Marcianus graecus Z 493 (= 885) – Xb

Previous descriptions: Mioni (1985, 303‒4).

Reproductions: –

Family: x

Siglum: Xb

Shelfmark: Marcianus graecus Z 493

Date: Middle of the 15th century

Format: parchment, 240×150 mm, I + 448 ff.

Material: the parchment is in a very good condition. The manuscript is rich and quite elegant, some initial letters are illuminated.

Binding: not original.

Watermarks: –

Scribes: a single scribe wrote the entire manuscript.

Annotations: on f. 1r BessarionBessarion (RGK I 41 = II 61 = III 77) wrote his ownership note: Βησσαρίωνος καρδινάλεως τοῦ τῶν Τούσκλων B(essarionis) car(dinalis) Tusculanii.

1 (ff. 1r‒444r) Pollux, Onomasticon. Title: Πολυδεύκους ὀνομαστικὸν βιβλίον πρῶτον. Incipit: ὦ παῖ πατρὸς ἀγαθοῦ (1.1). Explicit: κόρημα, κιβωτόν, λύχνον (10.192). Contains books 1 (ff. 1r‒62v), 2 (ff. 63r‒116v), 3 (ff. 117r‒150v), 4 (ff. 151r‒201v), 5 (ff. 201v‒245r), 6 (ff. 245r‒295v), 7 (295v‒347v), 8 (348r‒379v), 9 (ff. 379v‒412r), and 10 (ff. 412r‒444r).

ff. 444v‒448v: blank.

This manuscript was copied in the first half of the 15th century. As it is on parchment, there are no watermarks. According to the errors and alternative formulations, Xb is probably derived from Vaticanus graecus 8Vat. gr. 8 (Xa) or from an apographon of it, so it may be dated more precisely to the second quarter of the 15th century or slightly later. It was part of BessarionBessarion’s library, as declared by the autograph notes on f. 1r, and was donated with his entire collection to the Republic of Venice in 1468 (see M. Zorzi 1987). Xb can be identified with the ‘Polucis elegantiae in pergamenis’ present in the 1474 inventory (trunk B, number 31), see Labowsky (1979, 193).