Huck wrote
Michael, do you know of other Trionfi editions "before 1441" beside those, which we have already mentioned (fragments in 1439, 1414 and one "first quarter in 15th century", possibly the not confirmed version in 1418 in Medici hands)?
In his reply, Michael said he didn't know of any, but he gave a list of authors he's referenced over the years. Since I didn't know much about this area, I thought I'd start reading, and keep my eye out for answers to Huck's question.
To answer part of it, as I have already mentioned somewhere, the article "Cosimo and his Books" by A. C. de la Mare (in
Cosimo 'Il Vecchio' de' Medici 1389-1464), gives Cosimo de' Medici's 1418 inventory, with no listing of the Trionfi, just the
Sonnetti (p. 127), which de la Mare says is probably Laur. plat. 41, 10 (CS 12; AL 111), Petrarch,
Canzionere, late 14th or early 15th cent...at least one note in Salutati's hand" ( (p. 150). So it was originally Salutati's.
Some book or other, however, probably one of those Michael mentioned, spoke of a series, "Petrarch Manuscripts in..." and then you name a country. So I ordered
Petrarch Manuscripts in the British Isles, by Nicholas Webb, 1975. After a few weeks, it came today, so I took a look. It's a 500 page book, but it has a good index I found what look like descriptions of seven manuscripts of the
Trionfi in Italy before 1441. Perhaps others can check and see if I'm right. Since I've probably made typographical errors, I'll scan the pages before I check the book back in.
Webb No. 57, p. 219ff: British Museum Additional 16564. Paper (Watermark:
Ciseaux, BRIQUET 3660, att. 1427-35), XVth c.
(1431)." Has the Rime (1r-139v)- and Trionfi (143r-177v), the latter in 12 sections, covering all 6 triumphs. Webb says (I put a dash where he has a little circle; and the emphasis is mine):
ORIGIN. Italian. Except for ff. 167ff-180r, written in a different humanistic cursive script, the text was copied by a scribe who signed f. 1r: "M-CCCC-XXXI a dì III Zenarro in Gaffa in prixone in una tore". (Footnote: Dr. Andre Watson tells me that Caffa is Feodosiya in the Crimea, where there are still the ruins of a Genoese tower; cf. Enciclopedia Italiana, VIIII 255-56.)
OWNERS. A few annotations, mostly later. In the bottom margin of f. 1r, a coat of arms has been sketched in: three tower gules; [footnote: the field, which is circular, is untinctured; the towers stand on mounds, and each has a coat of arms above its door, apparently argent, a cross gules]. to the right is drawn the lion of St. Mark with its paw on an open book. Bought by the British Museum from the bookseller Thomas Rodd, 9 January 1847.
Nice. The Genoese supposedly brought the Black Death from around there, the north shore of the Black Sea. A good place to send a budding Ovid.
Webb No. 111, pp. 290ff. Brit. Mus. Harley 3478. Paper. (watermark: BRIQUET 15865, att. Prato 1427, Pistoia, Fabriano 1430), XVth c.
(1424). Rime and Trionfi, the latter in 13 sections. Other contents: Dante, Canzone and ballate. Webb:
ORIGIN. Italian. small untidy semi-gothic cursive script. After the explicit, f. 163v, the scribe Giuliano Giovenzi da Poggibonsi signed "Scripte et complete per me Iulianum ser Michaelis Iacobi de Iuvenzis de Podio Bonizi sub anno 1424 die primo mensis Aprilis. Gratias agimus qui vivis et regnas in secula seculorum amen. Deo gratias. Amen"; decoration in Florentine style.
OWNERS. Acquired by Robert Harley from the bookseller Nathaniel Noel, 20 January 1721/22.
Prato is 10 mi. NW of Florence, Pistoia another 10 mi. W.
Webb No. 126, pp. 339ff. British Museum King's 321. Parch., XVth c.
(1400). Rime (to 50ra), Trionfi, the latter in 14 sections; also
Nota de Laura on f. 64ra-b, two Epystolae. Webb:
ORIGIN. Venetian: ff. 1-49 were copied by Andrea da Badagio; cf. f. 48rb, "Scrito per mano de Andrea da Badagio in le prison de Venexia 1400"; the remainder in a more markedly humanistic hand, perhaps later.
