Collection ID: 0002 | Metadata type: TEI | TEI XML | Data

Title

Ledger of Medici forward contracts

Call number

Ms. Codex 1310
(Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Rare Book & Manuscript Library)

Alternate identifiers

• bibid: 4434801
• http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/medren/4434801

Publisher

The University of Pennsylvania Libraries

Language

Italian

Origin

Date

1605-1626

Place

Italy

Summary

Ledger of forward contracts between the brothers Andrea and Vincenzo de' Medici, sons of Carlo de' Medici, and members of the Florentine guild of dyers for the years 1605-1626. Often includes the nature of a given transaction and its amount, as well as listing the names of the individuals that act as counterparts in the transaction. Transactions are related to the textile business, which was of crucial importance for the Medici family. More precisely, the ledger contains detailed summaries of contracts to sell a standardized quantity of a textile product of standardized quality (agreed between the counterparts) at a certain date in the future, at a price determined at the time of writing of the contract. The future date in which the transaction is to be settled and the price at which the textile product is to be sold are also noted.

Notes

• Ms. codex.
   
• Title supplied by cataloger.
   

Watermark

Similar to Briquet, Aigle 207 (Siena, 1594); and Homme 7629 (Rome, 1566).

Extent

160 leaves : 335 x 227 mm. bound to 324 x 237 mm

Foliation

Paper, i (paper) + 159 + i (paper); each folio has the same number on both recto and verso; rectos numbered [1-3], 4, [5-30], 31-77, 77-149, [150-159], contemporary numeration in ink, modern numeration in pencil, upper right recto; versos numbered 1-4, [5-30], 31-77, 77-148, [149-159], contemporary numeration in ink, modern numeration in pencil, upper left verso (leaves 5-30 and 150-159 are blank but ruled).

Support

Paper

Binding

Contemporary vellum, no. 64 on spine; faded heading Ricordanze e tintori, letter C with decorative penwork and no. 29 on upper cover; lower cover with remnants of leather ties wraps around upper cover; decorative leatherwork on spine.

Layout

Written in 3 columns with vertical bounding lines in lead; the smaller column on the left with the transaction number, the large central column with a brief description of the transaction, including the name of the counterparts and the settlement date, and the smaller one on the right with the amount of the settlement in arabic numerals. In certain cases the large central column contains itemized accounts of a transaction within one entry. Memoranda written in long lines.

Script

Written in a cursive script, perhaps by multiple hands, including some of the counterparts, who signed their names at the end of the memoranda.

Provenance

• Sold by Bernard M. Rosenthal, 1961.
   

Subjects topical

• Accounting--Italy--17th century
• Textile industry--Italy--Early works to 1800
• Dyes and dyeing--Italy--Early works to 1800

Genres

• Manuscripts, Italian--17th century
• Manuscripts, European
• Codices
• Accounts
• Ledgers (account books)

Licenses

• Text

  This description is ©2015 University of Pennsylvania Libraries. It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License version 4.0 (CC-BY-4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. For a description of the terms of use see the Creative Commons Deed https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

  URL

  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

• Text

  All referenced images and their content are free of known copyright restrictions and in the public domain. See the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark page for usage details, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

  URL

  http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/