Synesius Platonicus: Liber de vaticinio somniorum

The source of the data sheet is the detailed description of the manuscript: ZSUPÁN, Edina, “Beschreibung der Corvinen der Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel”, in ZSUPÁN, Edina, Hrsg., unter Mitarbeit von HEITZMANN, Christian, Corvina Augusta. Die Handschriften des Königs Matthias Corvinus in der Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel. Ex Bibliotheca Corviniana. Supplementum Corvinianum 3. (Budapest: Bibliotheca Nationalis Hungariae, 2004.), 27–121., 82–94.

DATA SHEET

Shelfmark: Cod. Guelf. 2. Aug. 4°
Country: Germany
City: Wolfenbüttel
Keeper location: Herzog August Bibliothek
Digitized corvina: at the keeper location
Author: Synesius (c. 373–after 412); Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499)
Content: Synesius: De insomniis; Marsilio Ficino: Epistolarum ad amicos libri III–IV
Translator: Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499)
Writing medium: parchment
Number of sheets: II + 127 + III*
Sheet size: 262 × 168 mm
Place of writing: Florence
Date of writing: autumn 1484 (fol. 31. r.-180. r.) and 1489
Scriptor: Luca Fabiani
Illuminator: workshop of Attavante degli Attavanti (1452–1517/1525)
Place of illumination: Florence
Date of illumination: 1484/1485 and 1489
Crest: the coat-of-arms of Matthias Corvinus (King of Hungary 1458–1490, King of Bohemia 1469–1490) appears twice, with the Dalmatian coat-of-arms in the third field, the Bohemian lion in the fourth, and the Hunyadi raven in the inescutcheon; of these are also shown separately: the Hunyadi raven (three times), the Hungarian double cross (twice), the Árpád-stripes (twice), the Dalmatian coat of arms, the Bohemian lion; the Hungarian coat-of-arms consisting of the Árpád-stripes and the dubble cross also appears separately
Possessor, provenience: the codex was produced in two parts, in 1484 and 1489, at the initiative and expense of Filippo di Bartolomeo Valori of Florence, the author of the dedication to Matthias Corvinus, and was completed in its final form by the summer of 1489 at the latest; books III and IV of Ficino's letters were copied again in Florence because it was believed that the volume completed in 1481/1482 (now Cod. Guelf. 12. Aug. 4°) had fallen into the hands of robbers and had not reached Matthias; the manuscript was not completed at that time, and it was not until 1489 that the previously completed part was used; the fate of the volume after Matthias' death is unknown; it was acquired by Augustus II, Duke of Brunswick (r. 1635–1666) sometime between 1623 and 1627
Binding: modern leather binding (the original velvet binding is kept separate from the volume), gauffered-gilded edge
Language of corvina: Latin
Condition: restored (1978, Gerlinde Römer, Herzog August Bibliothek)