Collection of mostly late antique texts, many illustrated, on
geography and the administration of the late Roman Empire, almost
all copied in 1436 from a Carolingian volume then preserved in the
cathedral library of Speyer (now destroyed), itself deriving from a
late antique original. Produced at Basel, Switzerland; miniatures
by a French artist, script and initials by an Italian, perhaps
Paduan scribe.
Extent: ff. 173. 273 x 195 mm. Written area 185-90 x c. 130 mm.
Layout: 2 columns, 29 lines.
Hand: Humanistic script. The same scribe also copied a Terence at
Basel in 1436, perhaps also for Pietro Donato (MS. Vat. Ottob. lat.
1368), with miniatures also by Peronet Lamy. Fols. 172v-173 written
by Cyriaco d'Ancona.
Decoration: Important miniatures, after a Carolingian copy of a
late antique MS., by Peronet Lamy. Fine initials. (P&A i. 666
and ii. 599, pls. LII and LVI).
Provenance: Copied for Pietro Donato, at the council of Basel,
1436. No. 209 in the inventory of Donato's books. His annotations
throughout the volume. Jacopo Soranzo, -1761. Matteo Luigi
Canonici, 1727-1805. Giuseppe Canonici, -1807.
