Extent: 10 leaves : paper ; 215 x 154 (142 x 67) mm bound to 215 x 155 mm
Note:
Title from the opening rubric of the preface on folio 1r: "Prefacio in opusculum de formandis epistolis." Manuscript gathering Collation: 10 (paper): 1¹⁰. Foliation: Modern foliation in pencil in lower right corner (1-10). Watermarks: Single watermark in the textblock: a crown with pearls surmounted by a cross (very similar to WZIS DE4860-Arist_17_5_F3). Layout: Written in one to three columns of 14-41 lines (ruled 14 long lines), with several interlinear and marginal additions, usually below topline. Ruled in drypoint, with double horizontal and full-length double vertical bounding lines. Script: Written by a single hand in Gothica textualis and Gothic cursive. Decoration: Initials highlighted and phrases underlined in red on folios 1v-2r and 3v-4r; space left for initial B on folio 3r. Binding: Modern. Bound in a thin sheet of blue paper. Edges of the cover discolored and brittle. Origin: Probably written in Germany in the first quarter of the sixteenth century. Shelfmark: Lawrence, University of Kansas, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, MS C283 In good condition despite missing leaves. Fore-edge trimmed, with some loss of text. Minor water damage on the fore-edge and some staining on the head in the second half of the manuscript. There are eighteen chapters listed in the table of contents on folio 3r. The chapters are not numbered throughout the text; however, based on the titles of chapters, it seems like Chapter 8 was omitted and the text breaks off in the middle of the first sentence of Chapter 11. The rest of the text is missing. The dimensions provided for the written area are for the ruled area; the text often spreads out on to the entire page. Early history of the manuscript is unknown. Inscription in ink in the lower margin of the front cover: "1700." Note in pencil on the upper half of the inside of the front cover, probably by John Siedzik, an associate of Joseph Rubinstein and a former librarian at the University of Kansas: "# 748 / USXCS / 10 ff. / Opusculum de formandis epistolis / Italy (northern) or Germany? / ca. late 15th...
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