[Ledger of Guasconi debtors and creditors and memoranda].

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Language:

Italian

Subjects (All):

Guasconi, Pierantonio.

Accounting--Italy--16th century.

Accounting.

Italy.

Genre:

codices (bound manuscripts)

accounts

credit records

inventories

ledgers (account books)

Manuscripts, Italian -- 16th century.

Manuscripts, Renaissance.

Penn Provenance:

Sold by Bernard M. Rosenthal, 1961.

Physical Description:

135 leaves : paper ; 277 x 213 mm bound to 290 x 217 mm + 1 folder (3 notes)

Place of Publication:

[Italy], 1544-1557.

Language Note:

Italian.

Summary:

Ledger of debtors and creditors and memoranda of Pierantonio Guasconi for the years 1544-1557. Often includes the nature of a given credit or debt and its amount, as well as listing the names of the individuals and institutions that hold the debt or credit. Among the names that appear throughout the ledger are Cosimo de' Medici; Raffaello and Ginevra di Ridolfo Torrigiani; Filippozzo di Lorenzo Gualterotti; Domenico di Piero Migliorati; Girolamo Lenzoni; and the comune of Florence. Most transactions appear to be debts or credits settled in cash and the counterparts are either members of the Florentine aristocracy, or the comune of Florence (that often needed private sources of credit to finance its activities). However, there are a number of transactions with workers such as a butcher, a carpenter, various builders, a perfume maker and a spice merchant, who were paid for their services. Pierantonio Guasconi owned and rented properties in Florence and at the countryside: in the ledger there are records of the payment of rent for a farm, referred to as Podere Antella, and for a house, located in the city, referred to as casa di citta. Memoranda contain descriptions of the circumstances that lead to the creation of a debt or a credit and often include the name of the counterparts and of the notary who supervised the transaction. Some household accessory inventories for the properties of the Guasconi estate are also present (furniture, linen and kitchen tools are among the items that appear in the inventories). 3 notes formerly laid in the manuscript are now in a separate folder shelved with the manuscript.

Contents:

1. f.1v-118v: [Debtors and creditors]

2. f.119r-130r: [Memoranda]

Notes:

Ms. codex.

Title supplied by cataloger.

Foliation: Paper, 135; [1-135], modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto; irregular contemporary pagination in Roman and Arabic numbers in ink, upper outer corners (f.114-117 and 131-135 are blank but ruled).

Layout: Written in 2 columns with vertical bounding lines in lead; the large column on the left with the debtor or creditor and a brief description of the credit or debt, and the smaller one on the right with the amount of the credit or debt. Usually credits are listed on the left page and debts on the right page of an opening, with the same individuals or institutions appearing as debtors or creditors on facing pages. Memoranda written in long lines.

Script: Written in cursive script, perhaps by multiple hands.

Watermark: Similar to Briquet, Echelle 5922 (Siena, 1495-1524).

Binding: Contemporary vellum; the heading Debitori e creditori di Pierantonio Guasconi on upper cover; lower cover wraps around upper cover with remnants of leather ties; decorative leatherwork on spine.

Origin: Written in Italy between 1544 (f. 1r) and 1557 (f. 130r).

Forms part of: Gondi-Medici Business Records.

Cited in:

Described in Zacour, Norman P. and Hirsch, Rudolf. Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Libraries of the University of Pennsylvania to 1800 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1965), p. 212 (Ms. Lea 345).

Cited as:

Ledger of Guasconi Debtors and Creditors (Oversize Ms. Codex 1425). Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania.

OCLC:

310963001