Lauren Burden Ranuzzi Manuscript Report: Esercizi Spirituali HRC Number: PH12591 October 1, 2012 I. Cover, Spine, Binding, and Board Cover Materials: Cover is dark brown leather over a stiff board. Measurements: Cover 185mm tall, 124mm wide, and 32mm thick. Outer ruling (non- gilt) 185mm by 120mm. 2 nd ruling (gilt) measures 180mm by 110mm. Inner ruling (gilt) 170mm by 110mm. Decoration: Leather shows signs of mottling, possibly with an acid process. Front and back covers are both ruled with three lines, the outer line extending to the edges of the cover, and the inner two lines tooled with gilt. In each of the four corners, there is a gilded acanthus leaf design set at a 45 degree angle to the rulings. Condition: Intact, with wear consisting mostly of scuff marks on both the front and back covers as well as wear along the edges of the cover where the leather finish has sloughed off and the light brown underlayer is visible. A very small hole present in the back cover goes through to the board but not all the way through the pastedown. Squares show some signs of curvature in all four locations. Other: A white label (46mm by 61mm) with the number 139 written in dark brown script is pasted onto the top left corner. This is the Baroque shelf mark from the original Ranuzzi library. Also written on the label in pencil is the manuscript s Phillipps number 12591 PH. The label shows little wear, but the bottom left corner is beginning to peel up.
Spine Materials: The spine consists of the same dark brown leather as the cover with 4 raised bands occurring every 35mm. Measurements: 185mm tall and 32mm thick. Four raised bands divide the spine into five segments, each measuring 27mm by 30mm. Decoration: All of the decoration on the spine is gilt tooling. Each of the raised bands found on the spine is decorated with a scrolling floral design bordered on both sides by a geometric design. In each of the five segments there is an upright acanthus leaf accented with one gold dot above and below it, two gold dots on either side, and four small diagonal fleur- de- lis in each corner. In the fifth (bottom) segments there are two paper numbers pasted onto the spine. At the top of the segment is a small rectangular piece of paper with the number 12591 printed on it in black typeface. This corresponds with the 12591 PH found penciled on the Ranuzzi shelf mark on the front cover. At the base of the segment is a small circular piece of paper with the number 128 written on it in brownish ink. This corresponds with the Puttick 128 found penciled on the title page. Both numbers show some evidence of browning. Binding Materials: Tightly woven with what appears to be green thread at the head and tail bands. A thicker thread has been used to bind the text block to the cover and can be seen in the gutter between the pastedown and title page, but it is almost impossible to discern because the book is so intact.
Condition: Binding is very tight. Some separation can be seen between the front cover, title page, and pastedown, but no such separation is present at the back of the book. Other: Very little sagging of the text block squares measure 4mm at the head and 3mm at the tail. Board and Pastedowns Materials: Boards consist of a very stiff material and have been covered in dark brown leather. Front and end pastedowns are paper marbled in a blue, red, green, and yellow color scheme. Measurements: Both pastedowns measure 178mm by 117mm. Condition: Boards show no signs of warping or breakdown. The marbled pastedowns appear to have a brownish border around them, possibly due to the aging of the glue used to affix them. The colors in the pastedown appear to have faded somewhat, but still remain fairly vibrant. Front Pastedown II. Text Language: Italian with some Latin phrases Material: Very light cream paper, edges have been trimmed and sprinkled with bright red ink. Vertical chain marks are visible on each leaf with the wire marks running horizontally. The primary text is written in black ink with marginalia in a more sepia tone and underlining in a grey ink. Measurements: Leaves measure 177mm by 112mm. HRC Card Catalog lists this manuscript as a folio, but due to the size of the paper combined with the observation of vertical chain marks and the location of the watermarks (in the gutter at the top of the leaf), I believe this to be an octavo. The pages are all divided as follows top margin of 24mm, side margin of 34mm, and bottom margin of 36mm.
