Facsimile Highlights
The John Miller Burnam Classics Library possesses more than 200 facsimiles of important late antique, medieval, and renaissance manuscripts. The UC professor after whom the library is named was a Latin palaeographer, so the collection began with him. For several years the classics department did not offer Greek or Latin palaeography, which is reflected in the lacuna of acquisitions of facsimiles during the past couple of decades.
The facsimiles used to be collected to support the teaching of palaeography. Thus many of the facsimiles do not have much artistic value as several have no reproduced illuminations, and when there are illustrations, they are often not in color. Also, thanks to advanced digital technologies, facsimiles produced today often hold higher quality than yesterday's facsimiles. This is especially true for color and paper quality. For example, many current high-quality medieval manuscript facsimiles are produced using pergamenata, machine-made paper from Italy, which makes the paper not only look like parchment (coloring, intentional staining, and cockling) but also feel like it. Some of the library's high-quality manuscript facsimiles such as the 'Vienna Dioscurides' and the 'Joshua Roll' do remind one of parchment in color and shading but not to the touch. Also, as the library serves a department focused on classical antiquity, philology, and archaeology, the recent lack of collecting of medieval and Renaissance facsimiles has reflected this. According to Giovanni Scorcioni of 'Facsimile Finder,' 'Illuminated' manuscript facsimiles nowadays are usually produced for private collectors in the U.S., Italy, Spain, and Germany and for medieval and Renaissance art historians, not for classical philologists or libraries.
Notwithstanding the caveats above, the Classics Library's facsimile collection is amazing. I often tell incoming students and faculty that there is no need for them to travel to the Vatican, Leiden, or Florence since all the manuscripts they may need are in the Burnam Library, such as the Venetus A, the most important manuscript of Homer's Iliad, both the Lucretian 'Oblongus' and 'Quadratus' manuscripts, the 'Laurentian Sophocles,' and 'Menander's Cairo Codex.' It is of course also satisfying to be able to show high school students and our many visitors some of the more eye-popping facsimiles such as the 'Belser Ptolemy,' the 'Sacrament of Metz,' the 'Roman Virgil,' and the 'Menologion of Basil II.'
The following lists just a few of the Burnam Library facsimiles, most of which are located in one room, also named after Burnam in order to honor his last wish, The John Miller Burnam Palaeography Library, a.k.a. The Scriptorium.
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Antiquity
Book of the Dead.
Funerary text, originally written on papyrus in the New Kingdom Egypt, ca. 1500-ca. 50 BCE. It was often copied well into Graeco-Roman times. The image here is from the Papyrus of Ani created ca. 1250 BCE and held in the British Museum.
Facsimile: London: Paul, 1898. Translation by E. A. W. Budge. This facsimile was acquired by John Miller Burnam himself as witnessed by the only existing portrait (painted) of Burnam in which he is examining it.
The Poems by Bacchylides.
The original papyrus (Pap. DCCXXXIII) from the first century BCE is in the British Museum. It was discovered in Egypt in 1896.
Facsimile: London: Printed by order of the Trustees of the British Museum: sold at the museum 1897. Edited by Frederic G. Kenyon.
Hyperides.
Hyperidou logoi II. The orations of Hyperides in defense of Lycophron and Euxenippus. The papyrus fragments from ca. 150 BCE were discovered in Thebes, Egypt, in 1847 by Churchill Babington, Fellow of St. John's College and Disney Professor of Archaeology. Upon Churchill's death, his widow gave the fragments to the St. John's College Library at Cambridge University. Now they are located in the British Library (Pap. XCVIII).
The facsimile was published by Cambridge University Press in 1853 with an account by Joseph Arden of the discovery of the manuscript. The text is edited with notes and illustrations by Churchill Babington.
Late Antiquity
The Vienna Dioscurides
The original (Codex Vindobonensis med. Gr. 1) is dated to ca. 512 and is held in the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna. It contains herbal cures with texts and images, beginning with this depiction of a peacock. For more details, click on the following link and scroll down to the last entry, The Vienna Dioscurides. One of the library's Vienna Dioscurides facsimiles (not in color) was published in Leiden: A.W. Sijthoff, 1906 (series Codices Graeci et Latini); the nicer one is a high-quality facsimile entirely in color and on parchment-looking paper from Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1965-1970. It contains 491 fol. leaves with the pharmacopeia of Dioscorides, Carmen de viribus herbarum, a paraphrase of Nicander's Theriaca and a paraphrase of Nicandri Alexipharmaca by Eutecnios, a paraphrase of Oppianus' Halleutica, a paraphrase of Dionysius' Ornithiaca, and 6 leaves of a Greek book of legends for the month of Jan. in an 11th cent. script.
