Bod-Inc: A-171
Alexander Magnus
Historia de preliis.
Analysis of Content
[a2r] Alexander Magnus [pseudo-]: Historia de preliis. ‘Liber de preliis.’ An interpolated version of the Historia Alexandri Magni by Leo Archipresbyter, commonly referred to as Historia de preliis, recension J1; see Die Historia de preliis Alexandri Magni (Der lateinische Alexanderroman des Mittelalters), synoptische Edition der Rezensionen des Leo Archipresbyter und der interpolierten Fassungen J1, J2, J3 (Buch I und II), ed. Hermann-Josef Bergmeister, Beiträge zur klassischen Philologie, 65 (Meisenheim am Glan, 1975), p. vii. Historia Alexandri Magni (Historia de preliis), Rezension J1 , ed. Alfons Hilka and Karl Steffens, Beiträge zur klassischen Philologie, 107 (Meisenheim am Glan, 1979), p. xxiii (description of incunable), p. xxvi (stemma), 2-264 (edition). The printed editions derive from MS. A (Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, MS. Peniarth 481), see Hilka–Steffens p. xxiii.
[e7v] [Petrus Alphonsus]: [Disciplina clericalis (excerpt).] ‘De sepultura Alexandri.’ Incipit: ‘Legimus Alexandri sepulturam esse auream ad quam plurimi philozophi conuenerunt. Quorum vnus ait. Alexander ex auro fecit thesaurum . . .’ Explicit: cui non suffecerat orbis. Die Disciplina Clericalis des Petrus Alfonsi, ed. Alfons Hilka and Werner Söderhjelm, Sammlung mittellateinischer Texte, 1 (Heidelberg, 1911), 48-9. Petrus Alfonsus, Disciplina clericalis, ed. Alfons Hilka and Werner Söderhjelm, I, Acta societatis scientiarum fennicae, 28.4 (Helsinki, 1911), 44-5. Added at the end of MS. A; see footnote in Historia Alexandri Magni, ed. Hilka and Steffens, 265.
Imprint
Imprint: [The Netherlands?: Printer of the ‘Historia Alexandri Magni', between 1475 and 1479]. Folio.
Remarks: As dated by HPT.
Collation
Collation: [a–d10 e8].
References
ISTC: ia00396000
GW: GW 875;
Hain: H (+ Addenda) 777; C 371;
Goff: Goff A‑396:
BMC: BMC IX 107;
Proctor: Pr 9182;
Others: Campbell 140; CIBN H‑146; HPT II 452; ILC 80; Schmitt I 4961a; Sheppard 7040.
LCN: 14289998
Copies
Copy number: A-171(1)
Bound with:
2. Guido de Columna, Historia destructionis Troiae. [The Netherlands?: Printer of the ‘Historia Alexandri Magni' (C 371), between 1475 and 1479] (C‑392).
Wanting a10 and the blank leaves a1 and e8.
Binding: Contemporary plain calf over wooden boards. Reinforcing slips from a Latin manuscript.
Size: 292 × 207 × 47 mm.
Size of leaf: 284 × 205 mm.
Endleaves (now MS. Rawl. D. 913, fols 103-5) from a fourteenth-century parchment manuscript of the Old French Prose Alexander written in an anglicana hand; see David J. A. Ross, Alexander Historiatus: A Guide to Medieval Illustrated Alexander Literature, 2nd edn, Beiträge zur klassischen Philologie, 186 (Frankfurt am Main, 1988), 54-7, at 56 (MS. O).
Marginal notes in an early hand in both items, mainly extracting key words; interlinear corrections, occasionally erased words supplied in manuscript, a reference to Petrarch on [a5r]. On [a2r] manuscript note in Latin signed T[homas] H[earne] on the authorship of the Historia de preliis. On [e7v]: ‘Finis Coronat Opus.’
Initials supplied in dark brown ink, the first initial consisting of a drawing of two fish. Early foliation of the whole volume, probably in the same hand.
Provenance: Thomas Hearne (1678-1735); on [a2r]: ‘Suum cuique. Tho: Hearne. Julij 18 M.DCC:XXIX'. Bequeathed to William Bedford (†1747). Listed in John Whiston's list, MS. Rawl. D. 1167, fol. 9, no. 111: ‘Hystoriae Alexandri Magni. Hystoriae Destructionis Troye par Guid. de Columpna. Very ancient.' Richard Rawlinson (1690-1755). Bequeathed in 1755.
SHELFMARK: Auct. 2Q 4.7(1).
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