Un nuovo manoscritto aristotelico appartenuto ad Aldo Manuzio (Ambr. B 7 inf. [= Gr. 837])

Inside the front cover of MS Milan, Ambrosiana B 7 inf. (= gr. 837), which contains Aristotle’s ‘Physics’ and ‘De anima’, there are two ex-libris which prove that it belonged to Aldo Manuzio. A palaeographical and codicological study of the MS permits a fresh dating (12th century) and a recon- struction of its history from traces left by 15th and 16th century readers (George Scholarios, Lauro Quirini, Nicholas Byzantios, Aldo Manuzio, Justin Decadyus, G.V. Pinelli and Michael Sophia- nos). Ink stains and finger-prints invite the inference that the MS was used in the printing press during the preparation of the most significant of all Aldine editions, the encyclopaedia of Peripatetic thought constituted by the five volumes of the Aldine Aristotle (1495-8).