Solinus, Gaius Julius: Polyhistor, sive De mirabilibus mundi.
Parma: Andreas Portilia, 20 Dec. 1480 [1479-80]
4to. a4 b-i8 K8 l-m8 n10. [102] leaves, the first blank.
ISTC is00619000; Goff S619; BMC VII 937; Bod-inc S-247.
Dated M.cccclxxx. xiii. Kalen. Ianuariis. 'The true date of this book is perhaps rather about the turn of 1479/80 than late in 1480' (BMC), a dating accepted by CIBN.
Collation as in BMC, not as in Bod-inc.
| Shelf-mark: | Sp Coll BD7-e.13 (see main library entry for this item) |
| Provenance: | Edward Piper, bookseller (fl. 1843-1844): sold book to William Euing in Dec. 1843. William Euing (1788-1874), insurance broker, Glasgow: Euing’s pencil acquisition note on front pastedown “WE/26 12/43 E. Piper”; Euing's inventory number “39” in pencil on front pastedown. University of Glasgow: presented by Euing in 1872 according to University Library bookplate on front pastedown. |
| Binding: | 19th-century gold-tooled olive morocco; gold-tooled spine; gilt-edged leaves. Size: 207 x 149 mm. |
| Leaf size: | 203 x 143 mm. |
| Annotations: | Copious marginal annotations in several humanist hands, with attempts at erasure on d8r, e2v and n1v; occasional underlining and “nota” marks; chapter numbers added in an early hand “2” - “59” from b1v - m6v; many leaves foliated in an early hand, with missing leaf number supplied in pencil in a modern hand. |
| Decoration: | In the outer and lower margins of b1r is a drawing in blue water-colour wash, with pen-and-ink outlines, showing the twins Romulus and Remus as putti wrestling before the cave or grotto where they were raised by a she-wolf; suspended from a tree above the cave is a shield on which is depicted a bird (a vulture?) on a crimson background grasping a tree trunk with its right foot; three-line initial “S” in crimson on b1r; two-line initial “D” in black ink on b6r; two-line initial “N” in reddish ink on e6v; in the margin of b6r is a pen-and-ink drawing of the head of a man who is pinching his nose with his thumb and finger, immediately above which is a hand pointing to the chapter heading “De homine et primum de menstruis”. |
| Imperfections: | Wanting the first blank leaf. |
