Description of University of Pennsylvania Oversize Ms. Codex 2397: De bellis civilibus. University of Pennsylvania 2026-08-06 2026-08-06 These images and the content of Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts Oversize Ms. Codex 2397: De bellis civilibus. 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. 1. f.1r-19v: Primus liber -- 2. f.20v-45r: Secundus -- 3. f.45r-60v: Tercius -- 4. f. 60v-81v:Quartus -- 5. f.81v-103r: Quintus -- 6. f.103r-106v: [Selections from the Illyric Wars]. 3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6206 University of Pennsylvania Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts Oversize Ms. Codex 2397 9979828269203681 http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1603144096 15th-century copy of Pier Candido Decembrio's Latin translation of Books 13-17 (presented as Books 1-5) of the Romana Historia, by the 2nd-century Greek historian Appianus of Alexandria, concerning the Roman civil wars from 146-70 BCE. An excerpt from Book 9, about the Illyrian people, is at the end of the manuscript (f. 103r-106v). Brief and frequent humanistic marginal notes through Book 1 and most of Book 2 (through f. 39r), with occasional marginal notes continuing into Book 4 (to f. 68r, with none after that). Latin De bellis civilibus. Appianus, of Alexandria translator Decembrio, Pier Candido, 1399-1477 former owner Heber, Richard, 1773-1833 former owner Phillipps, Thomas, Sir, 1792-1872 former owner Goodhart, Howard Lehman, 1884?-1951 former owner Gordan, Phyllis Walter Goodhart 1r Primus liber 20v Secundus 45r Tercius 60v Quartus 81v Quintus 103r [Selections from the Illyric Wars]

paper

Briquet Monts 11736 (Verona, 1450, 1456). 106 leaves : 315 x 230 (220 x 120) mm bound to 320 x 240 mm

Paper, i (18th/19th-century paper) + 106 + iii (18th/19th-century paper); 1-10¹⁰ 11⁸⁻²(-7, -8); modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto, [1-106]. Catchwords lower right last verso.

 Written in 52 long lines; vertical bounding lines ruled in lead, horizontals ruled in faint ink. Folio format. Written in semi-cursive humanistic script by multiple hands.

Plain vellum over pasteboards with 18th/19th-century leather title-piece in gilt capitals (Appianus, De bellis civilibus, trans. P. Candidus, MS. XVth cen.) (Christie's); Appianus Alexand. written in ink at head of spine; Phillipps label (8080) and two auction labels (121 and illegible) at foot of spine.

Written in Italy in the third quarter of the 15th century (after the death of Pope Nicholas V, intended dedicatee of the original translation, in 1455; supported by papermark).

after 1455 Italy Formerly owned by English book collector Richard Heber. Offered at auction by Evans (London) as part of the Heber collection, 10 February 1836, lot 121 (spine label; Christie's). Formerly owned by Sir Thomas Phillips, his ms. 8080 (spine label, notes in ink inside front cover and f. 1r). Offered at auction by Sotheby's (London), 15 June 1896, lot 13 (Christie's). Offered at auction by Sotheby's (London), 6 June 1898, lot 29 (Christie's). Offered by Jacques Rosenthal (Munich) in Catalogus XVII Librorum universa Catholicarum et literarum et rerum studia, 10 May 1899, number 2235 (Christie's). Offered by Jacques Rosenthal (Munich) in Katalog 47 (Bibliotheca Slavica, 1909), number 356 (Christie's). Offered by A. Rosenthal Ltd. (London) in catalogue 1 (Secular thought in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, 1939), number 2 (Christie's). Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd. (London), catalogue 799 (1948), number 33 (clipping inside front cover) (Christie's). Purchased from Maggs Bros. by New York stockbroker and bibliophile Howard Lehman Goodhart, December 1948 (note of date of purchase on Maggs clipping inside front cover; leather book label inside front cover). Later owned by Renaissance scholar Phyllis Goodhart Gordan (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 78 (former spine label laid inside front cover, 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 87 (Christie's). Sold at auction at Christie's (London) in the collection of Phyllis Goodhart Gordan, 10 December 2025, lot 29. Illyrian wars--Early works to 1800 Rome--History--Republic, 265-30 B.C--Early works to 1800 Rome--History--Civil War, 68-69--Early works to 1800 Rome--History--Civil War, 49-45 B.C--Early works to 1800 Rome--History--Civil War, 43-31 B.C--Early works to 1800 codices (bound manuscripts) histories (literary genre) Translations Manuscripts, Latin--15th century Manuscripts, Renaissance