Per la storia di un codicetto dei Parva naturalia di Aristotele oggi a Bruxelles (Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique, II 4944) Da Andrea Matteo III Acquaviva d’Aragona a Federico Cesi alla collezione Nani alla Biblioteca Marciana

The manuscript Bruxelles, Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique – Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België (KBR), II 4944 ( Diktyon 10020), is a parchment manuscript of minimal dimensions, containing the Greek text of some Parva naturalia by Aristotle. Thanks to the coat of arms decorating f. 1 r , the manuscript’s commissioner can now be identified as Andrea Matteo III Acquaviva d’Aragona (1458-1529), Duke of Atri and Count of Conversano. The subsequent owner was Federico Cesi (1585-1630), founder of the first Accademia dei Lincei, as revealed by the lynx stamp on f. 1 v . In the eighteenth century, the codex became part of the Nani family’s collection in Venice (no. 253), before passing to the Marciana Library (Marc. gr. IV 32). It was stolen from there by an unknown person before 1874. It was finally purchased at auction in 1909 by the Brussels Library, where it remains today.