Sumptuously produced in a humanistic hand on vellum, this fifteenth-century manuscript contains the Triumphs, the Sonnets and the Canzone, and an index. At the 1859 Libri sale, it fetched £178/0/0—a somewhat lower price than a copy of the 1501 Aldine printed edition of Petrarch auctioned at the same sale.
The book is open to a historiated initial with borders that depicts Petrarch dreaming while Time retreats on crutches. The partially defaced coat of arms visible at the bottom of the leaf appears to represent the arms of Scanderbeg impaling Albania.
It may therefore indicate that this manuscript once belonged to Giorgio Scanderbeg—also known as George (or Gjergj) Kastrioti, he organized a league of Albanian princes and, as their commander, successfully defended Albania against some thirteen Turkish invasions between 1444 and 1466; he is an Albanian national hero—or his son Giovanni.
