MS. Douce 367
Summary Catalogue no.: 21942
Johannes Platterberger and Dietrich Truchseß, Excerpta chronicarum, part I; Germany (?Nuremberg), 15th century, second half (after 1459)
Contents
Table of chapters
The numbering of chapters is a single sequence, I–Clxxxvij, divided into Five Ages by coloured initials, and with additional initials at ‘Von der vorrede Troya .lxix.’ and ‘Von kning Allexandro dem grossen … C.liij.’
Fol. 6v ruled, fol. 7r–v blank.
Prologue
Sources are indicated in red: Ysidorus, Plinius, Lucidario, Scolastica Historia, Augustinus, Orosius, Crisostomus, Origenes, Yosephus/Josephus, Methodius, Solinus, et al.
The Five Ages begin at fols. i verso, viii verso, xxiii recto, cii recto, and cxxx recto.
Fol. Clxxxviij verso ruled, the next three leaves blank except for foliation.
This was presumably the first of a two-volume set. On the text see Deutsches Literatur-Lexikon: Das Mittelalter, iii: Reiseberichte und Geschichtsdichtung, ed. by W. Achnitz (Berlin, 2012), cols. 732–36; and Geschichtsquellen des deutschen Mittelalters
Alphabetical index of names
From Adam, Abel, and Arphaxat, to Zabulon, Zozoastres and Zeno.
Lineages of the sons of Noah
The versos blank except for ruling, the following two leaves blank.
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
Frame-ruled in plummet for two columns of about 52 lines. Column dimensions 280-5 × 180 mm.
Hand(s)
Hybrida (with several cursive forms) by one hand.
Decoration
One 10-line initial parti-coloured in blue and red, with four reserved dragon designs drawn in ink, interstices and marginals extensions of purple-red penwork, at the beginning of the First Age (fol. i recto)
One 9-line puzzle initial in red and blue with purple-red penwork including a human head in profile, at the beginning of the Fourth Age (fol. Cij recto).
One 7-line initial in blue with purple-red penwork including a human head in profile, at the beginning of the Fifth Age (fol. Cxxx recto).
2- and 3-line initials throughout, alternately red or blue.
A space was left on fol. ix verso for a map, never added.
Binding
15th-century cuir ciselé. Sewn on four double bands laced into wood boards, covered with polished brown leather with cut designs against stippled backgrounds, the front cover with a central panel depicting a man and woman (a marriage proposal?) based on an engraving by Master E.S., approached by a jester(?) with pointed hat and shoes; below them one young man instructing or rebuking another, set against a background of scrolling foliage, and surrounded by panels of foliage and hybrid creatures; the back cover with, in the centre, a man-headed griffon-like creature above a lion, surrounded by foliate panels; each cover with four brass corner pieces, a centre-piece missing from the back cover; metal clasp fittings (the straps missing).
F. A. Schmidt-Künsemüller, Corpus der gotischen Lederschnitteinbände aus dem deutschen Sprachgebiet, Denkmäler der Buchkunst, 4 (Stuttgart, 1980), p. 39 no. 234; L. Ubl, ‘Bodleian Library, MS. Douce 367: Von Kupferstichen und Einbänden – Die Excerpta Chronicarum’, Oxford German Studies, 46 (2017), 241–47.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
1459 is the date of the text, not necessarily of this copy ( pace Watson).
Unidentified acquisition(?) note in ink, ‘S(?) 19. 8 ctbr(?) 94’ (i.e. 19 October [17]94?) (front pastedown, lower left corner)
Unidentified bookseller, with his pencilled price-code ‘nm/u’ above ‘D’ (back pastedown).
Francis Douce, 1757–1834, with his bookplate (front pastedown).
Bequeathed to the Bodleian in 1834.
Record Sources
Digital Images
Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)
Digital Bodleian (2 images of binding from 35mm slides)
Bibliography
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2021-06-29: Description fully revised for Polonsky German digitization project.