Title from spine (added later): "Cicero Rhetorica Ms Saec XIV" Manuscript codex Collation: ii (parchment) + 82 (parchment) + ii (parchment): 1-810 + 92. Foliation: Two sets of modern foliation in pencil: in lower left corner (2-84; begins with 2 on folio 1r and ends on first back flyleaf) and in upper right corner (1-82). The description follows the modern foliation in pencil in upper right corner. Catchwords: Horizontal catchwords at center on folios 10v, 20v, 30v, 40v, 50v, 60v, 70v, 80v. Layout: Written in 23 long lines, below top line. Ruled in light brown/red ink, with inner and outer vertical bounding lines in lead. Script: Written by a single hand in Gothic rotunda. Decoration: A 5-line foliate initial E with a three-quarter foliate border on folio 1r; 1- to 3-line initials in red with red penwork, blue with red penwork, plain red or plain blue; paragraph marks in alternating red and blue; empty shield on folio 1r; space left for decoration on folio 12v. Binding: Modern. Bound in 1931 by Douglas Cockerell & Son for Charles Stephen Ascherson. Debossed binder's name in middle of tail edge of inside back cover: "D. C. & Son 1931." Bound in full brown leather with two concentric gold- and blind-tooled frames and a circle in middle. Five raised bands. Green endbands. Parchment doublures on inside covers are lifting. Origin: Probably written in Italy in the early fifteenth century. Former shelfmark: MS BK Z17 Shelfmark: Lawrence, University of Kansas, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, MS E17 In good condition except for some minor water damage on the fore-edge, especially in the last three quires. The beginnings of books are signaled by a later hand in upper margins ("liber secu[n]dus" on folios 12v and 13r; "lib[er] [tertius]" on folios 33v and 34r; "lib[er] [quartus]" on folio 48r). Very few contemporary corrections, possibly by the scribe themself. Early history of the manuscript is unknown. From the collection of Charles Stephen Ascherson: his bookplate pasted on inside of front cover, reading "Ex Libris C. S. Ascherson" in capital letters. The manuscript was purchased by Ascherson at the 1931 Sotheby's sale: purchase recorded on upper part of bookplate in pencil: "Sotheby London [?] 17.2.1931." The manuscript was later offered for sale...
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