Plutarchus: Vitae illustrium virorum [Latin].
Add: Festus Rufus: De historia romana.
Venice: Nicolaus Jenson, 2 Jan. 1478.
Fol. 2 vols. Part I: a10 b12 c-m10 n8 o-x10 y-z8 &8. [234] leaves, a1 and b7 blank. Part II: A12 B-E10 F-N8.10 oo-pp8 Q-Y10 Z8 &&10. [228] leaves, A1-2 blank; A3 signed 'A.i.', etc. C1 signed 'cci' and C2 'ccii'.
ISTC ip00832000; Goff P832; BMC V 178; Bod-inc P-392.
| Shelf-mark: | Sp Coll Hunterian Bw.1.8, 9 (see main library entry for this item) |
| Variant: | Part II, leaf A1r, line 2: “... IVSTINIANVM ...” not as in BMC “… IVSTIANVM …”. |
| Note: | In this copy the final gathering of Part I is signed with an ampersand as in Bod-inc (not with a tironian sign as given in BMC). Gathering b of Part I consists of 12 leaves including a blank leaf b7 (not present in some copies). |
| Note: | Printer's pin-holes visible. |
| Provenance: | Louis Jean Gaignat (1697-1768), Secretary to King Louis XV: Gaignat sale, 1769; lot 3478 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 60 livres 1 sou; see 'Dessain-Hunter correspondence' (University of Glasgow Library, MS Gen. 36, f. 25v). University of Glasgow: Hunterian bequest, 1807; Hunterian Museum bookplate and book label on front pastedown of each vol. with former shelfmarks “Aa.3.12” and “Aa.3.13”. |
| Binding: | 2 vols. France, 18th-century red morocco decorated with triple gold fillets, a gold fleuron at each corner; marbled endpapers; flyleaves have watermark "MGIS MOLEN"; gilt-edged leaves; turquoise silk bookmark in vol. I. Size of both vols: 427 x 271 mm. |
| Leaf size: | 416 x 256 mm. (both vols). |
| Annotations: | Frequent marginal annotations in a humanist hand in Part II (less frequent in Part I – where some of the annotations are heavily washed out); selected Lives given a running heading in manuscript e.g. “Alcibiades” in Part I and “Marcus brutus” in Part II; manuscript index (readable under ultraviolet lamp) on the blank verso of &&10 in Part II; Part I foliated in an early hand “1”-“233”; Part II foliated (with errors) “234”-“457” (the final printed leaf containing the Registrum not foliated). |
| Decoration: | None. |
| Imperfections: | Wanting the blank leaf a1 of Part I. |
