De officiis
Contains digital mediaDetails
Type of record: Archive
Title: De officiis
Classmark: BC MS 21
Creator(s): Cicero, Marcus Tullius(Author)
Publication city: [England ?]
Date(s): [12th century]
Language: Latin
Size and medium: 1 v. (ii, 41, ii leaves) (1 column, ca. 31 lines; ruled in hard point, except ff. 39r-41r in lead)
Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/372714
Collection group(s): Medieval Manuscripts
Description
Ff. 39-41 were written by a later, possibly 14th-century, hand. Annotations throughout the manuscript are written in three different hands.
Decoration: a 2-line initial in red begins the first book (f. 1r), a 3-line pen-ornament initial in the brown ink of the text begins the second book (f. 21r), and a 5-line pen-ornament initial on a yellow ground and decorated in red begins the third book (f. 26r).
Written in English (?) protogothic book script.
From the library of Lord Brotherton.
See for a fuller description: N. R. Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries, vol. 3 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983) p. 57. See also: R. H. Martin, "A Twelfth-century Manuscript of Cicero's De Officiis", in Classical Quarterly, N. S. I (1951), pp. 35-38; and J. A. Symington, The Brotherton Collection: a Catalogue of Ancient Manuscripts and Early Printed Books Collected by Edward Allen Baron Brotherton of Wakefield (Leeds, 1931), pp. xvi, 3.
Features
Bindings
Bound in brown leather by Cockerell and Son in 1954.
Provenance
In Italy in the 15th century, but the earlier theory that it was produced there has been recently questioned. Probably belonged to the bibliophile Dr Anthony Askew (1722-72). After Askew's death, the manuscript was apparently sold in lot 442, 7 Mar. 1785, to Mr Lambert.
Access and usage
Access
This collection is fully accessible and not subject to protection under the Data Protection Act