Walters Ms. W.315, Giovanni Boccaccio's De Casibus Virorum Illustrium translated into French by Laurent de Premierfait De Casibus Virorum Premierfait, Laurent de, -1418. Laurent de Premierfait Principal cataloger Randall, Lilian M.C. Cataloger Shartrand, Emily Editor Herbert, Lynley Contributor Brown, Emily Contributor Emery, Doug Contributor Noel, William Contributor Schuele, Allyson Contributor Shartrand, Emily Contributor Tabritha, Ariel Contributor Toth, Michael B. Contributor Valle, Chiara Contributor Wiegand, Kimber Conservator Owen, Linda Conservator Quandt, Abigail The Walters Art Museum

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode. It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.

 This manuscript represents one of six known copies of Laurent de Premierfait's original French translation of Giovanni Boccaccio's De Casibus Vivorum Illustrium. Premierfait's name can be found in the colophon (fol. 291v). This ca. 1400 translation has a more direct correlation with the Latin than seen in the 1406 version. A printed edition issued by Colard Mansion of Bruges in 1476 survives in over sixty copies. The Walters' manuscript W.315 represents an undecorated version of this text that left space for initials throughout which were never completed. It is additionally written on paper instead of parchment. Scribal features have been identified as South Netherlandish. Baltimore The Walters Art Museum W.315 The primary language in this manuscript is French, Middle (ca.1400-1600). 2r - 291v De Casibus Virorum Cy commence le prologue du livre de Jehan Boccace de Certald des cas des nobles hommes et femmes Fol. 2r: Book 1 prologue; fols. 2v-3r: Book 1, 19-chapter list; fols. 3r-33r: Book 1, 19 chapters; fol. 32v: premature heading for Book 2 chapter list crossed out; fols. 33r-33v: Book 2, 23-chapter list; fol. 33v: premature heading for Book 2 prologue crossed out; fol. 33v: Book 2 prologue; fols. 34r-64v: Book 2, 23 chapters; fol. 64v: Book 3, 19-chapter list; fol. 65r: Book 3 prologue; fols. 65r-96v: Book 3, 19 chapters; fol. 96v: Book 4, 10-chapter list; fols. 97r-97v: Book 4 prologue; fols. 97v-127v: Book 4, 19 chapters; fol. 127v: Book 5, 20-chapter list; fol. 127v: heading to Book 5; fols. 128r-156v: Book 5, 20 chapters; fol. 156v-157r: Book 6, 15-chapter list; fols. 157r-190r: Book 6, 15 chapters; fols. 190r-190v: Book 7, 9-chapter list; fols. 190v-220v: Book 7, 9 chapters; fols. 220v-221r: Book 8, 23-chapter list; fols. 221r-252r: Book 8, 23 chapters; fols. 252r-252v: Book 9, 27-chapter list; fols. 252v-291v: Book 9, 27 chapters First words introducing each book enlarged (5 lines), chapter headings are in red Cy fine le livre de Jehan Boccace de certald des cas des nobles hommes et femmes translate en francoiz selons le droit latin par moy laurent de premierfait Deo gracias Written in dark brown ink below the ruled lines, underlines in red with and finished with red pen-flourish

Fair quality paper of medium-weight; absorption of text ink has browned the paper; antique laid paper used for flyleaves

 Foliation: i+29329.4 21.5 20.0 13.0 Modern pencil foliation, upper right corners, rectos

1(14), 2-8(12), 9(14), 10(16,-3), 11(12), 12(14), 13(12), 14(14), 15-23(12), 24(12, -7 through 12) Sometimes visible on versos at the end of a quire, (eg. fol. 26v) Quires begin on fols. 1(1), 15(2), 27(3), 39(4), 51(5), 63(6), 75(7), 87(8), 99(9), 113(10), 128(11), 140(12), 154(13), 166(14), 180(15), 192(16), 204(17), 216(18), 228(19), 240(20), 252(21), 264(22), 276(23), 288(24); in quire 10 the third leaf has been cancelled; in quire 24 the seventh through twelfth leaves have been cancelled

 Ruled in pale brown ink, text extends beyond ruled lines Written in littera batarda cursiva Spaces reserved for initial (4 lines) on fol. 2r and at subsequent text divisions (2 lines); rubrics in red; text in medium to dark brown ink

Possibly French, seventeenth-eighteenth century; green silk velvet, rounded spine with five bands on containing a torn paper label with title in brown ink that reads "Bocc[ac]e/ de cas [des]/ nobles Ho[mm]es/ et Fem[mes]

