Collation: Parchment; iii (paper) + 218 (foliated 1-218) + ii; 22 quires of 10 folios each except for the first (9 fols.: 2-10) and the last (8 fols.: 211-218), originally irregular; plus one originally blank front parchment flyleaf (fol. 1); flesh sides out, hair and flesh sides matched; catchwords in the lower margin, verso, of the last folio of each quire. Script: clear and legible Gothic script. Layout: 2 columns, 205 x 60 mm with 13 mm between columns; 47 lines, ruled for column margins (single lines) and text; table of rubrics with double lines for column left margin (for frequent versals and paragraph marks). Decoration: alternating red and blue versals throughout, each with beaded trace work in the contrasting color. Each of the 13 books of genealogies is prefaced with an inverted polychrome tree, in which the names of mythological figures are placed in circles or leaves. Each book begins with a polychrome versal against a black-outlined burnished gold field; colors include various shades of blue... Origin: This manuscript was made for Coluccio Salutati, bibliophile and humanist scholar from Florence. Binding: parchment over boards (from 18th century Rome, per De Ricci). Notes by Coluccio Salutati. 16th-century inscription on fol. 1r: "Die autem 6 Junii M.D.L.XXXVII" with traces of an erased name below. At the top of the same page is written "sub fine XIV." Acquired by Wilfrid M. Voynich of London in 1911 as part of a large collection from an undisclosed seller. According to De Ricci, it had previously belonged to the Jesuits of the Collegio Romano in Rome...
Do you have more information to share with the Holding Institution about this manuscript or would you like to suggest a correction? Contact information is available for member institutions via our member directory.
