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Collection of poems, letters and other items, mostly original and mainly in Italian

 Single Item
MS. Ital. c.77
Held at the Weston Library

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A. Grouping of poems, letters and other items, mostly original and mainly in Italian

  1. (fol. 1-2) Bifolium in a 16th cent. chancery hand. An inner bifolium has been lost. (Fol. 1) ‘Canz. del Molza’ (i.e. Francesco Maria Molza, 1489-1544) beg: Fra le sembianze, onde dilunge haurei. Stanzas 1, 2 and 7 of the poem ed. P.A. Serassi, Francesco Maria Molza, Poesie volgari e latine I, 1747, pp. 118-120. At the bottom of fol. 1 is the contemporary note: ‘Mandatel (a) al M. Luigi. Et mostratel(a) al s(ig)nor Fondulio al quale mi rac(coman)do.’ M. Luigi is perhaps identifiable as Molza’s friend Luigi Priuli of Venice. Fol. 2v is blank, apart from the contemporary note: ‘Canzone del Molza.’
  2. (fol. 3-4) Bifolium. Again at least one inner bifolium is lost: a (fol. 3-3v) 16th century chancery hand: Heading ‘Del Molza’ with addition ‘fatte per il Car(dena)le Farnese’ in a contemporary, less formal, hand (probably a reference to Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, el. 1534), beg: Fra’l bel paese, il cui fiorito seno, Ed. Seassi, loc. cit., pp. 127-128. The last three stanzas (6-8) are missing here; b (fol. 4) written by the hand which annotated the previous item. Sonnet by Claudio Tolomei (d. 1556), here headed ‘Del medesimo’ (i.e. there must have been a preceding item, now missing, also by him) beg: Poi ch’Amarilli sua fugace e bella. Pr. in Scelta di sonetti e canzoni, ed. A. Gobbi, I, Bolognam 1709, p. 359. Fol. 4v is blank.
  3. Single leaf with two sonnets by Benedetto Varchi (1503-1563). 16th cent. chancery hand: i (fol. 5) ‘A M(onsigno)re della Chasa’ beg: Signiore a cui come in lor prop[r]ia e chiara; ii (fol. 5v) beg: Come potro da me se tu non presti. Pr. Benedetto Varchi, Sonetti, Florence, 1555, I, pp. 112, 80. Both sonnets are signed ‘B. Varchi’ at the end.
  4. Giovan Battista Fagiuoli (1660-1742): a (fol. 6) ex-libris dated 2 Oct. 1685 from a ‘Libretto’ of the ‘Composizioni’ of the Jesuit preacher and poet Paolo Antonio Appiani (1639-1706), given to Fagiuoli by the author. He adds notes of occasions in 1684, 1686, and 1700 on which he heard Appiani preaching; b (fol. 7-10, with 18th cent. (?) pagination 479-486) ‘Ill.mosignore Francesco Redi. Capitolo’ beg: Mi pervenne una carta gentilissima, ends (fol. 10): L’anno mille seicento, e poi novanta. 217 lines. The letter-poem of Fagiuoli to Francesco Redi, but coming somewhere between the edition in G.B. Fagiuoli, La Fagiuolaja, Amsterdam, 1729, I, pp. 5-10, and the considerably altered edition in his Rime piacevoli, Lucca, 1733-1745, III, pp. 116-123. Three lines in the MS. (1.136-138) are not found in either edition. Fol. 10v is blank; c (fol. 11) single leaf with i (fol. 11) specification, dated 1707, for four ‘motti ho madrigali’ which ‘il Conti’ has asked Fagiuoli to write, to be exhibited publicly in the ‘Casino di Postoia’ under the protection of ‘S(ua) A(ltezza) Rev(erendissima)’ (i.e. Cardinal Franceso Maria de’ Medici); ii (fol. 11v) drafts of the four requested poems in Fagiuoli’s hand. Their first lines are: Sotto il purpureo manto; Qui Virtù non il vizio; Saggi, se il piè vorrete voi talora; Qui l’unico pensiero; d (fol. 12-17v) ‘Al ser(enissi)mo p(ri)n(ci)pe Franc(es)co M(ari)a di Tosc(an)a’ beg: Nell’uscir voi dalla borsa de’ Papi. Dated at the end: ’30 Giugno 1709’. Autograph draft, heavily corrected, of the poem addressed to the former Cardinal de ‘Medici on the occasion of his marriage, pr. La Fagiuolaja, cit. II, pp. 7-17. The first line cited here is found in the MS. as part of a correction written on fol. 19v. The original first line, subsequently deleted together with the following 11 lines, was: Vostr’Altezza con molta sofferentia.

