A catalogue of Western manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries and selected Oxford colleges

MS. Add. C. 135

Summary Catalogue no.: 24774

Contents

Virgil, Aeneid
Rubric: Publij Virgilij Maronis Æneidos liber primus incipit

With arguments and a few glosses

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
ii (paper) + 127 + ii (paper) leaves
Dimensions (binding): 295 × 215 × 45 mm.
Dimensions (leaf): 290 × 203 mm.
Foliation: Modern pencil foliation.

Collation

1–4(10); 5(8); 6–11(10)

Layout

211 × 75–100 mm.

Hand(s)

One hand, southern textualis, in a dark brown ink.

Decoration

Historiated initials in blue, red, gold, and brown of between eight and sixteen lines in height, containing half-figures and busts of men in hoods and hats (apparently representing key characters in each book). Found at the beginnings of books on fols. 1r, 11r, 21r, 30r, 39r, 50r, 61v, 72r, 81v, 92r, 103v and 114r. Considerable smudging of red.

Flourished initials in red and blue of two lines in height with gold marginal notae marking book summaries and divisions. Found on fols. 1r, 10v, 11v, 13v, 18r, 19v, 20v, 22v, 23v, 27r, 28r, 30r, 31v, 32v, 33r, 34r, 38r, 39r, 40v, 46v, 50r, 52r, 53r, 61v, 62r, 67v, 69r, 69v, 72r, 81v, 87r, 92r, 103v, and 114r.

Rubrication throughout.

Additions: Additions by four or more annotators.

Binding

Pink silk ribbon attached to binding.

History

Origin: 14th century, end ; Italy, Venice

Provenance and Acquisition

'Iste Virgilius est mej Benedictj Iustinianj fillij dominj Laurencij Iustiniani', 'qui morat in ora sanctj Stephanj Murtanj' (15th century)

'Iste liber est mej Bernardi Iustiniani fillij dominj Leonardj Iustiniani qui morat in ora Sancti Fantinj' (15th century). The Giustiniani were a Venetian family

The prices of 10, 20, and 23 ducats are mentioned

In the Duke of Sussex's library 'vi. S. e. 10', with his armorial bookplate, and no. 502 in part 2 of the sale of that library in 1844

Purchased by the Bodleian at Sotheby's on 5 April 1859 from the collection of Guillaume Libri. No. 1050 in the sale catalogue

Record Sources

Description adapted (May 2025) by Stewart J. Brookes from the Summary Catalogue (1905)

2025-06-05: Additional data collected by Abigail Sleep and Lilirose Kent as part of the 'Big Data' and Medieval Manuscripts workshop held at the Bodleian Libraries, Oxford on 5th June 2025. Data encoded in TEI-XML by Sebastian Dows-Miller on 9th June 2025.

Bibliography

    MSS. Add., handwritten catalogue by F. Madan [Weston Library, shelved at R. 6. 58]

Last Substantive Revision

2025-06-05: Additional data collected by Abigail Sleep and Lilirose Kent as part of the 'Big Data' and Medieval Manuscripts workshop held at the Bodleian Libraries, Oxford on 5th June 2025. Data encoded in TEI-XML by Sebastian Dows-Miller on 9th June 2025.