The Burnam Library also owns a facsimile of the so-called 'Naples Dioscurides.' The original manuscript of that one (Codex Neapolitanus Graecus 1) is dated to the 7th century and is held by Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III di Napoli. The facsimile of the Naples Dioscurides is also from Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1988.
The Vienna Dioscurides.
This full-page miniature depicts Dioscurides and the goddess or nymph of discovery and invention, Heuresis (hence, eureka!).
The Vergilius Vaticanus.
The original manuscript (MS Vat. lat. 3225) is dated to ca. 400 and is held in the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. It is fragmentary and now contains only portions of the Aeneid, the Georgics, and the Eclogues.
The facsimile is from Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1980.
The Vergilius Vaticanus.
It was an inspiration for the paintings of Raphael and his school, and owned by Pietro Bembo, and later by Fulvio Orsini. 50 of the original ca. 280 miniatures have survived. The script uses rustic capitals.
The Vergilius Romanus.
The Roman Virgil. The original manuscript (Cod. Vat. lat. 3867) is dated to the late 5th century and is held in the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. It may have been acquired by Charlemagne as it was taken from Rome to Paris. It was confiscated by Napoleon in 1797. In 1816, it was returned to Rome from the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris. 19 of the original 42 miniatures have survived. The script of the few text passages that have survived uses capitalis rustica.
Facsimile: Zürich: Belser, 1985-1986. Commentary vol. (1986) by Carlo Bertelli and others includes a bibliography and index. Both are contained in a beautiful wooden glass case.
Aristotle. The Constitution of Athens.
The papyrus (Pap. 131) was discovered in Hermopolis, Egypt. It is probably from the 2nd century. The original is now in the British Library.
Facsimile: London: Printed by order of the Trustees of the British Museum; sold at the Museum and by Longmans and Co.,1891. Preface signed: Edward Scott, keeper of mss.
Aristotle. Constitution of Athens.
Through papyrus reuse there are also parts of scholia for Callimachus' Aetia and Demosthenes' In Midiam.
The Cairo Codex of Menander.
The original manuscript (P. Cair. J.43227) dates to the 6th century and is held in the library of the University of Cairo. It belonged to Dioscurus of Aphrodito, Egypt. It contains large sections of the Girl from Samos, the Girl with the Shaven Head, and the Arbitration.
Facsimile: London: University of London, Institute of Classical Studies, 1978. A photographic edition was prepared under the supervision of H. Riad and Abd el-Kadr Selim, with a preface by L. Koenen.
The Cairo Codex of Menander.
Papyrus fragment from The Girl from Samos.
Byzantium
The Rabbula Gospels.
The Rabbula Codex. The original Syriac manuscript (MS. Plut. I. 56) is from the 6th century and is held in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence.
Facsimile: Oltun: Urs Graf, 1959.
The Rabbula Gospels.
It is named after the scribe, the monk Rabbula in Zagba (Mesopotamia), Monastery of St. John.
The Ilias Ambrosiana.
The Ambrosian Iliad. The original manuscript (Cod. F. 205 in f.) is from the 5th century and is held in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan.
Facsimile: Bern/Olten: Urs Graf, 1953.
The Ilias Ambrosiana.
It contains mostly colored pasted fragment illustrations as the original manuscript illustrations were cut out losing much of the text. Some texts on the reverse of the pictures were pasted over with paper which was later removed, revealing the text underneath written in Greek uncials.
The Codex Petropolitanus Purpureus.
The Purple Codex. Ο πορφυρούς κώδιξ των ευαγγελίων Πάτμου και Πετρουπόλεως. The original Byzantine manuscript is from the 6th century and is named after the pages of the parchment which were dyed purple. The original manuscript was badly dismembered so there are individual leaves in various libraries throughout the world although the largest portion is in the National Library of Russia in St. Petersburg.
Facsimile: Athens: Milētos, 2002.
The Purple Codex.
Greek uncial script on purple-colored parchment.
The Joshua Roll.
Byzantine (ca. 950) manuscript (MS Vat. Pal. gr. 431). The original is in the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. Previous owners include Niccolò Leonic Tomeo and Ulrich Fugger. It contains 15 fragments of varying lengths. The texts and images are from the Book of Joshua from the Hebrew Bible.
The facsimile was published by Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1983.
