Rare Books and Manuscripts : Euclid

Euclid (Cambridge, King's College, MS 20)

The manuscript contains two mathematical treatises by Euclid: Phaenomena on spherical astronomy, and Optics on the geometry of vision.

It was copied by the Greek scribe Iakobos Diassorinos, who was librarian of the library at the Chateau de Fontainebleau around the middle of the 16th century. Dedicated to the Bishop of Winchester Stephen Gardiner, the codex is written in a large calligraphic script, the text is arranged in an airy way on the page, and a simple decoration has been realised by the scribe at the beginning of the texts. The original binding has been preserved.

Information about this document

Physical Location: King's College Library
Classmark: Cambridge, King's College, MS 20
Alternative Identifier(s): Diktyon 11883
Subject(s): Euclid; Euclid. Optics; Euclid. Phaenomena
Scribe(s): Diassorinus, Jacobus (16th c., 2nd quarter- d. 1563)
Date of Creation: between the second quarter and the sixth decade of the 16th century.
Language(s): Greek
Former Owner(s): Gardiner, Stephen, 1483?-1555
Extent: Codex 3 + 127 + 4, Leaf height: 265 mm, width: 200 mm.
Collation:
The manuscript consists of 1 binion (formed by 3 leaves, the first being probably the left pastedown), 16 quaternions and 1 binion (formed by 3 leaves, the last being probably the right pastedown).
- Quires 1⁴ ff. left pastedown-[iii]
- Quires 2-17⁸ ff. [1]-[iv]
- Quire 18⁴ ff. [v]-right pastedown
Vertical catchwords in the scribe's hand on the last verso, lower part, near the gutter; very short, they are written from the top down.
Material: ff.[i]-[iii], [v]-[vii] Western paper, folded in folio. Watermark: Hand surmounted by a five petals-flower; on the hand "3" and letters "ER" ( Watermark height: 80 mm, width: 26 mm. ) in the centre of the folio comparable to Sosower, Main 57 (with different letters), which is dated to the middle of the 16th c. (from ms. El Escorial, Real Biblioteca, Ψ.II.17, by Iakobos Diassorinos).ff. [1]-[iv], thick western paper, folded in quarto. Watermark: Monogram in a shield with letters "W" and "X" surmounted by a four-leaf-clover, under the shield name "INIVELLE" (?) (particulars are difficult to see) ( Watermark height: 40 mm, width: 35 mm. ) in the gutter comparable to Briquet, Lettres et monogrammes 9869-9870, which are dated to 1534 and 1536, with variants dated until 1549.
Format: Codex
Condition: The manuscript is in good condition. There are a few tears on ff. [8]r-[8]v, [22]r-[22]v, [vii] recto-[vii] verso. The original binding is in good condition; there are scrapes on both covers.
Binding:
Full leather binding over couched-laminate boards. Dark blind tooling. Some areas have been painted over. On both covers, gold-tooled frame with palmette on the corners, in the centre gold-tooled star of David and small flowers in a gold-tooled circle. There are remnants of four textile ties close to the fore-edge through each board. Small gold-tooled flowers on spine; in the lower part paper label with shelfmark. Gauffered gilded edges.
There is a hole through the left board towards the fore-edge, just above the centre.
Binding height: 274 mm, width: 208 mm, depth: 49 mm.
Accompanying Material:
With the manuscript are kept a letter from R.W. Hunt to A.N.L. Munby (10th January 1948) concerning the codex, and a note by N. Wilson, assuming that the manuscript was written by Konstantinos Palaiocappas.
Script:
ff. [iii] verso-127r hand A: the text has been written entirely by Iakobos Diassorinos (16th century), (Ἰάκωβος Διασσωρινός, RGK I, 143. See also RGK II, 191; RGK III, 241), in the calligraphic variant of his script. The script is a minuscule, with "baroque" features, vertical.
The text is written in black ink; titles and initials in red.
The principal titles of the works are written in capital letters.
Foliation:
There is no foliation, except for nr. "70" (f. 70r) and "127" (f. 127r), in pencil (modern), which are consistent with the indications given by James in the catalogue of 1895. According to these numbers, the foliation is: [i]-[iii] + [1]-127 + [iv]-[vii].
Five more numbers in pencil, not consistent with the indications in James' catalogue, hardly visible, because they have been erased, are detectable on
- f. [iii] recto: 1
- f. [1]r: 2
- f. [9]r: 10
- f. [17]r: 18
- f. [18]r: 19
Layout: A single column of 17 lines. Written height: 195 mm, width: 110 mm.
Decoration: On f. [1]r there is a rectangular headpiece formed by an interlace of blue oblique lines with small red flowers, surrounded by a golden ribbon with palmette at the corners. On f. 70v the title, written in thick golden capital letters, is surrounded by a triple chain in gold, blue and red which forms a rectangular frame.
On ff. [1]r and 70v there are thick golden initials outlined in red, decorated with golden and blue vine and flower motifs. The remaining initials are traced in red ink and decorated with vine motifs, see e.g. f. [5]v.
The texts are accompanied by geometrical diagrams traced by the scribe, see e.g. ff. f. [7]v, f. [78]r.
Additions:
On the left pastedown and on f. [i] recto there are annotations, by later librarians, indicating the shelfmark of the manuscript.
Provenance:
It was probably owned by Stephen Gardiner (ca. 1483-1555), Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor to the Queen. A dedication to him written by Diassorinos is on f. [iii] verso.
Origin: The manuscript was copied by Iakobos Diassorinos between the second quarter and the sixth decade of the 16th century.
Acquisition: The manuscript was certainly present in King's College Library by 1600, given that it is listed as number 4 among the manuscripts of the library in T. James, Ecloga Oxonio-Cantabrigiensis, Londini 1600, p. 138. On the left pastedown is glued the King's College bookplate.
Funding: The Polonsky Foundation
Data Source(s): M.R. James, A descriptive catalogue of the Manuscripts other than Oriental in the Library of King's College, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1895, pp. 36-37.
Author(s) of the Record: Erika Elia
Bibliography:
M. R James (Montague Rhodes), A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts other than Oriental in the library of King's College, Cambridge (Cambridge: University Press, 1895).
Gamillscheg, Ernst and Dieter Harlfinger, "Specimen eines Repertoriums der griechischen Kopisten.", Jahrbuch der österreichischen Byzantinistik 27 293-322 (1978).
Gamillscheg, Ernst and Dieter Harlfinger, Repertorium der griechischen Kopisten, 800-1600. I. Grossbritannien, Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Byzantinistik Bd. 3 (Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1981).
García Bueno, Carmen, El copista griego Jacobo Diasorino (s. XVI): estudio paleográfico y codicológico de sus manuscritos (2017) http://hdl.handle.net/10803/456128 Accessed: 2019-10-03.