 Ca. 1470 CE West Flanders Completed in Flanders in 1470 Sixteenth-century collection number "N 415" written in black on fol. 1r Engraved bookplate with heraldry labelled "Biblioteca Santangelo" on front pastedown, perhaps contemporaneous with seventeenth to eighteenth century binding Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Barrois of Lille, ca. 1785-1855, his collection number "491" written at top-left of pastedown Bertram, 4th Earl of Ashburnham, purchased in 1849 J. and J. Leighton, London booksellers, London, sold at the Earl of Ashburnham's sale at London, Sotheby's on June 10, 1901, no. 64 Henry Walters, Baltimore, by purchase between 1901 and 1931 Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest Relevant Works De Ricci, Seymour, and W. J. Wilson. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. Vol. 1. New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1935; p. 849, cat. no. 518. Miner, D. The History of Bookbinding, 525-1950 A.D, exhibition catalogue. Baltimore: Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery, 1957; pp. 50-51, cat. no. 116. Gathercole, P.M. Laurent de Premieirfait's Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes. Book I, Translated from Boccaccio, A Critical Edition Based on Six Manuscripts. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Studies in the Romance Languages and Literatures 74, I968; p. 62 Bozzolo, C. Manuscrits des traducion françaises d'oeuvres de Boccace XV siècle. Padua: Medioevo e Umanismo, 1973; pp. 16, 174. Randall, Lilian M. C. Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery. Vol. 3, Belgium, 1250-1530. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press in association with the Walters Art Gallery, 1997; pp. 356-358, cat. no. 272. Randall, Lilian M. C. Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery. Vol. 3, Belgium, 1250-1530. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press in association with the Walters Art Gallery, 1997; pp. 356-358, cat. no. 272. Branca, Vittorio. Boccaccio visualizzato: Opere d'arte d'origine francese, fiamminga, inglese, spagnola, tedesca. Turin: Giulio Einaudi Editore, 1999; pp. 67, 337. Natale, Mauro. El Renacimiento mediterrńeo: Viajes de artistas e itinerarios de obras entre Italia, Francia y España en el siglo XV. Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, del 31 de enero al 6 de mayo de 2001. Valencia Museu de Belles Arts de València, del 18 de mayo al 2 de septiembre de 2001. Madrid: Fundación Colección Thyssen-Bornemisza, 2001; p. 104. Art Medicine Museum Poetry Script Muhammad, the Prophet Kashmiri Horses Walters Art Museum Document Astrology Devotion History Legal Literature -- Poetry Literature -- Prose Liturgy Philosophy Science Science -- Medicine Scripture Sufism Theology Mineralogy Logic Geography Geomancy Cosmology Cartography Fortune-telling Koran Qur`an Firman Palimpsest Prayer Bible Gospels Psalter Missal Lectionary Book of Hours Antiphonary Homilary Processional Horologion Breviary Hymnal Chronicle Maghreb Sub-Saharan (West) Africa Turkey Afghanistan Central Asia Egypt England India Iran Iraq Pakistan Germany France Austria Netherlands Ethiopia Armenia Flanders Greece Mamluk Mughal Ottoman Ottonian Armenian Byzantine Abbasid Qajar Rajput Christian Arabic Austrian Dutch Egyptian Fatimid German Indian Islamic Persian Safavid Timurid Turkish Umayyad English French Flemish Ethiopian Carolingian Calligraphy Colophon Headpiece Illumination Illustration Medallion Miniature Ornament Painting Early Abbasid script Ragini Romanesque Gothic Watermark Grotesques Historiated initial Inhabited initial White-vine lettering Textura Batarda Humanistic Uncial Accordion book Album Book Codex Manuscript Heraldry Saint's Life Drawing Grisaille Binding New Abbasid style Musical notation Russia Romania Charter Russian Genealogy Mass book Prayer book Gospel Lectionary Psalter-Hours Treatise Grammar Gloss Pontifical Private devotional text Gradual Protective scroll Scroll 10th century 11th century 12th century 13th century 14th century 15th century 16th century 17th century 18th century 19th century 20th century 8th century 9th century Block book Caroline minuscule Central Arab lands (Near East) Chart English secretary hand Kufic Gothic book hand Original binding Treasure binding Gospel Book Spanish Spain Italian Italy Coptic Scrapbook American United States Maryland Historical Society Friendship book Friendship Biography Judaism Talmud Liturgical Devotional Scriptural Theological Legal Historical Scientific Scientific -- Medical Literary -- Prose Literary -- Poetry Philosophical Astrological Sufi English Flemish Manuscript Flanders 15th century History Literature -- Prose Biography Walters Art Museum Book Codex