Oxford, Bodleian Library D’Orville 60 – Or

Previous descriptions: no. 16938 in Madan (1895, vol. 4, 53); Vendruscolo (1995, 355).

Reproductions: –

Family: e

Siglum: Or

Shelfmark: Oxford, Bodleian Library D’Orville 60

Date: Second half of the 15th century

Format: paper (except for f. II, which is a fragment from a Latin parchment manuscript), 304×228 mm, II + 153 ff.

Material: very good state of conservation.

Binding: not original.

Watermarks: tongs, similar to Piccard Werkzeug & Waffen III 730 (Linz and Naples 1463); two crossed arrows, i.e. Briquet 6278 (Venice 1479); three mountains, similar to Piccard Dreiberg II 255 (Graz and Venice 1461); scales within a circle, i.e. Piccard Waage V 485 (Brescia 1473); a griffin too lightly stamped to clearly see the details.

Scribes: A: ff. 1–112, Georgius TriviziasGeorgius Trivizias (RGK I 73 = II 94 = III 123); B: ff. 113–150, Iohannes RhosusIohannes Rhosus (RGK I 178 = II 237 = III 298). C: this third, unidentified hand integrated the text of the manuscript in several passages in Books 1 and 2.

Annotations: on f. Iv there is an ownership note: Λαυρεντίου τοῦ Λαυρετάνου ἔστι τὸ βιβλίον ‘This book belongs to Lorenzo Loredan’.

1 (ff. 1r‒150r) Pollux, Onomasticon. No title. Incipit: ὦ παῖ πατρὸς ἀγαθοῦ (1.1). Explicit: κόρημα, κιβωτόν, λύχνον, μέλαν, μελανοδόχον, καλάμη (10.192); see Laurentianus plut. 58.3Laur. plut. 58.3 (Lu). It contains all ten books of the work: 1 (ff. 1r–24r), 2 (ff. 24r–42r), 3 (ff. 42r–51r), 4 (51r–64r), 5 (ff. 64v–73v), 6 (ff. 73v–86v), 7 (ff. 86v–99v), 8 (ff. 99v–111v), 9 (ff. 111v–131v), and 10 (ff. 131v–150r).

150v–153v: blank.

The manuscript was copied by Georgius Trivizias (before 1423–1485) and Iohannes Rhosus (mid 15th – 1498), probably in Venice between the years 1480 and 1485 (see Vendruscolo 1995, 355–6) in Venice, where both were priests of the Greek Orthodox community. For this manuscript, the two copyists used at least two sources: one linked to Laurentianus plut. 58.3Laur. plut. 58.3 (Lu) and the other very close to Ambrosianus M 94 sup.Ambr. M 94 sup. (Am). It is possible that they employed Am itself, since at that time it belonged to Giorgio Merlani (who bought it in 1462 from Nardo Aurispa in 1462). Merlani held the chair of poetry and rhetoric in Venice, and both Trivizias and Rhosus worked as scribes for him. The manuscript later belonged to the Venetian patrizio Lorenzo LoredanLorenzo Loredan (1476–1526), whose ownership note can be found on f. Iv. He attended the classes held by Giorgio Valla in Venice, was probably in contact with Angelo Poliziano, and was a member of the Venetian intellectual circles of his time (see Vendruscolo 1995, 341–5). This codex was acquired by Jacques Philippe D’OrvilleJacques Philippe D’Orville (1696–1751) in 1730, along with other manuscripts belonging to Loredan, and purchased by the Bodleian Library in 1804.