1572 51
35. BIBLIA LATINA Paris Vidua Th. Kerver 1549 52
36. PHILO. De divinis decem " C. Stephanus 1554 55
oraculis

MANUSCRIPTS

1. ZENO, JACOPO. Vitae, morum, rerumque gestarum Caroli Zeni libri X.
1458.

Fine white vellum, 192 leaves, in 19 quires of ten leaves each and two
additional leaves at the end, the last of which is blank. Signed on the
lower inner angle of the last page of each quire by a letter (A-T) which
is repeated at the point directly facing it on the first page of the next
quire. Leaves four to seven of the first quire and all of quires three to
eight, a total of sixty-four leaves, have 28 lines to the page, the rest
27 lines. Ruled on one side only with a hard point. Leaf 10-1/2 x 7 in.,
text-page 7 x 3-3/4 in.

Written in regular Italian minuscules of the 15th century, formed on the
models of the 11th and 12th centuries.

The subject of the memoir is the distinguished Venetian Admiral Carlo
Zeno (1334-1418), brother of Nicolo and Antonio, reputed discoverers of
America. His biographer, Jacopo Zeno (1417-1481), Bishop of Feltre and
Belluno, and later of Padua, was his grandson. The work is dedicated to
Pius II. in honor of his recent elevation to the papal throne, and since
this is evidently the dedication copy, the accession of Enea Silvio
Piccolomini in August, 1458, fixes approximately the date of the MS. In
April, 1460, Jacopo Zeno was translated to the see of Padua.

The execution and the decoration of the MS. are in keeping with its
special use. The gratulatory preface occupying ten pages is introduced
by the following heading in letters of burnished gold:

IN LIBROS VITAE MORVM RERVMQ: GESTARVM CAROLI ZENI VENETI. AD PIVM
SECVNDVM PONTIFICEM MAXIMVM. IACOBI FELTRENSIS ET BELLVNENSIS
ANTISTITIS PRAEFATIO: [G]LORIOSA.... The ornamentation of the ten-line
illuminated initial G is of the interlaced style, and a border of
similar pattern surrounds the entire page, enclosing on the front margin
vignettes--a vase, two rabbits and a stork--and at the foot the
Piccolomini arms, supported by kneeling angels and surmounted by the
papal keys and tiara. Each of the ten books has a heading in burnished
gold in which the dedication to Pius II. is repeated, and an initial of
like character to that of the preface, with a marginal ornament. The
occasional marginal subject-headings and the book-number at the top of
e