The Laurentian Sophocles.
The original manuscript (Cod. laur. med. Plut. 31, 9) is from the 12th century and is held in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence.
Facsimile: London: Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, 1885. With an introduction by E. M. Thompson and R. C. Jebb.
The Laurentian Sophocles.
The beginning of Antigone.
"The Greek Iliad" or Songs of Homer's Iliad.
Homerou Iliados rhapsodiai. Codex Pluteus 32.4 is held in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence. It is dated to the 15th century.
Facsimile: Alimos: Ephesos, 2002. Edited by D.N. Marōnitēs, Sophia Kotzampasē, I. Giovanna Rao.
"The Greek Iliad."
The scribe is Dimitrios Damilas from Crete.
The Laurentian Aeschylus.
The original manuscript (MS Plut. 32, 9) is held in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence, and is dated to ca. 1000.
The facsimile from 1896 was published under the auspices of the Ministero dell'Istruzione Pubblica, Italy.
The Laurentian Aeschylus.
The beginning of Agamemnon.
Aristophanes
Contains Plutus, Clouds, Frogs, Knights, Birds, Peace, and Wasps.
The original manuscript (Codex venetus Marcianus. 474) is held in the Biblioteca Marciana, Venice, and is from the 12th century.
Facsimile: London: Archaeological Institute of America, 1902, with a preface by John Williams White and an introduction by Thomas W. Allen. Series: Codices Graeci et Latini.
The Burnam Library possesses ca. 20 facsimiles in this series, e.g., Plato (Cod. Oxoniensis Clarkianus 39), Plautus (Cod. Heidelbergensis 1613 Palatinus C.), Tacitus (Cod. Laurentiana Mediceus 68 I), Livy (Cod. Vindobonensis Lat. 15), Propertius (Cod. Guelferbytanus Gudianus 224 olim Neapolitanus), Cicero Opera philosophica (Cod. Leidensis Vossianus 84) and De natura deorum, de diuinationem, de legibus (Cod. Heinsianus, Leidensis), and several others.
The Laurentian Gospels.
The original is a Byzantine manuscript (MS. Plut. 6.23) from the late 11th century and is held in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence.
Facsimile: Athens: Hellēnikes Homoiographikes Ekdoseis, 2010.
The Laurentian Gospels.
Greek minuscule script.
The Menologion of Basil II.
A church calendar. The original was created ca. 1000 for Byzantine emperor Basil II. One of its owners was Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. The original is in the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.
Facsimile from Milan: Jaca, 1994.
The Menologion of Basil II.
Greek minuscule script.
Homer's Iliad (Venetus A).
Homeri Ilias cum scholiis. The original manuscript (Codex Venetus A, Marcianus Graecus 454, now 822) is dated to the 10th century and is held in the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice. It is commonly believed that the A scholia derive from the work of Aristarchus. It contains the Iliad, Life of Homer, and the Epic Cycle (minus the Cypria). It was given by Cardinal Bessarion, a Greek scholar, to the Republic of Venice.
Facsimile: Leiden: A. W. Sitjhoff, 1901. Preface by Dominico Comparetti. Series: Codices Graeci et Latini.
Homer's Iliad (Venetus A).
The original manuscript is illustrated. This left verso depicts the three goddesses, Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena, and the so-called beauty contest or the Judgment of Paris, the catalyst for the events of the epos, at the beginning of book I.
Anthologia Palatina.
The original manuscript Codex Palatinus et Codex Parisinus (MS Pal. Gr. 23) is from ca. 980 and is held in the Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg and (a smaller part of the manuscript) in the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Gr. Suppl. 384).
Facsimile: Leiden: A. W. Sijthoff, 1911. Preface by Karl Preisendanz. Series: Codices Graeci et Latini.
The Greek Alexander Romance.
Το Μυθιστόρημα του Αλεξάνδρου.
The original manuscript (Codex Gr. 5) from the 16th century is held at the Hellenic Institute in Venice. It narrates the historical and fantastical adventures of Alexander the Great. It was originally written sometime between the 3rd century BCE and the 3rd century CE and became very popular during the Middle Ages. 18 manuscripts with the Greek text have survived.
Facsimile: Athens: Exandas, 1997. Introduction by Nikoletta S. Trachoulia.
The Greek Alexander Romance.
The scene is of Alexander being invited to dine with the Persian king Darius.
(Western) Middle Ages
Horace.
Facsimile of a manuscript (Cod. laur. med. Plut 34. 1) of the late 10th or early 11th century, once the property of Petrarch and now in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence.
Facsimile: Rome: Istituto poligrafico dello stato, 1933. Cover made of leather with metal corners and medallions on the front and back covers, and metal clasps.
Horace.
Horace's Carmen saeculare with marginal scholia, possibly by Petrarch.
Petrarch's Virgil.
The original manuscript (MS A 79 olim S.P. 10/27) from the 14th century is held in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan. The manuscript contains Virgil’s Bucolics, Georgics and Aeneid, accompanied by Servius’ exegesis, Statius' Achilleid, four odes by Horace (II 3, II 1O, II 16 and IV 7) with a commentary by pseudo-Acron, and two exegeses of the Barbarismus, the third book of Aelius Donatus’ Ars maior. Many of the annotations are by Petrarch. The famous author and scholar is said to have died with this book in his hand.
Facsimile: Milan: Hoepli, 1930. Francisci Petrarcae Vergilianvs codex, ad Pvblii Vergilii Maronis diem natalem bis millesimvm celebrandvm qvam simillime expressvs atqve in lvcem editvs, ivvantibvs Bibliotheca Ambrosiana et Regia in Insvbribvs academia stvdiis doctrinae litterisqve provehendis; praefatvs est Iohannes Galbiati.
The Sacramentary of Charles the Bald (aka The Sacrament of Metz).
The original Carolingian manuscript (MS. Lat. 1141) is from the 9th century and is held in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.
Facsimile: Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1972.
The Sacrament of Metz.
The initial letter T of the Eucharistic prayer Te igitur forms the cross of the Crucifixion on the page that opens that prayer.
Carolingian minuscule script.
The Sacrament of Metz.
A series of frontispiece miniatures show Christ enthroned within a mandorla and surrounded by evangelist symbols and angels.
The Lindisfarne Gospels.
Evangeliorum Quattuor Codex Lindisfarnensis. The original is held in the British Library, previously in the British Museum (Codex Cottonianus Nero D. IV), and is from ca. 700.
Facsimile: Oltun and Lausanne: Urs Graf, 1960. Published by Permission of The Trustees of The British Museum. Preface by T. D. Kendrick. Edited by T. I. Brown, R.l.S. Bruce-Mitford, H. Roosen-Runge, A. S. C. Ross, E. G. Stanley, and A.E.A. Werner. Photographs by F. Schwitter, color printing and binding by Otto Walter, monochrome printing by offset, printed In Switzerland. Sole distribution in the United States by Philip C. Duschnes, New York.
The Lindisfarne Gospels.
It originated in the Lindisfarne Abbey in northeastern England. It is written in Latin with a later interlinear translation in Anglo-Saxon. The scribe was Eadfrith, bishop of Lindisfarne.
The Book of Kells.
Insular style gospel book. The original manuscript (MS. A.I. 6) is from ca. 800 and is held in the Trinity College Library, Dublin. Originally from the island of Iona (Hebrides?). In the 17th century, it was taken to Dublin by Oliver Cromwell. The artists used a good deal of lapis lazuli, brought from mines in Afghanistan.
Facsimile: Bern: Urs Graf Verlag, sole distribution in the United States: P. C. Duchesne, New York, 1950-51. Edited by E. H. Alton, with a preface by P. Meyer.
The Book of Kells In three volumes, volume I reproduction of Folios 1-182, volume II reproduction of Folios 183-339 end, volume III Introductory. Color photographs and blocks by F. Schwitter Ltd., Basel, monochrome photographs by Fine Art Engravers Ltd., London, color printing and binding by Otto Walter Ltd., Olten, heliogravure by Funke & Saurenmann and W. Stierli, Zurich / Oerlikon. Printed in Switzerland. Few illustrations in color.
The Book of Kells.
Half uncial script.
The Book of Kells.
This edition contains reproductions in color.
It was published in New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1974.
The Book of Kells.
Reproductions in color published in New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1974.
The Liber Floridus.
A Flower Book by Lambert of Saint-Omer (or Martianus Capella). The original manuscript (Cod. Guelf. 1 Gud. Lat.) is dated to the mid-12th century and is held in the Wolfenbüttel Herzog August Bibliothek.
Facsimile: Ghent: Story-Scientia, 1968. Introduction in English, translated by R. Derolez.
The Lucretian Oblongus (O).
or the Vossianus Oblongus manuscript (Voss. Lat. F 30). Dated to ca. 800 and created in the Palace School of Charlemagne. In places, the text is emended by Dungal (see e.g., folio 19 recto below). It is written in Carolingian minuscule. The Burnam Library also owns a facsimile of the Quadratus (Q) in the same facsimile series, Codices Graeci et Latini. Facsimile: Leiden: A. W. Sijthoff, 1908.
The Lucretian Oblongus (O).
Corrections by Dungal, 19 recto.
Medicina Antiqua.
The original Gothic manuscript from ca. 1200-1225 is in the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna.
The facsimile is from Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1971.
The Lorsch Rotulus.
Liturgical Carolingian manuscript from ca. 1000 in Lorsch, Germany (MS Barth. 179).
The original is in the Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg, Frankfurt.
The facsimile is from Graz: Akademische Druck-u. Verlagsanstalt, 1994.
The Lorsch Rotulus.
Carolingian script.
The Exultet Roll.
The original is in the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana and is dated to 981-987, and is from Benevento, Italy. Liturgical book for Easter Saturday (text and song).
The facsimile was published in Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1975.
The Exultet Roll.
It contains 14 miniatures. The style is both Romanesque and Byzantine.
Tibulli Carmina.
Tibullus' poems, with Ovid's Heroides 15 (Sappho's imaginary letter to Phaon). The original manuscript (Cod. Guelferbytanus 82.6 Aug) is held in the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel, Germany. The date is uncertain but may be the 10th or 11th century judging by the Lombard script but written on parchment dated to the early 14th century.
Facsimile: Leiden: A. W. Sijthoff, 1910 (Codices Graeci et Latini). Preface by Friedrich Leo.
The Peutinger Table.
Tabula peutingeriana. The original codex (Codex Vindobonensis 324) dated to ca. 1200 is in the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek. It maps the roads of the Roman Empire from Sri Lanka in the east to the Atlantic in the west. Konrad Peutinger was an antiquarian who owned the manuscript in the 15th-16th century, not the originator.
Facsimile: Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1976. Commentary by Ekkehard Weber.
The Peutinger Table.
Constantinople and Asia Minor.
Constantinople is personified as a female warrior on a throne. Close by is a tower surmounted by a statue of Emperor Constantine.
Bible Moralisée.
The original manuscript (Codex Vindobonensis 2554) originated in Paris ca. 1230 and is held in the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek. To the left in the full page miniature is depicted 'God as Architect.' There were at least 7 picture Bibles created for the French royal family from the 13th to the 15th centuries by various miniaturists such as the Dutch Limbourg Brothers, Colin d'Amiens and others.
Facsimile: Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1973.
Bible Moralisée.
A "picture Bible" with Biblical scenes within medallions.
Renaissance
The Belser Facsimile of Ptolemy's Cosmographia.
The first Latin translation from Greek by Jacobo d'Angelo in 1472, illuminations by Francesco Rosselli, commissioned by Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino. The original (Codex Urb. Lat. 277) is in the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.
The codex contains maps of Europe, Asia, and Africa and a world map, as well as maps of major cities like Rome, Constantinople, Damascus, Alexandria, Venice, and Volterra (the rather modest town had lost a battle to Montefeltro). Many of the maps were later emendations. One of the world maps may be by Ptolemy.
Facsimile: Zurich: Belser Verlag, 1983.
Breviarium Grimani.
The Grimani Breviary.
The original is now in the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice and is dated to ca. 1515–1520 originating from Ghent and Bruges, Belgium.
The facsimile is bound in red velvet with a metal medallion holding a portrait of Antonius Grimanus. It includes 110 numbered plates of reproductions of miniatures by Hans Memling, Gerard van der Meire, and "Livien de Gand." Commissioned by Domenico Grimani.
The Riccardiana Virgil.
It contains the Eclogues, the Georgics, and the Aeneid. Apollonio di Giovanni illuminated the book for Lorenzo de Medici. The scribe was Niccolò Riccio. It is a manuscript of great interest for scholars of Renaissance Florence as it depicts architecture, shops, and clothes found in Florence at the time; for example, Priam's residence is the Palazzo Medici. The original manuscript (MS. 492) is from the mid-15th century and is held in the Biblioteca Riccardiana, Florence.
Facsimile: Florence: Mycron, 1969. Introduction by Berta Maracchi Biagiarelli.
The Riccardiana Virgil.
The eighty-eight miniature illuminations have been attributed to Apollonio di Giovanni. The manuscript was unfinished. The last miniatures were only partially painted or sketched.
Humanistic minuscule script.
By R. Lindau