obsolete, and inscribed on the upper pastedown and fol. 1r with the shelfmark 'Byw. A.5.11', also now obsolete.
Record Sources
Digital Images
Digital Bodleian (1 image from 35mm slides)
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2017-07-01: First online publication.