B. Original letters, documents, etc.

  1. (fol. 18-19) Bifolium containing (fol. 18-18v) autograph note by the antiquarian Pirro Ligorio (1513/1514-1583) on Laestrygones, probably a draft for an entry in his dictionary. On fol. 19v is a later note on Ligorio, in Italian.
  2. (fol. 20) Signed mandate from Cardinal Rodolfo Pio, Papal legate in Rome and protector of the convent of the Convertite in Rome, 26 May 1543, ordering the spicer Lorenzo ‘de Quatrochiis’ to hand over to the convent the money and effects of Caterina Zoppa of Florence, lately deceased. Remains of seal. On the dorse are a receipt dated 6 June 1543 from Giovanni Cepparello ‘camarlingho’ of the convent, and an inventory of the effects, which are mostly clothes.
  3. (fol. 21) Attestation, with his notarial sign, by Gabriel Blandolisius of Narni, public notary and iudex ordinarius of Viterbo, that D. Salustius Honulphus, clericus of Fano and familiarius of the Cardinal of Carpi (Rodolfo Pio), is alive and at present in Viterbo, in the service of the cardinal. Dated Viterbo, 20 July 1551. On the dorse, signed attestation by Cardinal Rodolfo Pio to the authenticity of the notary, dated Viterbo, 22 July 1551, with wafer seal.
  4. (fol. 22-23) Arbitration, signed by I(ohannes) Do(minicus de Cupis), cardinal of Ostia, Rome, 3 July 1551, between Franciscus Pisanus, Cardinal of San Marco and Rev. Nicolaus de Peruschis, doctor of laws, concerning a pension of 100 ducats owed to Nicolaus by the Cardinal from the income of the church at Padua.
  5. (fol. 24-25, with earlier foliation 318-319, half erased) Recognitio et obligation by which the Duke of Nemours, commander of the infantry of the King of France in Italy, releases Tommaso Guadagni from the obligation to pay 2000 gold scudi that he had undertaken on the Duke’s behalf. Signed by the Duke, and by the witnesses Ottavio Fregoso of Verona and Giulio Delligazam[…?] of Parma (initials G.A.). Rome, 9 Sept. 1557.
  6. (fol. 26-27) Original letter, signed, from Marchese Giulio Rangoni to Cardinal (Alessandro) Farnese dated from Zibello (or Gibello), 26 April 1565. Numbered ‘162’ in a later hand on fol. 26.
  7. (fol. 28-33) Original autograph letter from B(ernardino) Cirillo (c. 1500-1575) maestro di casa of Pope Paul V, to the bishop of Terni (Mutius Callinus), dated ‘dalle spedale’ (i.e. the Hospital of S. Spirito, Rome), 6 May 1568.
  8. (fol. 34-35) Original autograph letter from Olimpia Aldobrandini to Contessa Martelli Bandini in Florence. Dated Rome, 25 Dec. 1610. Wafer seal.
  9. (fol. 36-37) Original autograph letter, in French, from Count [Karl Josef von] Batthanyi (1697-1772) to an unnamed ‘Monseigneur’. Dated Vienna, 19 November 1738. Later pagination 811-814.
  10. (fol. 38-39) Original autograph letter in French signed ‘Humboldt’ (i.e. Karl Wilhelm, baron von Humboldt, 1767-1835), to an unnamed correspondent. Dated Frankfurt, 12 May 1816.
  11. (fol. 40-41) Original letter (19th cent.) in French, unsigned and dated simply 16 September. Addressed in Russian to Anastasia Mihailovna, Sčerbinina, née Princess Daštrova, in the town of Novorževo (?). Damaged seal. At the top of fol. 40 is the number ‘4’ (?).
  12. (fol. 42) Original letter in Russian, 19th cent. From ‘Zukovsky’ (i.e. the Russian poet Vasily Andreevich Źukovskij (1783-1852?) to Prince Nikita Grigorevič. Undated. There is a number ‘3’ at the top of the recto.

Several items (A 1a, 4a, b, d; B5, 6) bear annotations in pencil, in an Italian hand or hands probably of the 19th century, which suggest that they once formed part of a collection of autographs.

Dates

  • Creation: 1489-1747

Extent

1 box; 42 folios

Language of Materials

  • Italian
  • Russian

Preferred Citation

Oxford, Bodleian Libraries MS. Ital c.77

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Shelfmark:

MS. Ital. c.77

Collection ID (for staff)

CMD ID 22631

Abstract

Collection of poems, letters and other items, mostly original and mainly in Italian

Biographical / Historical

No biographical information is known.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Bought at Sotheby’s, 30 May 1979, lot 86.

Status
Published
Author
EAD version 2023 by Miranda Scarlata
Date
EAD version 2023
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Bodleian Libraries Repository

Contact:
Weston Library
Broad Street
Oxford OX1 3BG United Kingdom