PETRARCH: EPISTOLAE SENILES

MS 1954
MS Short Title PETRARCH: EPISTOLAE SENILES
Text FRANCESCO PETRARCA: EPISTOLAE SENILES, BOOKS IX-XVII
Description MS in Latin on vellum, Padua(?), Italy, late 14th c., 100 ff. (-10), 34x24 cm, 2 columns (23x15 cm), 40 lines in a Bolognese rotunda Gothic book script of medium quality, 1-line blue initials throughout, 3-line blue initials flourished in red introducing sub-sections, 8 illuminated 7-line initials in full colours and gold with marginal leafy sprays and spangles by a Paduan artist.
Binding
Context
Provenance 1. J.J. Middleton, England (mid 19th c.); 2. Sotheby's 13.11.1933:14; 3. P.M. Barnard, Tunbridge Wells (1933-34); 4. Eric Fitzhardinge, Kurrajong Heights, New South Wales, Australia (1934-1994); 5. Quaritch Cat. 1200 (1994):44.
Commentary The present volume was written within or very close to Petrarch's lifetime. The letters of old age was one of Petrarch's last projects. The present MS contains 66 letters including the two most famous letters to Boccaccio. Very few MSS of the text have survived.
Published Speculum, XL, April 1965, pp. 323-25: K.V. Sinclair, A new fragment of Petrarch's Epistolae seniles.
Exhibited
Mentioned
Boxing
See also
Place of origin Italy
Dates late 14c AD