Title and Subject: Title is Esercizi Spirituali translated from Italian as Spiritual Exercises. The subject matter is a series of meditations on eternal truths as well as ways to live one s life for the glory of God. (This is a very rough translation of the first full page of text [3] that serves as a sort of introduction to the piece itself.) The title of the work is written in the center of the first leaf as ESERCIZI Spirituali. 401. No author s name is given on the title page or any subsequent leaves. In addition to the title found on the first leaf, there is written in pencil Puttick 128. Organization: There are 264 leaves in total and 528 pages. Every page is numbered except the title page and the two blank leaves at the end of the text. Pages are numbered with Arabic numerals found at the top right/top left of each page and the pagination runs [3-523]. In one instance, the page numbering is incorrect the pagination is indicated as [474, 475, 474, 477], completely leaving out [476]. The text is comprised of gatherings of 8 pages, 33 gatherings in total. The first four leaves of each gathering have signatures at the bottom of the text block a system of letters and numbers with the final four leaves of each gathering left free of these notations. 1 o The signatures start on the second leaf of the first gathering and begin as A2, continuing through A4, followed by 4 leaves without the notation. This pattern continues through the entire text (B, B2, B3, B4, etc.) and is fairly uniform for the entire alphabet. The letter J is left out completely (the I gathering is followed immediately by the K gathering) as well as the letters U and W (T followed by V and V followed by X). When the end of the alphabet (gathering Z) is reached, the letters are doubled and begin to be repeated gathering Z is followed immediately by gathering AA and the signatures continue all the way to gathering KK. o The two blank leaves at the end of the text seem to be just the final two leaves of gathering KK with the script ending on the sixth leaf of the gathering [523]. Features of the Text: The text does not contain any illumination, illustrations, or even varying colors of ink; however, it does have extensive underlining, marginalia, and catchwords. o Underlining all underlining is found in light grey ink, distinguishing it from the blank ink of the main text. It is present on [7, 11, 14, 22, 23, 25, 28, 31, 32, 34, 35, 36, 1 Gaskell, Philip. A New Introduction to Bibliography. New Castle, Delaware: Oak Knoll Press, 1995.
37, 38, 39, 40, 47, 54, 73, 75, 76, 77, 79, 80, 82, 96, 99, 103, 106, 115, 116, 129, 131, 134, 140, 148, 151, 153, 154, 169, 170, 172, 175, 184, 185, 187, 194, 200, 201, 202, 203, 206, 212, 213, 229, 230, 231, 233, 239, 242, 246, 247, 252, 253, 261, 263, 273, 274, 277, 280, 281, 282, 286, 288, 289, 290, 295, 296, 297, 298, 299, 300, 301, 302, 303, 305, 306, 307, 308, 309, 313, 316, 317, 319, 320, 321, 324, 326, 327, 330, 331, 332, 333, 336, 345, 347, 350, 353, 354, 356, 358, 362, 362, 367, 369, 370, 371, 377, 378, 379, 382, 385, 386, 392, 394, 399, 401, 403, 404, 406, 407, 408, 409, 410, 411, 412, 414, 415, 418, 419, 420, 422, 429, 439, 440, 441, 449, 456, 458, 463, 464, 465, 466, 467, 468, 470, 471, 474, 478, 480, 483, 484, 488, 495, 507, 519, 523] and appears to be a method of differentiating Latin text from Italian. Every single instance of underlining is Latin text; even the catchwords present at the bottom of every page are underlined if they are indicating a Latin word. o Marginalia the marginalia in this manuscript occurs in two forms. One of the forms is extremely organized and contained solely in the margins. It is of a brown ink and is written in a neat hand. This marginalia is found throughout the book on [12, 15, 17, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 49, 53, 55, 56, 57, 61, 205, 208, 209, 210, 214, 215, 216, 376, 378, 380, 382, 384, 386, 389, 391, 392, 395, 397, 401, 404, 408, 413, 415, 417, 419, 466, 467, 468, 469, 470, 471, 473, 475, 474 (see above observation about mistakes in pagination), 477, 478, 479, 481, 486, 488, 491, 492, 495, 496, 497, 498, 499, 501]. All of the margin notes found between [376] and [492] are numbered; in fact, some of those notes [392, 395, 397, 413, 415, 417, 419] consist of merely a number with no description/elaboration following it. The second form of marginalia is found only on [131]. While the ink appears to be a very similar color to the other marginalia, the positioning and hand are unique to this notation. Instead of being neatly contained in the margins, the note is written directly into the text, placed in between two paragraphs. The handwriting is not the orderly, easily read handwriting of either the main text or the other marginalia, and it appears to be in another language than Italian, although this could just be a matter of it being too messy to easily discern.
