Volume S 51 from the library of Walter Supersaxo (ca. 1402-1482), Bishop of Sion, and of his son Georg (ca. 1450-1529) contains two collections of Latin fables, the first printed, the second handwritten. The first part, printed around 1475 by Michael Wenssler in Basel (GW 7890), contains the Speculum sapientiae, which had erroneously been attributed to the holy bishop Cyril. This collection of 95 fables in Latin prose was probably compiled around 1337-1347 by the Italian Dominican Bongiovanni da Messina. The second part contains Aesop's fables in a Latin version in verse called “Fables by Anonymus Neveleti“ (after the name of the first publisher, Isaac Nicolas Nevelet, in the year 1610), which eventually were attributed to Gualterus Anglicus (12th century). This second, handwritten part was produced around 1474 by Georg Supersaxo's anonymous scribe. It is comparable to other copies that were produced for Georg Supersaxo around 1472-1474, at the time that the young man studied law in Basel. This group of manuscripts includes the classical writers (Terence, Sallust …) as well as texts known only to scholars (Augustinus Datus, Gasparinus Barzizius …). Glued to the pastedowns of S 51, there are parchment fragments with Latin excerpts from Aristotle's Physics (Book IV, in the translation of James of Venice). (esc)

Online Since: 03/22/2018