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Dedication to Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor to the Queen (image 8, page [iii] verso) Phaenomena (recensio b) (image 9, page [1]r) Optics (revision by Theon of Alexandria) (image 148, page 70v)

Information about this document

Physical Location: King's College Library
Classmark: Cambridge, King's College, MS 20
Alternative Identifier(s): Diktyon 11883
Subject(s): Euclid; Euclid. Optics; Euclid. Phaenomena
Scribe(s): Diassorinus, Jacobus (16th c., 2nd quarter- d. 1563)
Date of Creation: between the second quarter and the sixth decade of the 16th century.
Language(s): Greek
Former Owner(s): Gardiner, Stephen, 1483?-1555
Extent: Codex 3 + 127 + 4, Leaf height: 265 mm, width: 200 mm.
Collation:
The manuscript consists of 1 binion (formed by 3 leaves, the first being probably the left pastedown), 16 quaternions and 1 binion (formed by 3 leaves, the last being probably the right pastedown).
- Quires 1⁴ ff. left pastedown-[iii]
- Quires 2-17⁸ ff. [1]-[iv]
- Quire 18⁴ ff. [v]-right pastedown
Vertical catchwords in the scribe's hand on the last verso, lower part, near the gutter; very short, they are written from the top down.
Material: ff.[i]-[iii], [v]-[vii] Western paper, folded in folio. Watermark: Hand surmounted by a five petals-flower; on the hand "3" and letters "ER" ( Watermark height: 80 mm, width: 26 mm. ) in the centre of the folio comparable to Sosower, Main 57 (with different letters), which is dated to the middle of the 16th c. (from ms. El Escorial, Real Biblioteca, Ψ.II.17, by Iakobos Diassorinos).ff. [1]-[iv], thick western paper, folded in quarto. Watermark: Monogram in a shield with letters "W" and "X" surmounted by a four-leaf-clover, under the shield name "INIVELLE" (?) (particulars are difficult to see) ( Watermark height: 40 mm, width: 35 mm. ) in the gutter comparable to Briquet, Lettres et monogrammes 9869-9870, which are dated to 1534 and 1536, with variants dated until 1549.
Format: Codex
Condition: The manuscript is in good condition. There are a few tears on ff. [8]r-[8]v, [22]r-[22]v, [vii] recto-[vii] verso. The original binding is in good condition; there are scrapes on both covers.
Binding:
Full leather binding over couched-laminate boards. Dark blind tooling. Some areas have been painted over. On both covers, gold-tooled frame with palmette on the corners, in the centre gold-tooled star of David and small flowers in a gold-tooled circle. There are remnants of four textile ties close to the fore-edge through each board. Small gold-tooled flowers on spine; in the lower part paper label with shelfmark. Gauffered gilded edges.
There is a hole through the left board towards the fore-edge, just above the centre.
Binding height: 274 mm, width: 208 mm, depth: 49 mm.
Accompanying Material:
With the manuscript are kept a letter from R.W. Hunt to A.N.L. Munby (10th January 1948) concerning the codex, and a note by N. Wilson, assuming that the manuscript was written by Konstantinos Palaiocappas.
Script:
ff. [iii] verso-127r hand A: the text has been written entirely by Iakobos Diassorinos (16th century), (Ἰάκωβος Διασσωρινός, RGK I, 143. See also RGK II, 191; RGK III, 241), in the calligraphic variant of his script. The script is a minuscule, with "baroque" features, vertical.
The text is written in black ink; titles and initials in red.
The principal titles of the works are written in capital letters.
Foliation:
There is no foliation, except for nr. "70" (f. 70r) and "127" (f. 127r), in pencil (modern), which are consistent with the indications given by James in the catalogue of 1895. According to these numbers, the foliation is: [i]-[iii] + [1]-127 + [iv]-[vii].
Five more numbers in pencil, not consistent with the indications in James' catalogue, hardly visible, because they have been erased, are detectable on
- f. [iii] recto: 1
- f. [1]r: 2
- f. [9]r: 10
- f. [17]r: 18
- f. [18]r: 19
Layout: A single column of 17 lines. Written height: 195 mm, width: 110 mm.
Decoration: On f. [1]r there is a rectangular headpiece formed by an interlace of blue oblique lines with small red flowers, surrounded by a golden ribbon with palmette at the corners. On f. 70v the title, written in thick golden capital letters, is surrounded by a triple chain in gold, blue and red which forms a rectangular frame.
On ff. [1]r and 70v there are thick golden initials outlined in red, decorated with golden and blue vine and flower motifs. The remaining initials are traced in red ink and decorated with vine motifs, see e.g. f. [5]v.
The texts are accompanied by geometrical diagrams traced by the scribe, see e.g. ff. f. [7]v, f. [78]r.
Additions:
On the left pastedown and on f. [i] recto there are annotations, by later librarians, indicating the shelfmark of the manuscript.
Provenance:
It was probably owned by Stephen Gardiner (ca. 1483-1555), Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor to the Queen. A dedication to him written by Diassorinos is on f. [iii] verso.
Origin: The manuscript was copied by Iakobos Diassorinos between the second quarter and the sixth decade of the 16th century.
Acquisition: The manuscript was certainly present in King's College Library by 1600, given that it is listed as number 4 among the manuscripts of the library in T. James, Ecloga Oxonio-Cantabrigiensis, Londini 1600, p. 138. On the left pastedown is glued the King's College bookplate.
Funding: The Polonsky Foundation
Data Source(s): M.R. James, A descriptive catalogue of the Manuscripts other than Oriental in the Library of King's College, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1895, pp. 36-37.
Author(s) of the Record: Erika Elia
Bibliography:
M. R James (Montague Rhodes), A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts other than Oriental in the library of King's College, Cambridge (Cambridge: University Press, 1895).
Gamillscheg, Ernst and Dieter Harlfinger, "Specimen eines Repertoriums der griechischen Kopisten.", Jahrbuch der österreichischen Byzantinistik 27 293-322 (1978).
Gamillscheg, Ernst and Dieter Harlfinger, Repertorium der griechischen Kopisten, 800-1600. I. Grossbritannien, Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Byzantinistik Bd. 3 (Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1981).
García Bueno, Carmen, El copista griego Jacobo Diasorino (s. XVI): estudio paleográfico y codicológico de sus manuscritos (2017) http://hdl.handle.net/10803/456128 Accessed: 2019-10-03.

