Description of University of Pennsylvania Ms. Codex 2379: De officiis / University of Pennsylvania 2026-07-20 2026-07-20 These images and the content of Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts Ms. Codex 2379: De officiis / 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/. Metadata is ©2026 University of Pennsylvania Libraries and 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/. Title from spine. 3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6206 University of Pennsylvania Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts Ms. Codex 2379 9979828269303681 http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1596079990 15th-century Italian humanistic copy of Cicero's De officiis, a philosophical work on virtues and social duties and responsibilities, framed as a letter to Cicero's son Marcus. With marginal and interlinear notes, including a few marginal notes in Greek corresponding to mentions of Greek language or thought in the Latin text (f. 12r, 31r, 33v, 39r). Added notes in an informal cursive script at the end of the volume begin with "Si cupis omnia" and end with the Seven Ages of the World (f. 83v-84v). Some leaves in this manuscript are palimpsests with faintly visible undertext; they appear to be from 14th-century Italian documents written on one side only (for example, f.14v, 18v, 19r, 23r, 29r, 33r, 42v, 43r), with three notaries' marks also faintly visible (f.19r, 77r, 80v) (Christie's). Latin, with a few marginal notes in Greek (f. 12r, 31r, 33v, 39r) De officiis / Cicero, Marcus Tullius former owner Goodhart, Howard Lehman, 1884?-1951 former owner Gordan, Phyllis Walter Goodhart

parchment

 84 leaves : 200 x 135 (140 x 80) mm bound to 205 x 150 mm

Parchment, iii (19th-20th century paper) + 84 + iii (19th-20th century paper); 1-7¹²; modern foliation in pencil, [1-84], upper right recto; catchwords lower center final verso (f. 12v, 24v, 36v, 48v, 60v, 72v).

 Written in 29 long lines; ruled in faint ink. Written in a humanistic book hand.

20th-century full vellum over pasteboards, Cicero De Officiis 15th Century in gilt capitals on spine.

Written in Italy in the mid-15th century (Christie's).

between 1425 and 1475? Italy Sold at auction at Sotheby's (London) as "The Property of a Lady," misidentified as the Rhetorica, 23 January 1950, lot 446 (Christie's). Purchased by Maggs Bros. (London) at the Sotheby's sale, 23 January 1950 (Christie's). Purchased from Maggs Bros. by New York stockbroker and bibliophile Howard Lehman Goodhart, 5 May 1950 (note of date of purchase on Maggs typescript description inside back cover; leather book label inside front cover). Later owned by Renaissance scholar Phyllis Goodhart Gordan (leather book label inside front cover; 1913-1994, New York; daughter of Howard Lehman Goodhart; B.A., Bryn Mawr College, 1935, and M.A., Radcliffe College, 1938; founding member of the Renaissance Society of America, one of the first women admitted to membership of the Grolier Club, and trustee of the American Academy in Rome, the New York Public Library, and Bryn Mawr College), possibly after her father's death in 1951, her MS 108 (label at foot of spine, note in pencil in upper left corner of first flyleaf). Held on deposit in the Bryn Mawr College Library (Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania), possibly from Phyllis Goodhart Gordan's death in 1994 until 2025, BMC 58 (Christie's). Sold at auction at Christie's (London) in the collection of Phyllis Goodhart Gordan, 10 December 2025, lot 10. Conduct of life--Early works to 1800 Philosophy--Early works to 1800 codices (bound manuscripts) Manuscripts, Latin--15th century Manuscripts, Renaissance