This manuscript contains the Fiore di virtù e de costumi (Flower of Virtue and of Manners), an Italian work on virtues and vices that was composed in the early 14th century. It consists of 36 chapters, each of which discusses a particular virtue or vice by drawing a comparison with an animal, citing Classical, late Antique and medieval authors for moral explanations, and providing an exemplum (or story) that illustrates the chapter’s moral point. This copy of the text is imperfect at the end. The text is briefly continued in a later, 15th-century hand (on f. 49r). Another illustrated copy of the work housed at the British Library is Add MS 14816. - [British Library catalog description]

Illustrated with simple watercolor drawings in green, brown, red and blue.

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British Library