- Bernardino Baldi "De firmamento et aquis opusculum", 1595
- Extent:
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- 1 v. 28.5 x 20.5 cm (161 folios [4 are blank])
- Date:
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- 1595.
- Language:
- Author:
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- Baldi, Bernardino, 1553-1617
- Abstract:
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- Unpublished and previously unknown treatise by Renaissance humanist Bernardino Baldi, of Urbino, who is best known for his Vite dei matematici (1587-95). The text concerns the second day of creation according to Genesis 1:6 and considers Scriptural accounts in relationship to ancient, medieval, and Renaissance interpretations in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, with quotations in Hebrew, Greek, and Arabic; and includes the author's corrections and textual additions in the margins that in some cases are quite extensive (e.g. fols. 19v, 152r, 160r-161r). The treatise contains the following six sections: (1) fol. 1r, title page; (2) fol. 3r-7v, Bernardino Baldi's dedication to the Jesuit theologian Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621), dated 6 April ("VIII. Id .Apr.") 1595; (3) fols. 8r-9v, list of Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Christian, and other authorities cited; (4) fols. 10r-11r, chapter headings, 1-42; (5) fol. 12r, Hebrew, Greek, and Arabic translations of the Latin "caeli enarrant gloriam Dei et opera manuum eius annunciat firmamentum" [Psalms 18(19):2]; and (6) fols. 13r-161v, De firmamento et aquis opusculum, including the date on fol. 154r ("Kal. Aprilis anno ab incarnatione domini 1595"). Fols. 1v, 2r-v, 12v are blank.
- Description:
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- Two watermarks: a circle divided in half by a vertical line (similar to Briquet, no. 2929, used in Bergamo, 1590; and an acorn in a circle (not similar to any of the watermarks incorporating a gland in Briquet, nos. 7430-7439). Original foliation in brown ink, written in Arabic numbers (1-149) for the main text only, excluding prefatory materials; the entire manuscript was refoliated in pencil (1-162). The paper is unruled but has three equidistant vertical creases to form the writing area and outer margin, which is always on the left side, both for rectos and versos.
- Binding note:
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- Italy, 18th century. Half green-stained calf over binder's board covered in paper that has been painted in faux wood-grain pattern; sewn on five raised bands, separated by gold-tooled bands and fleurons; end bands. Paper flyleaves with a raised hand over the letter B and surmounted by a four-leaf clover or flower. Spine title (gold stamped on red morocco): "BALDI DE FIRMA."
- Provenance:
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- Of unknown early and intermediate provenance. It has an unidentified cardinal's stamp on fol. 3r, and old shelf marks on the front pastedown ("P.11" and "23") and flyleaf ("MS. 632").
- Source acquisition:
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- Purchase, 2006. AM 2006-120.
- View in catalog: