Manuscripts in the Biblioteca Marciana

The collection of the Marciana Library contains 4,639 manuscripts and 13,117 manuscript volumes. Its historical nucleus is the private collection of Cardinal Bessarion, which was donated to the Republic of Venice in 1468.

Manuscripts

Some significant manuscripts in the collection include:

Greek

Gr. Z. 196 (=743): commentary by Olympiodorus on Plato's Gorgias and Alcibiades (ninth century) on-line
Gr. Z. 228 (=406): includes Books I and II of Peri PsychÃÂs by Aristotle with commentary by Simplicius of Cilicia and Sophonias and paraphrases by Themistius together with commentary by Pseudo-Diadochus on Plato's Timaeus, commentary by Simplicius of Cilicia on Aristotle's Peri OuranoÃÂ», commentary by Ammonius HermiaeÃ¢ÂÂs on Plato's Phaedrus, and commentary by Proclus on Plato's Parmenides. (fourteenth century) on-line
Gr. Z. 313 (=690): MathematikÃÂ© sÃÂ½ntaxis by Ptolemy (tenth century)
Gr. Z. 388 (=333): GeÃÂgraphikÃ¡Â¸Â HyphÃ¡Â¸ÂgÃÂsis by Ptolemy with 27 map projections, commissioned by Bessarion and attributed to John Rhosos (fifteenth century)
Gr. Z. 395 (=921): Romaiki istoria by Cassius Dio, the oldest manuscript containing Books XLIV, 35, 4Ã¢ÂÂLX, 28, 3 (ninth century)
Gr. Z. 447 (=820): DeipnosophistaÃÂ by Athenaeus of Naucratis, the oldest surviving and most complete extant text (tenth century) on-line
Gr. Z. 453 (=821): "Homerus Venetus B" (eleventh century) on-line
Gr. Z. 454 (=822): "Homerus Venetus A", text of Homer's IliÃÂ¡s epic with annotations, glosses, and commentaries (tenth century) on-line
Gr. Z. 460 (=330): commentary on Homer's OdÃÂ½sseia by Eustathius of Thessalonica, autograph copy (twelfth century)
Gr. Z. 479 (=881): Cynegetica by Oppian of Apamea and Vita Oppiani by Constantine Manasses, the oldest illustrated version with 150 miniatures (eleventh century)
Gr. Z. 481 (=863): Anthologia Planudea, autograph copy of Greek epigrams by Maximus Planudes (1299Ã¢ÂÂ1301) on-line

Italian

It. VIII, 2 (=2796): De architectura by Antonio Averulino, commissioned for Matthias Corvinus and illustrated with 152 designs (fifteenth century) on-line
It. IX, 276 (=6902): Divina Commedia by Dante Alighieri, illuminated with 170 miniatures (fourteenth century) on-line

Latin

Lat. Z. 549 (=1597): "Codex Cumanicus", handbook of the Cuman language for missionaries with glossaries and a collection of religious texts, linguistic data, and folkloric materials (fourteenth century) on-line
Lat. I, 99 (=2138): "Breviarium Grimani", Breviary illuminated by the Flemish miniaturists Gerard Horenbout and Alexander and Simon Bening, once belonging to Cardinal Domenico Grimani (c. 1515Ã¢ÂÂ1520) on-line
Lat. I, 103 (=11925): "Evangelistarium Grimani", Gospel illuminated by Benedetto Bordone and Giulio Clovio for Cardinal Marino Grimani (1528) on-line
Lat. VI, 86 (=2593): De remediis by Francesco Petrarch and Cato Maior de senectute by Cicero (fourteenth century)
Lat. VI, 254 (=2976): Historia naturalis by Pliny the Elder, illuminated copy commissioned by Pico della Mirandola (1481)
Lat. XII, 68 (=4519): De bello punico by Silius Italicus, illuminated by Zanobi Strozzi and Francesco Pesellino (fifteenth century) on-line
Lat. XIV, 35 (=4054): De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii by Martianus Capella, illuminated by Attavante degli Attavanti for Matthias Corvinus (fifteenth century) on-line

Oriental languages

Or. 90 (= 57): ÃÂ°skendernÃÂ¢me by Taceddin ÃÂ°brahim bin Hizir AhmedÃÂ®, illuminated Ottoman version of the Alexander Romance (fifteenth century)

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Biblical manuscripts

Old Testament

Gr. Z. 1 (=320): Old Testament (beginning with the Book of Job), companion to the Vatican codice Vat. Gr. 2106 (eighth century) on-line
Gr. Z. 17 (=421): "Psalmi cum catena", the 150 Psalms with commentary and illustrations, (tenth-early eleventh century) on-line
Gr. Z. 538 (=540): "Catena in Job", text of the Book of Job with catena and 30 miniatures (905)

New Testament

Cartography

Fra Mauro map
It. Z. 76 (=4783): "Bianco world map", nautical atlas by Andrea Bianco with eight portolan charts and two world maps (1436) on-line
It. VI, 213 (=5982): "Corbitis Atlas" (early fifteenth century) on-line

Music manuscripts

There are some important music manuscripts. The composers represented include:

Francesco Cavalli operas (from the collection of mostly Venetian opera manuscripts amassed by Marco Contarini, which was donated to the Biblioteca Marciana in 1843). Works include La Calisto (1651) and Erismena (1655, 1670).
Domenico Scarlatti keyboard sonatas (volumes acquired from the singer Farinelli).

Notes

References

Labowsky, Lotte, Bessarion's Library and the Biblioteca Marciana, Six Early Inventories (Rome: Storia e Letteratura, 1979)
Raines, Dorit, 'Book Museum or Scholarly Library? The Ã¢ÂÂLibreria di San MarcoÃ¢ÂÂ in a Republican Context', Ateneo veneto, CXCVII, terza serie, 9/II (2010), 31Ã¢ÂÂ50 ()
Rapp, Claudia, 'Bessarion of Nicaea', in Anthony Grafton, Glenn W. Most, and Salvatore Settis, ed., The Classical Tradition (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2010), pp. 125Ã¢ÂÂ126
Zanetti, Antonio Maria, ed., GrÃÂ¦ca D. Marci Bibliotheca codicum manu scriptorum per titulos digesta (Venetiis: Casparis Ghirardi & Simonem Occhi, 1740)
Zanetti, Antonio Maria, ed., Latina et italica D. Marci Bibliotheca codicum manu scriptorum per titulos digesta (Venetiis: Casparis Ghirardi & Simonem Occhi, 1741)
Zorzi, Marino, Biblioteca Marciana Venezia (Firenze: Nardini, 1988)