Blondus, Flavius: Italia illustrata.
Edited by Gaspar Blondus.
Rome: Johannes Philippus de Lignamine, [not before 10] Dec. 1474.
Fol. [110 28 3-710 88 910 108 11-1810]. [174] leaves (1/1, 2/8 blank).
ISTC ib00700000; GW 4421; Goff B700; BMC IV 33 (IB. 17410); Bod-inc B-356; CIBN B-496.
| GIP number: | B75 |
| Shelf-mark: | Sp Coll Hunterian Be.2.6 (see main library entry for this item) |
| Variant: | This copy has the prefatory letter by Gaspar Blondus on 3/1 (f. 19) - see GW for a variant with dedication by Lignamine in place of the letter by Blondus. |
| Note: | Printer's pin-holes visible. |
| Provenance: | House of Rochefort (France): painted coat of arms of the House of Rochefort on 3/2r (f. 20r): d’azur semé de seize billettes d’or (4, 5, 4, 3), au chef d’argent chargé d’un lion passant de gueules. Louis Jean Gaignat (1697-1768), Secretary to King Louis XV: Gaignat sale, 1769; lot 2933 in Guillaume de Bure, Bibliographie instructive: supplément ... ou catalogue des livres de feu M. L.J. Gaignat, 2 vols (Paris: 1769). William Hunter (1718-1783), physician and anatomist: purchased by Hunter at the Gaignat sale through his agent, Jean-Baptiste Dessain, for 115 livres 1 sou; see Dessain-Hunter correspondence (University of Glasgow Library, MS Gen. 36, f. 24v). University of Glasgow: Hunterian bequest, 1807; Hunterian Museum bookplate and book label on front pastedown, with former shelfmark “W.4.2”. |
| Binding: | France, 18th-century red goatskin; covers decorated with a triple gold-fillet border, a small gold fleuron at each corner; gold-tooled spine; marbled endpapers; gilt-edged leaves; blue silk bookmark. Size: 330 x 228 mm. |
| Leaf size: | 321 x 219 mm. |
| Annotations: | Brief marginal annotations in a 16th-century hand in quires 15 and 16. |
| Decoration: | A ten-line initial “C” on 3/2r (f. 20r) is supplied in blue and white on a square ground of dull pink, the latter with tracery added in dull gold; the body of the initial is decorated with flowers on a dull gold background; floral borders decorate the inner, upper and lower margins – the latter incorporating a painted coat of arms (see Provenance). Other initials supplied in red and blue with reserved white. |
| Imperfections: | Wanting the blank leaf 1/1. |
