This Caius Julius Solinus, Polyhistor manuscript was produced circa 15th century in Italy and is 86 leaves (plus 4 blank) in a seventeenth-century Italian vellum binding. The chapters begin with ornamental capital letters, some colored in green or yellow. The text is a Latin manuscript of Caius Julius Solinus's Polyhistor, discussing natural history, religion, and social questions in the regions known to the Roman Empire circa the middle of the fourth century AD. This copy is a palimpsest, with the previous writing indicating a notarial register or account book from the early fourteenth century. One leaf bears the date 1308 (recto, leaf 53).
The bound volume includes a Di Casa Minutoli Telgrimi stamp and the following colophon: "C. Iulii Solini sive gramatici Polyhistor ab ipso editus et recognitus de situ orbis terrarum & de singulis mirabilibus quae in mundo habentur"
Caius Julius Solinus was a Roman who lived in the third or fourth century AD, possibly worked as a grammarian, and is most widely recognized for his work, the Polyhistor. Possibly written sometime in the middle of the fourth century, the Polyhistor, alternatively known as the Collectanea rerum memorabilium and De situ orbis, relied heavily on Pliny's Natural History as well as Pomponius Mela's De situ orbis. The work touches on the natural history and geography of the regions known to the Roman Empire, as well as religious and social matters. Solinus's Polyhistor remained popular through the Middle Ages and Renaissance, particularly for its geographical content. The Polyhistor was first translated into English in 1587 by Arthur Golding.
