• Detail of a white vine initial 'S'(uperio) and circular diagram of rainfall., Commentary on Cicero's De somno Scipionis

by Allan Stevenson, 4 vols (Amsterdam: Paper Publications Society, 1968), no. 7464 (Udine and Venice, 1461; Rome, 1464), and 7465 (Florence, 1464; Venice, 1460-67, 1470-71, 1472; Venice and Ferrara, 1471-76). White vine initials in colours and gold (ff. 1, 5,

• Decorated initial 'E'(t si nego) and full border with flowers, cornucopias, candelabras, dragon heads and a defaced coat of arms, at the beginning of the text., Rhetorica ad Herennium (index De ratione dicendi ad Herennium)

Mare at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, this manuscript was made in the 3rd quarter of the 15th century, possibly in Venice. Large initial in gold on a blue panel with foliate decoration, combined with a full border with flowers, cornucopias,

• Illuminated initial 'A'(rma) at the beginning of Virgil's Aeneid, with coloured foliage; in the margins foliate decoration with gold balls, and in the lower margin the arms of the Machiavelli family quartered with other arms surrounded by a wreath., Bucolica (index Bucolics, Eclogues), Georgica (index Georgics), Aeneis (index Aeneid)(imperfect), with Argumenta, prologue, and verses

Machiavelli family quartered with other arms (f. 59). Notes by Paulus Manutius (b. 1512, d. 1574), printer and scholar of Venice (contemporary note, f. 2v, inscription: ‘Pauli Amicorum L(iber)’ (f. 2); the library of the Manutius family dispersed after the

• Text page in Virgil's Aeneid., Bucolica (index Bucolics, Eclogues), Georgica (index Georgics), Aeneis (index Aeneid)(imperfect), with Argumenta, prologue, and verses

Machiavelli family quartered with other arms (f. 59). Notes by Paulus Manutius (b. 1512, d. 1574), printer and scholar of Venice (contemporary note, f. 2v, inscription: ‘Pauli Amicorum L(iber)’ (f. 2); the library of the Manutius family dispersed after the

• Illuminated initial 'T'(ityre), at the beginning of Virgil's Eclogues., Bucolica (index Bucolics, Eclogues), Georgica (index Georgics), Aeneis (index Aeneid)(imperfect), with Argumenta, prologue, and verses

Machiavelli family quartered with other arms (f. 59). Notes by Paulus Manutius (b. 1512, d. 1574), printer and scholar of Venice (contemporary note, f. 2v, inscription: ‘Pauli Amicorum L(iber)’ (f. 2); the library of the Manutius family dispersed after the

• null, Book of Hours, Use of Rome

4th earl of Ashburnham, of Ashburnham Place, Sussex.Bertram Ashburnham (b. 1840, d. 1913), 5th earl of Ashburnham: purchased by the British Museum from him together with 1084 other Stowe manuscripts in 1883. Martino da Modena Venice Italy, N. E. (Venice)

• null, Book of Hours, Use of Rome

4th earl of Ashburnham, of Ashburnham Place, Sussex.Bertram Ashburnham (b. 1840, d. 1913), 5th earl of Ashburnham: purchased by the British Museum from him together with 1084 other Stowe manuscripts in 1883. Martino da Modena Venice Italy, N. E. (Venice)

• null, Book of Hours, Use of Rome

4th earl of Ashburnham, of Ashburnham Place, Sussex.Bertram Ashburnham (b. 1840, d. 1913), 5th earl of Ashburnham: purchased by the British Museum from him together with 1084 other Stowe manuscripts in 1883. Martino da Modena Venice Italy, N. E. (Venice)

• null, Book of Hours, Use of Rome

4th earl of Ashburnham, of Ashburnham Place, Sussex.Bertram Ashburnham (b. 1840, d. 1913), 5th earl of Ashburnham: purchased by the British Museum from him together with 1084 other Stowe manuscripts in 1883. Martino da Modena Venice Italy, N. E. (Venice)

• null, Book of Hours, Use of Rome

4th earl of Ashburnham, of Ashburnham Place, Sussex.Bertram Ashburnham (b. 1840, d. 1913), 5th earl of Ashburnham: purchased by the British Museum from him together with 1084 other Stowe manuscripts in 1883. Martino da Modena Venice Italy, N. E. (Venice)

