Vellum. 336 leaves, the last blank. 34 quires all having ten leaves,
except the 17th and 34th which have eight each. 31 lines to the page;
catchword placed at right angles with the last line of the quire; ruled
on both sides with plummet. Leaf 14-1/2 × 10 in., text-page 9 × 6 in.
Written in very regular, bold Italian minuscules of the period of the
Renaissance.
The first page of the preface is surrounded by an illuminated border in
gold and colors in the Renaissance style of ornament, into which are
introduced the Caraccioli arms belonging to the distinguished Neapolitan
family of that name. The initial F on this page is historiated with a
view of Rome, and each of the ten books has an eight-line initial of
dull gold on a background of red, blue and green, with marginal
ornamentation.
From the close agreement, even in punctuation, between this MS. and the
edition printed at Milan in 1495 by Ulrich Scinzenzeler for Alexander
Minutianus, and from other features which forbid the supposition that
one is taken directly from the other, we must conclude that they both
reproduce a common ancestor.
This MS. of the first Decade of Livy is in unusually fine preservation,
and is bound in russia extra, with broad borders of gold and gilt
marbled edges.
Brought from Palermo by Dr. Anthony Askew (1722-1772), it was sold with
his collection of MSS. in 1785. Michael Wodhull, Esq., of Thenford,
Northamptonshire, who gave seven guineas for the volume at "White's
sale" in March, 1798, added to his customary entry of these details on
the fly-leaf this note: "This appears to be the very Book which I saw
Sir W. Burrell purchase at Dr. Askew's manuscript Auction (No. 482) for
thirty-two guineas; in Sir W. Burrell's Auction, May, 1796, it is said
to have gone for about five (No. 657). The note in _Bib. Askev.
manuscripta_ is: 'Ex Panormo in Sicilia hunc cod. adduxit secum Cl.
Askevius.' & '300 annor. MSS. longe pulcherrimus.'"
At the sale of the Wodhull library in January, 1886, the Livy MS. and
the greater part of the 15th-century books hereinafter described were
acquired by the donor of the collection, William Loring Andrews, M.A.,
of New York City.