FROM NICCOLO NICCOLI LIBRARY

MS 1571/1
Description MS in Greek (text 1) and Latin (text 2) on vellum, Caesarea?, Turkey, ca. 1100 (text 1), and Firenze, Italy, mid 15th c. (text 2), 1 f., 30x21 cm, text 1: 2 columns, (25x17 cm), 35 lines in Greek minuscule, 3 line red initial, headpiece decorated with knotwork; text 2: single column, (7x8 cm), 8 lines in humanistic book script by the librarian of S. Marco library, Firenze.
Context F. 113 of the otherwise lost exemplar of Firenze: Bibl. Nazionale conv. Sopp. J. VI. 6, that was partly written by Niccolò de Niccoli after Ambrogio's dictation of the translation from Greek of the exemplar to Latin in 1429-32, made for Niccoli's own library. (Ullman 8, A.C. de la Mare, 9.)
Provenance 1. Niccolò Niccoli, Firenze (-1437); 2. Trust of 16 friends of Niccoli, Firenze (1437-1441); 3. Cosimo de' Medici (1441); 4. Dominican Convent of S. Marco, Firenze (1441-); 5. Payne & Foss, London (1833); 6. Mark Lansburgh, Santa Barbara, California, deposited at Dartmouth College, Hannover, North Dakota (-1992); 7. Jörn Günther, Hamburg. 8. De-accessioned Sotheby's 10.7.2012:4
Commentary Niccolò di Bartolomeo Niccoli (1364/5-1437) protohumanist together with Salutati and Poggio, "the common parent of all scholars" (Poggio), also famous, however, for his magnificent library, notable for the rarity and quality of the texts it contained (A.C. de la Mare). Several of his books contain similar inscriptions as text 2 by the librarian of S. Marco. All the other books of Niccoli's library are now divided between Bibl. Nazionale and Laurenziana.
Exhibited Oslo Katedralskole 850 år, Jubileumsutstilling 10. - 14. March 2003.
Place of origin Turkey
Dates ca 1100 AD