Another Leaf of the Arrivabene Eusebius

Thanks to the kindness of Steven Galbraith of the Rochester Institute of Technology, I have just received images of some of the leaves I was unable to see in person while in Rochester this summer. They have all sorts of interesting items, but one in particular caught my attention, a detail of which is shown above.

A few years ago wrote a blogpost about "An Unnoticed Arrivabene Leaf at the Newberry Library" (here); it concerns one of two leaves formerly owned by Ernst F. Detterer (1888-1947) of Chicago, friend of Otto Ege, and now at the Newberry. I was unable to locate the second leaf, but I think it must be the one now at Rochester.

This newly discovered leaf provides us with a crucial piece of provenance information: the manuscript was Thomas Phillipps's MS 15362, as shown by his characteristic inscription in the lower margin:

Not only does this allow us to place it in Phillipps's vast collection, but makes it easy to trace its provenance backwards and forwards from the time of Phillipps's ownership.

I have not been able to verify most the information provided by the Schoenberg Database but present it here, for what it is worth, until the details can be verified or rejected:

By 1833: Richard Heber (1773–1833) [Wikipedia]: R.H. Evans, Bibliotheca Heberiana: Catalogue of the Library of the Late Richard Heber, Esq., Part the Eleventh: Manuscripts, 10 February 1836 and nine following days, lot 787, sold for £1 1s (1 guinea) [SDBM_46463]:

1857: "An amateur": Puttick and Simpson, Catalogue of the highly interesting and important collection of autographs & manuscripts from the cabinet of an amateur ... , 13 May 1857, lot 668 ([SDBM_63749]): reported to comprise 172 leaves.

1860?: Sir Thomas Phillipps, MS 15362, acquired from [London booksellers T. & W.] Boone:

The date at which Phillipps acquired the MS is uncertain, but he acquired MSS 15144-15355 and MSS 15363-15364 in 1860.

1898: Sotheby's, Further portion of the famous collection of classical, historical, topographical and other manuscript & autograph letters of the late Sir Thomas Phillipps, part 10, 6 June 1898, lot 372 (SDBM_59637); reported to have been bought by J. & J. Leighton for £2 4s and sold by them for £4 5s to "B", (presumably Charles Butler) (SDBM_272398):

By 1913: Charles Butler: Sotheby's, Catalogue of the Fourth Portion of the Extensive and Valuable Library of the late Charles Butler, Esq., 9 April 1913, lot 2979, bought by Leighton again, for £7 (SDBM_256617 cf. SDBM_259229).

By 1923: Messrs. J. & J. Leighton: Sotheby's, Catalogue of the Seventh and Final Portion of the Famous Stock of the late Mr. W. J. Leighton (who traded as Messrs. J. & J. Leighton), 12 December 1923, lot 6130, sold for £5 5s (5 guineas) to Thorp; now said to have 197 [sic] leaves, bound in "stamped leather over wooden boards, rebacked and repaired", and with a "coat-of-arms within a laurel wreath with initials I.P. at foot of page" (SDBM_272412).

We therefore know that the manuscript was broken up sometime between this 1923 auction and publication by de Ricci in 1935 Detterer's ownership:

In the post about the Newberry leaf I wrote that "It is in very good condition, and does not look as if it has been framed or exposed to light for very long, which increases the likelihood that it was removed from the volume no earlier than the 20th century." We now know that about 195 leaves must have been dispersed, perhaps in the USA, between 1923 and 1935: now that we know to look out for them, I am very confident that more will be recognised.