Manchester. The John Rylands Library, Latin MS 53
- Source
- Manchester Digital Collections
- Library
- The John Rylands Library
- Shelfmark
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- Latin MS 53
- Biblissima authority file
- Language
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- Latin
- Title
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- Astronomia
- Agent
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- Preferred form
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- Cristiano Proliano
- Role
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- Author
- Original form
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- Prolianus, Christianus, 15th century
- Christianus Prolianus (fl. 1477), Tuscan humanist
- Biblissima authority file
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- Preferred form
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- Gioacchino di Giovanni de Gigantibus (14..-14..)
- Original form
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- Gigantibus de Rottenburg, Gioacchino de, 1453-1485
- Gioacchino di Gigantibus de Rottenburg (fl. c. 1453-1485), illuminator
- Other form
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- Gioacchimo de Gigantibus
- Gioacchino de Gigantibus
- Gigantibus, Gioacchino di Giovanni de (14..-14..)
- Gioacchino di Giovanni de Gigantibus
- Gioacchino, di Gigantibus de Rottenburg, fl. 1453-1485
- Gioacchino de Gigantibus (?)
- Gioacchino di Gigantibus de Rottenburg, fl. 1453-1485
- Gioacchino di Giovanni
- Gioacchino di Giovanni di Gigantibus
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- Biblissima portal
- Biblissima authority file
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- Preferred form
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- James Ludovic Lindsay (comte de Crawford, 1847-1913)
- Role
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- Former owner
- Original form
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- James Ludovic Lindsay (b. 1847, d. 1913), 26th Earl of Crawford
- Lindsay, James Ludovic, 1847-1913
- Other form
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- Lindsay, James Ludovic, Earl (1847-1913)
- James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford
- Lindsay, James Ludovic (1847-1913)
- James Ludovic Lindsay (b. 1847, d. 1913), peer and collector
- James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford, 1847-1913
- Crawford, James Ludovic Lindsay, Earl of, 1847-1913
- James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford 1847-1913
- James Ludovic Lindsay, 1847-1913, 26th Earl of Crawford
- James Ludovic Lindsay 1847-1913, 26th Earl of Crawford
- Lindsay, James Ludovic, 1847-1913, 26th Earl of Crawford
- James Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford of Haigh Hall
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- Preferred form
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- Bernard Quaritch (1819-1899)
- Role
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- Former owner
- Original form
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- Bernard Quaritch (b. 1819, d. 1899), bookseller and publisher
- Quaritch, Bernard, 1819-1899
- Other form
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- Quaritch, Bernard (1819-1899)
- Bernard Quaritch
- Bernard Quaritch, 1819-1899
- Bernard Quaritch 1819-1899
- Bernard Quaritch, Limited
- Bernard Quaritch (1819-1899), bookseller and publisher
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- Biblissima portal
- Biblissima authority file
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- Description
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- Extent:
ff. 79 (i+77+i) Leaf height: 212 mm, width: 140 mm.
Binding:
Modern blue morocco
Decoration:
Probably illuminated at the workshop of Gioacchino di Gigantibus de Rottenburg (fl. c. 1453-1485), illuminator.
White branch-work on red, blue, green grounds. Birds (green parrots commonly), animals (hares), and occasionally genii are inserted. A distinguishing feature is that all borders are framed in straight bands of gold. Full, or almost full, borders occur on folio 1r Shield, supported by genii, on lower border, surmounted by a crown. Quarterly, 1 and 4, in three parts: (1) barry of eight gu. and arg.; (2) azure, three fleurs-de-lys or; (3) argo (?), a Jerusalem cross or; 2 and 4, paly of gules and or ? Naples and Sicily.
Folios 4r, 24r, 40r and 47r: partial borders to each chapter.
Part 1 has at the ends of chapters four spheres, each showing an element.
Folio 12r: a sphere of dark rocks (earth).
Folio 15v: green water and rocks (water).
Folio 19r: concentric zones of blue and green, with brown centre (air, water, earth).
Folio 23v: the same, with an outer zone of red added, for fire.
In the margins of folios 24r-25r: geometrical figures.
Acquisition:
Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands in 1901 from James Ludovic Lindsay (b. 1847, d. 1913), 26th Earl of Crawford. Bequeathed by Rylands to the John Rylands Library in 1908.
Layout:
1 column, 24 lines to a page
Collation:
Quires 1-710
Quire 88, wants 8
Script:
Written in humanist by a single scribe.
Data Source(s):
Description based on M.R. James, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Latin Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library at Manchester (Manchester, 1921), reprinted with an introduction and additional notes and corrections by F. Taylor (München, 1980), revised and expanded by Joanne Edge.
Subject(s):
Astronomy
Abstract:
Christianus Prolianus's Astronomia, produced c. 1470-1480. Decorated and probably copied and illuminated by Joachinus de Gigantibus de Rottenburg, a German illumninator, at Naples.
Format:
Codex
Material:
Parchment.
Provenance:
In a letter to James Ludovic Lindsay (b. 1847, d. 1913), 26th Earl of Crawford of 6 July 1894 Lord Balcarres wrote: 'William Morris (b. 1839, d. 1896), textile designer, poet, novelist, translator, and socialist activist deeply lamented to me that he had ever parted with the Prolianus, now in our hands, which he bought some years ago from Bernard Quaritch (b. 1819, d. 1899), bookseller and publisher for something like £20. As Morris said, the volume would have fetched 300£ or 400£ had it been in this [i.e. the Fountaine] Sale' (CLL, July-Sept. 1894, no. 259).
Ellis and White sold this manuscript to James Ludovic Lindsay (b. 1847, d. 1913), 26th Earl of Crawford for £42 (inner front cover).
- Extent:
- Rights
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- Provided by The University of Manchester. Zooming image © University of Manchester Library, All rights reserved. Images and Metadata made available for download are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). Images and Metadata made available for download are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
