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

Title

Ledger of Medici accounts

Authors

• Mecocci, Luca

Call number

Ms. Codex 1359
(Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Rare Book & Manuscript Library)

Alternate identifiers

• bibid: 4444523
• http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/medren/4444523

Publisher

The University of Pennsylvania Libraries

Language

Italian

Origin

Date

1695-1697

Place

Italy

Summary

Ledger of miscellaneous accounts of an unidentified member of the Medici family for the years 1695-1697 written by the bursar, referred in the manuscript as the spenditore, Luca Mecocci and other. 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. Sometimes the recipe for which the ingredient is purchased is also mentioned (for example, minced beef to make meatballs, of a specific shape of pasta to prepare a baked dish, vegetables to make minestrone). 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. There are also a few tax-related transactions (generally to be paid to the Medici family).

Notes

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

Watermark

Unidentified watermark containing a human figure.

Extent

272 leaves : 417 x 138 mm. bound to 434 x 145 mm

Foliation

Paper, i (paper) + 272 + i (paper); each folio has the same number on both recto and verso; rectos numbered 1-272, contemporary numeration in ink, upper right recto; versos numbered 1-272, contemporary numeration in ink, upper left verso (leaves 76-145, 209-224, 227-257 and 266-272 are blank but ruled).

Support

Paper

Binding

Contemporary parchment, no. 56 on spine; the heading Quad[erno] di spese 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 its amount. Sometimes long lines are used to write a closing statement (usually one for each month).

Script

Written in a cursive script, perhaps by multiple hands.

Provenance

• Sold by Bernard M. Rosenthal, 1961.
   

Subjects topical

• Cookery, Italian--History
• Food habits--Italy--Florence--History--17th century
• Accounting--Italy--17th century

Genres

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