Section shown in images 8 to 8

Title: Dedication to Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor to the Queen
Note(s): A transcription of the dedication in James 1895, pp. 36-37.
Excerpts:
Incipit: f. [iii] verso Εἰς τὸν αἰδεσιμώτατον καὶ ἐπιφανέστατον κύριον Στέφανον θεοσεβέστατον ἐπίσκοπον Βιντώνης
Explicit: f. [iii] verso οὐκ ἀδίκως, καὶ γὰρ στέμμ' ἀρετῆς φορέεις.

Section shown in images 9 to 147

Title: Phaenomena (recensio b)
Author(s): Euclid
Note(s): The text is accompanied by scholia, written by the main scribe: first scholion at f. [1]r inc. οἷον τοῦ Ὠρίωνος (ed. J.L. Heiberg, H. Menge, Euclidis opera omnia, 8, Leipzig 1916, pp. 134-156 [TLG 5022.006]: 134 nr.2); last scholion at f. [63]r inc. ἐξαλλαγή ἐστιν ἀφανοῦς ἡμισφαιρίου (ed. Heiberg-Menge 1916, p. 150 nr. 114); the text is accompanied by diagrams; TLG 1799.013; ff. [i] verso-[iii] recto are blank.
Excerpts:
Rubric: f. [1]r Εὐκλείδου φαινόμενα
Incipit: f. [1]r Ἐπειδὴ ὁρᾶται τὰ ἀπλανῆ ἄστρα
Explicit: f. 70r ἤπερ ἡ λοιπὴ τὸ φανερὸν ἢ ἡ τυχοῦσα τῆς τυχούσης.

Section shown in images 148 to 261

Title: Optics (revision by Theon of Alexandria)
Author(s): Euclid
Note(s): The text is accompanied by diagrams.; TLG 1799.010; ff. 127v-[vii] verso are blank.
Excerpts:
Rubric: f. 70v Εὐκλείδου ὀπτικά
Incipit: f. 70v Ἀποδεικνὺς τὰ κατὰ τὴν ὄψιν παραμυθίας
Explicit: f. 127r καθάπερ καὶ ἐν τοῖς κύκλοις.