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

Title

Ledger of Medici accounts

Authors

• Padovani, Francesco

Call number

Ms. Codex 1358
(Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Rare Book & Manuscript Library)

Alternate identifiers

• bibid: 4444520
• http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/medren/4444520

Publisher

The University of Pennsylvania Libraries

Language

Italian

Origin

Date

1721-1726

Place

Italy

Summary

Ledger of accounts of an unidentified member of the Medici family, written by Francesco Padovani, bursar, referred in the manuscript as the spenditore, for the years 1721-1726. It contains a detailed list of expenses related to food and drink and records the amount of every transaction. All the foods that appear throughout the ledger are typical Tuscan foods and the most frequent are bread and cakes; pasta (including lasagne); meat (roast veal, pork and pigeon, geese, lamb, ham, sausages, giblets, fatty chicken liver, quails, larks); fish (salted or boiled cod, oysters, anchovies, eel, tuna eggs); fruit and vegetables (artichokes, asparagus, cherries, lettuce, mushrooms, peas); cheese (ricotta, parmesan, sheep's cheese); salt and sugar. Expenses related to household management that do not concern food and drink, such as money spent for clothes, shoes and furniture, also appear in the ledger, but not very frequently. In certain cases the names of the counterparts (farmers, butchers, tailors) are also recorded. Expenses appear to be recorded daily, but at the end of each month there is a closing paragraph, written and signed by Francesco Padovani, where he gives the total expenditure for the month and a brief comment.

Notes

• Ms. codex.
   
• Title supplied by cataloger.
   
• Forms part of: Gondi-Medici Business Records.
   

Watermark

Unidentified watermark containing a fleur-de-lis with very round petals and bottom.

Extent

255 leaves : 397 x 136 mm. bound to 406 x 155 mm. +

Foliation

Paper, i (contemporary paper) + 255 + i (contemporary paper); 1-123, 125-153, 155-257; contemporary foliation in ink, upper left verso.

Support

Paper

Binding

Contemporary parchment, no. 154 on spine; the heading Quad[erno] di spese, letter A with decorative penwork on upper cover; lower cover wraps around upper cover with leather ties; decorative leatherwork on spine.

Layout

Written in 2 columns with vertical bounding lines in lead; the large column on the left with the description of the transaction, and the smaller one on the right with the its amount. Sometimes long lines are used to write a closing statement (usually one for each month).

Script

Written in the hand of Francesco Padovani. .

Provenance

• Sold by Bernard M. Rosenthal, 1961.
   

Subjects topical

• Cookery, Italian--History
• Food habits--Italy--Florence--History--18th century
• Accounting--Italy--18th century

Genres

• Codices
• Accounts
• Ledgers (account books)
• Manuscripts, Italian--18th century
• Manuscripts, European

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/