OWNERS. Joseph Smith, British Copnsul at Venice 1740-1760; sold to King George III in 1765.
So we don't really know when the
Trionfi were added, but given the early date for the Rime, I'd guess before 1441. Webb also describes the historiated inital V on f. 1r, showing "Petrarch, reading, and Laura beside a laurel tree, holding a wreath." Lots of color and conventional foliage on the Rime. "Trionfi initials left blank."
Webb No. 144, p. 338f. Phillipps 9477. Paper (watermarks: Coutelas and Monts, not in BRIQUET), XVth c. (
1426). Rime, then, Antonio da Tempo,
Vita del Petrarca, then Trionfi in 12 sections. Webb:
ORIGIN: Italian; unsteady semi-humanistic script; the date MCCCCXXVI appears at the end of the Life of Petrarch, f. 134v.
OWNERS. Several members of the Minoccio family of Sienna in the XVth and XVth c. ..bought by Sir Thomas Phillipps from the bookseller Thomas Thorpe in 1836.
There is also a description of the lettering: "Red and blue pen initials alternating; red paragrph signs (later, red and blue alternating); in the Trionfi[/i], red and blue calligraphic initials; Rime numbered in ink. "
Webb No. 145, pp. 339ff. Phillipps 18797. Parch., XVth c.
(1427). Trionfi in 13 sections, then Dante, Canzoni, sonetti and other works. Webb:
ORIGIN. Italian; two humanistic hands. The scribe of the Trionfi signed, f. 91r;: "Questi sonno li Trionfi de messer Francescho Petrarca, finiti per ser Gabriele di Francescho da Parma, ora in le Stinche di Firenci a di 10 di magio 1427".
OWNERS. Bought by Sir Thomas Phillipps at the sale of Count Guglielmo Libri's books in 1864; offered for sale in the Phillips sale in June 1919, but remained in the hands ofthe Robinson Trust until 1972; now Florence, Bibl. Laurenziana, Acq. e Doni, 688.
So probably Florentine.
Webb No. 192, p. 412f. Bodleian Library Canonica Ital. 79. Parch.,
XIVth c. (late). Rime, then Trionfi, in 14 sections. Webb:
ORIGIN. Italian; semi-humanistic script. The manuscript is palimpsest, written over various XIVth-c. Latin and Italian texts. (Footnote: Including some accounts and Latin verse. The Table is written over a devotional text.)
OWNERS. The emblem of an owner or notary, f. 1r, with the initials P.I.T.; (3) Matteo Luigi Canonici; his brother Giuseppe; Giovanni Perissinotti; acquired by the Bodleian Library in 1817. (Footnote: many annotations in S XV-SVIth-c. and later hands, including a large nunmber of numerical references in the Rime, perhaps cross-references to another ms.
Webb No. 193. Bodleian Library, Canonici Ital. 80. Paper, (watermarks caught in spine, unidentifiable), XVth c.
(1431). Trionfi in 16 sections. (I don't know, but there may be different versions of the Triumph of Fame.) Then a Table, followed by
Epytaphim Petrarce, a biographical note, and extracts from the Rime. Webb:
ORIGIN. Venetian; two small mercantile cursive hands (footnote: the second begins at f. 44r); the first scribe signed f. 43r: "Finis adi 29 Iujo MIIIIcXXXI in Va" (Footnote: Mortara and Paecht and Alexander (cf. the works mentioned in the bibliography of this ms. ) both read MCCCCXXVI.)
OWNERS. Not known before Iacopo Soranzo; Matteo Luigi Canonici; his brother Giuseppe; Giovanni Perissinotti; acquired by the Bodleian Library in 1817.
f. 44r is immediately after the end of the
Trionfi, at the
Table. The reference to Paecht and Alexander,
Illuminated Manuscripts..., II, 47 no. 457, pl. XLV, might be worth a look.
I have mostly omitted descriptions of the illuminations, except where there was an actual depiction of something. Mostly it's just different colored inks.
So the
Trionfi are clearly in Florence and environs, although not nearly in the quantity we see after 1440. The other significant place is Venice.
Next I'll request the volume in the series on the United States. I'm not sure I can get the rest, for France, Switzerland, Germany, and who knows where else.