Extent: ff. i (modern parchment) + 169 + i (modern parchment).
Overall 360 x 265 mm (writing area 233 x 160 mm).
Layout: 50 written lines per page, below top line; in 2
columns.
Hand: Fine round Italian bookhand.
Decoration: One miniature, at the bottom of which a coat of arms
has been cropped (fol. 5r, lower margin), with a four-sided border
containing the motto and imprese of the patron; nine historiated
initials (fols. 20v, 46r, 64v, 80v, 96v, 105r, 118v, 137v, 148r);
numerous initials in gold and colours; lesser initials (one- to
three-line) alternately in blue with red penwork, or red with
purple penwork.
Binding: Sewn on six cords and bound in wood boards covered with
fine purple velvet; the upper cover stamped in gilt with the Coke
crest, the spine blank; the joints repaired; in a fitted telescopic
leather case also stamped in gilt on the upper cover with the Coke
crest, the spine lettered in gilt 'BOCCACCIO / IL DECAMERON / M.
S.', and '531' at the bottom.
Provenance: Identifiable as the MS. illuminated for Teofilo
Calcagnini (1441-88) of Ferrara, courtier of Borso d'Este, for
which Taddeo Crivelli (fl. 1452-76) was paid in 1467. A three-line
inscription at the end of the text has been erased. The Franciscan
monastery of Santo Spirito in Reggio Emilia, with their ex libris
inscriptions: 'Di. S. Spirito di Reggio' (fols. 1r, 89r). Probably
acquired by Thomas Coke, Earl of Leicester in Italy between 1714
and 1717; signed by 'Thos. Willm. Coke (1754-1842); formerly
Norfolk, Holkham Hall, MS. 531. Acquired by the Bodleian in 1981.