Marginalia Form 1 Marginalia Form 2 o Catchwords There are catchwords present at the bottom of every page with the exception of the title page and the two blank leaves at the end of the text. As previously noted, catchwords that appear in Latin are underlined while those in Italian are not. o Flourishes The final page of text [53] has IL FINE written in all capital letters followed by a flourish, signifying the end of the original text.
Watermarks: One watermark appears in the text on many different leaves a lion rampant encircled by an oval with what appears to be either the letter P or a staff at the top of the oval. Only one half of the watermark can be seen at any given time with either the top of the lion (head/mane, forelegs, tail, and P ) or the bottom of the lion (hind quarters only) being found in the gutter at the top of the leaf. While no discernible pattern could be found as to which part of the watermark would appear next, it was observed that every single gathering of the entire text has at least one and typically two or more watermarks in its leaves. A rough sketch of the watermark in its complete form looks something like this: o Location As the watermarks appear solely on leaves displaying signatures, locations within the text will be given in terms of the leaf notation rather than by the page number. The watermark has been photographed and labeled as Figure 1 and Figure 2 below: Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 1 appears on leaves A4, B3, C3, D, E4, F, G4, H, I4, K, L, M2, N2, O3, P3, Q4, R2, S2, T4, V2, X, X2, X4, Z2, CC, EE, EE2, EE3, FF, FF4, GG, GG3, II
Figure 2 appears on leaves A3, B2, C4, D3, E, F4, G, H4, I, K4, L4, M3, N3, O4, P2, Q, R4, S4, T, V3, Y, Y3, Y4, AA4, BB4, DD2, DD3, DD4, HH2, HH4, II4, KK3, KK4 o Identification: Although it has not been possible to find an exact replica of the watermark (none appears in Heawood 2, Churchill 3, or Briquet 4 ), it does appear similar to Figure 39 in Woodward 5 - - estimated to have been used in Italy circa 1590. Condition: The text shows some minimal signs of wear. The edges have been worn down on [91/92, 95/96, 154/155, 220/221, 351/352, 442-448]. Diagonal creasing is visible on the top corners of [104-112, 168-177, 202-208, 230-240, 266-272, 299-304, 331-336, 359-368, 393-400, 425-432, 460-464, 487-496], and it almost appears as if sections of the text were previously folded down and dog- eared. [378/379] is torn, but this is the only torn page throughout the entire manuscript. Some evidence of ink bleeding is present on [436] and there is staining visible on [353-356]. Slight foxing is found throughout the entire manuscript, but it is extremely minor. No visible repairs have been done to any of the paper or text. III. Scribal Hands There appear to be two different scribal hands present in the manuscript. The first hand is that of the main text a flowing, clear script that is easy to read and is very uniform from page to page. The main text is written in dark black ink with very little gradation of color. The majority of the marginalia also appears to be written in this hand, although the ink is a brownish color and the letter size is minimized. While the formation of certain letters (d and B, in particular) varies slightly from those found in the main text, most of the letters correspond. The second scribal hand is found only on page 131, and it appears as a small interjection between two paragraphs of text. It is written in a greyish brown ink and does not resemble the main text or other marginalia at all. While the script is very difficult to decipher, it appears not to be in Italian. 2 Heawood, Edward. Watermarks, mainly of the 17 th and 18 th centuries. Hilversum (Holland): Paper Publications Society, 1950. 3 Churchill, W. A. Watermarks in paper in Holland, England, France, etc. in the XVII and XVIII centuries and their interconnection. Amsterdam: Menno Hertzberger & Co., 1935. 4 Briquet, C. M. Les filigranes dictionnaire historique des marques du papier dès leur apparition ver 1282 jusqu en 1600. Ed. Allan Stevenson. Amsterdam: Paper Publications Society, 1968. 5 Woodward, David. Catalogue of watermarks in Italian printed maps ca. 1540-1600. Florence: L. S. Olschki, 1996.
