- Language(s)
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Latin
- Published
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Marche, Italy, 1458 November 22
- Note
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Novella about the miller, Urbinello Pelucchino (or Pelluchino; spelled both ways) and his wife, Margarita, who lived in the Marche. When a young woman wasn't able to grind her flour during the day, Urbinello suggested that she go stay overnight with his wife, Margarita, promising that he would grind her flour during the evening; she went to his house; Margarita gave her dinner and put her to sleep with Margarita's children; then she, Margarita herself, went to sleep in the bed that the young woman was supposed to have occupied. Urbinello arrived and had his way with her, and then returned to the mill, where he recounted his story to various men who were there to grind their flour; they then all went to Urbinello's house and repeated his trick many times. The next morning, Margarita came to the mill, and confessed to Urbinello that she herself had been the person in that bed, not the visiting young woman. The end of the story is missing.
Four leaves in chapter 8 (beginning f. 123) are now bound out of order; the order of the text is: ff. . . . 128,131-132, 130, 129, 133 . . . Tutte le opere di Giovanni Boccaccio, under general editorship of Vittore Branca (Milan: Mondadori, 1964--), in vol. 5.2, Elegia di Madonna Fiammetta, ed. by Carlo Delcorno with the edition of the text on pp. 23 (this copy beginning on p. 24)-189; list of 72 manuscripts on pp. 193-197, plus a 73rd in footnote on pp. 197-198, to which we add the copy sold to Dartmouth College and another to Columbia University by S. Hindman in 2007 and 2015 respectively; the number of copies is now at 75.
Two other manuscripts signed by the same scribe in the same time frame: Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Z123 sup, copied in 1457, containing: Boccaccio, Il Corbaccio; Niccolò Cieco, In laude di Venezia; the short story attributed incorrectly to Boccaccio, L'Urbano; the short story of the Grasso Legnaiuolo. Parma, Biblioteca Palatina, MS Parm. 1437, copied in 1459, containing: Francesco Petrarca, Trionfi.
Explicit: ff. 1-138: "Vive adunque nullo ti po' di questo privare et exemplo etterno alli felici et a misari dimori delle anghosce della tua donna. Laus deo" -- ff. 138v-140v: "et tu intrassi nel letto come uno leone affamato, e abraciassi me e basiassi me come se mai da te piu non fusse stata veduta ne//"
Incipit: ff. 1-138: //la tremante mano alla presente opera et cusi la facciano possente che quale nella mente io ho sentite. ff. 138v-140v: [I]n gia non molto tempo passato in una citta della marcha, la quale per non diminuire fama per nome del presente non voglio nominare, uno molinaio, huomo di bassa conditione ma assai buono et perfetto Cimatore di sacchi di grano et di farina, il cui nome fu Urbinello Pelucchino.
Watermark: Similar to Briquet 8429, "Lettre N": Pisa, 1459, 1462-63.
Shelfmark: MS Western 107.
Decoration: Gold initials for the books, 4-line, on alternating blue grounds with pink infilling, or the reverse, and with white penwork: ff. 1, 22v, 34v, 44, 48, (skipped inadvertently for Book 6 on f. 87), 114, 123v, 135v. Chapter initials, 2-line, in alternating plain red or blue, copied outside the written space, with guide letters clearly visible.
Script: Humanistic cursive; signed by scribe.
Layout: Gatherings of 10 leaves, although missing the first 2 leaves in the first quire, and with some leaves missing at the end of the final quire, now of 6 leaves plus 1. In the script: with teardrop a, with h curled below the line, with f and tall s only slightly below the line; words begin with a round r. 28 long lines, with ruling done via dry point (or perhaps a ruling board) with two parallel vertical rules on either side of the text, and only extending above and below the text by a small amount; there seem to be no horizontal rules.
Incomplete at the end.
Missing the first two leaves.
Manuscript.
Written in central Italy, in the city of Pesaro in the region of the Marche, on the Adriatic coast, northeast of Gubbio (where the scribe is from) by some 70 kilometers (ca. 45 miles). Sporadically throughout the text, and in the note on the back flyleaf ("soliciti"), misspellings regarding what should be a double "l" which point to copying along the valley of the Po river. Acquired in 2015 by Columbia University from Les Enluminures with the generous aid of the B. H. Breslauer Foundation.
- Physical Description
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140 fol. :
paper ;
220 x 133 mm