• null, Book of Hours, Use of Rome

4th earl of Ashburnham, of Ashburnham Place, Sussex.Bertram Ashburnham (b. 1840, d. 1913), 5th earl of Ashburnham: purchased by the British Museum from him together with 1084 other Stowe manuscripts in 1883. Martino da Modena Venice Italy, N. E. (Venice)

• Historiated initial 'I'(n), and full border with putti, heraldry, and roundels with a monkey with fruit, and a deer in a landscape., Ab urbe condita, first (ff. 109-258) and third (ff. 266-417) decades, the latter preceded (259-265v) by a table of chapters

327, 341, 357v, 375, 392v, 404). Spaces for decoration in the First Decade remain blank. Attributed to Leonardo Bellini (fl. Venice, c. 1443–90), (see Watson 1979 no. 502). Ab urbe condita, first (ff. 109-258) and third (ff. 266-417) decades, the

• Foliate illuminated initial 'C'(um) at the beginning of Book 38 of Livy's Ab urbe condita, third decade., Ab urbe condita, first (ff. 109-258) and third (ff. 266-417) decades, the latter preceded (259-265v) by a table of chapters

327, 341, 357v, 375, 392v, 404). Spaces for decoration in the First Decade remain blank. Attributed to Leonardo Bellini (fl. Venice, c. 1443–90), (see Watson 1979 no. 502). Ab urbe condita, first (ff. 109-258) and third (ff. 266-417) decades, the

• Missing initial, at the beginning of Livy's Ab urbe condita., Ab urbe condita, first (ff. 109-258) and third (ff. 266-417) decades, the latter preceded (259-265v) by a table of chapters

327, 341, 357v, 375, 392v, 404). Spaces for decoration in the First Decade remain blank. Attributed to Leonardo Bellini (fl. Venice, c. 1443–90), (see Watson 1979 no. 502). Ab urbe condita, first (ff. 109-258) and third (ff. 266-417) decades, the

• Detail of historiated initial., Ab urbe condita, first (ff. 109-258) and third (ff. 266-417) decades, the latter preceded (259-265v) by a table of chapters

327, 341, 357v, 375, 392v, 404). Spaces for decoration in the First Decade remain blank. Attributed to Leonardo Bellini (fl. Venice, c. 1443–90), (see Watson 1979 no. 502). Ab urbe condita, first (ff. 109-258) and third (ff. 266-417) decades, the

• Detail of lower border, with putti holding a shield., Ab urbe condita, first (ff. 109-258) and third (ff. 266-417) decades, the latter preceded (259-265v) by a table of chapters

327, 341, 357v, 375, 392v, 404). Spaces for decoration in the First Decade remain blank. Attributed to Leonardo Bellini (fl. Venice, c. 1443–90), (see Watson 1979 no. 502). Ab urbe condita, first (ff. 109-258) and third (ff. 266-417) decades, the

• Detail of border, with a fawn., Ab urbe condita, first (ff. 109-258) and third (ff. 266-417) decades, the latter preceded (259-265v) by a table of chapters

327, 341, 357v, 375, 392v, 404). Spaces for decoration in the First Decade remain blank. Attributed to Leonardo Bellini (fl. Venice, c. 1443–90), (see Watson 1979 no. 502). Ab urbe condita, first (ff. 109-258) and third (ff. 266-417) decades, the

• Detail of border with a monkey., Ab urbe condita, first (ff. 109-258) and third (ff. 266-417) decades, the latter preceded (259-265v) by a table of chapters

327, 341, 357v, 375, 392v, 404). Spaces for decoration in the First Decade remain blank. Attributed to Leonardo Bellini (fl. Venice, c. 1443–90), (see Watson 1979 no. 502). Ab urbe condita, first (ff. 109-258) and third (ff. 266-417) decades, the

• Detail of historiated initial., Ab urbe condita, first (ff. 109-258) and third (ff. 266-417) decades, the latter preceded (259-265v) by a table of chapters

327, 341, 357v, 375, 392v, 404). Spaces for decoration in the First Decade remain blank. Attributed to Leonardo Bellini (fl. Venice, c. 1443–90), (see Watson 1979 no. 502). Ab urbe condita, first (ff. 109-258) and third (ff. 266-417) decades, the

• Historiated initial 'S'(alve) of a priest and attendant before an altar, combined with a full border with penwork decoration in brown ink, flowers and a scroll at the beginning of a Mass dedicated to the Virgin., 'Missa de beata maria virgine' (Mass of the Virgin)

the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library. Mass Venice Italy, N. E. (?Venice)