IV. Publication and Provenance Publication: No author, publication date, or indication of content beyond the title Esercizi Spirituali can be found anywhere in the manuscript. It is known that Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus (or Jesuits), wrote his seminal work, Spiritual Exercises, in 1541, and the Latin Vulgate of the work was approved by the Holy See in 1548. This seems to correspond nicely to PH 12591, especially given the approximate dating of the watermark as circa 1590; however, upon close examination of both Ignatius Spiritual Exercises (in an English translation) and the Ranuzzi manuscript (working from a very rudimentary understanding of Italian), these two works do not seem to actually be the same. Ignatius exercises are designed as a week- by- week program and, as such, contain extremely specific, regimented, and subdivided instructions on behavior, prayer, and meditation 6. The few clearly delineated subdivisions of the Ranuzzi text do not appear to correspond to any of those in the Jesuit Spiritual Exercises. The Ranuzzi manuscript does not seem to be directly related to that of Ignatius despite sharing a title. No evidence of the importance of the number 401 (found after the title on the title page) could be found. Provenance: Manuscript PH 12591 passed through many hands before finding its way to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. The Baroque shelf mark and similarities in binding to other Ranuzzi manuscripts place it first in the Ranuzzi court library. Due to the presence of the Puttick number 128 penciled onto the title page and the corresponding pasted circle at the base of the spine, it can be deduced that the MS passed through the Puttick and Simpson auction house after the 19 th century dispersal of the Ranuzzi Library. From there it went to Sir Thomas Phillipps as indicated by the Phillipps number 12591 pasted onto the spine as well as the penciled PH 12591 on the Ranuzzi shelf mark. PH 12591 was part of the collection acquired by Dr. Harry H. Ransom in 1969 for the Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas. 7 6 Ignatius of Loyola. The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Trans. Fr. Elder Mullan, S.J. New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 1914. 7 Wells, Maria. The Ranuzzi Manuscripts: Selected and Described by Maria Xenia Zevelechi Wells. Austin, TX: the Humanities Research Center, the University of Texas at Austin, 1980.
Works Consulted Briquet, C.M. Les filigranes Dictionnaire historique des marques du papier des leur apparition vers 1282 jusqu'en 1600. Ed. Allan Stevenson. Amsterdam: Paper Publications Society, 1968. Churchill, W.A. Watermarks in Paper in Holland, England, France, etc. in the XVII and XVIII Centuries and their Interconnection. Amsterdam: Menno Hertzberger & Company, 1935. Gaskell, Philip. A New Introduction to Bibliographies. New Castle: Oak Knoll Press, 1995. Heawood, Edward. Watermarks, mainly of the 17th and 18th centuries. Hilversum: Paper Publications Society, 1950. Loyola, Ignatius of. The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Trans. S.J. Father Elder Mullan. New York: P.J Kenedy and Sons, 1914. Wells, Maria. The Ranuzzi Manuscripts: Selected and Described by Maria Xenia Zevelechi Wells. Austin: Humanities Research Center- The University of Texas at Austin, 1980. Woodward, David. Catalogue of watermarks in Italian printed maps ca. 1540-1600. Florence: L.S. Olschki, 1996.