Cicero, Marcus Tullius: De finibus bonorum et malorum.
Edited by Georgius Merula.
Venice: [Vindelinus de Spira], for Johannes de Colonia, [not after 9 Nov.] 1471.
4to. [12 2-58 66 78 88 (8/1+χ1) 9-128 136]. [93] leaves (2/1, 6/6, 13/5-6 i.e. ff. 3, 40, 92, 93 blank).
Collation as Bod-inc, not as BMC. 8/7 is cancelled with only a stub remaining, the text of 8/6v and 8/8r being continuous.
ISTC ic00565000; GW 6885; Goff C565; BMC V 157 (IB. 19538); Bod-inc C-289; CIBN C-372.
| GIP number: | C38 |
| Shelf-mark: | Sp Coll Hunterian Bw.2.3 (see main library entry for this item) |
| Note: | Quire 1 is bound between the first two leaves of quire 2. |
| Note: | Printer's pin-holes visible. |
| Note: | Stub showing between 8/5 and 8/6. |
| Provenance: | P. D. C. (16th century?): on 2/2r (f. 4r) the initials “.P. .D. .C.” written in black ink within a laurel wreath. Edward Harley (1689-1741), Lord Harley; from 1724 2nd Earl of Oxford - see Binding. Thomas Osborne (d. 1767), bookseller: purchased all the Harleian printed books; although the front flyleaf is now mounted on a blank sheet of paper there is clear evidence that its top corner had been cut off at an earlier date - as in many other Harleian volumes - probably by Osborne to remove his earlier price (cf. J.B. Oldham, Shrewsbury School bindings, p.114); no. 1071 in Osborne’s Catalogus bibliothecae Harleianae, vol. 3 (London: 1744) and no. 881 in his Catalogus bibliothecae Harleianae, vol. 5 (London: 1745). William Strahan (18th century): armorial bookplate on front pastedown “Will Strahan Esqr.” with motto “Forward” (Franks 28330). Anthony Askew (1722-1774), physician and classical scholar: Askew sale, 13 Feb. 1775 onwards; lot 1385 in Bibliotheca Askeviana ... (London: Baker & Leigh, 1775). William Hunter (1718-1783), physician and anatomist: purchased by Hunter at the Askew sale for £12.5.0 according to the partially annotated copy of the Askew sale catalogue in University of Glasgow Library (shelfmark Mu36-c.8). University of Glasgow: Hunterian bequest 1807; Hunterian Museum bookplate on front free endpaper, with former shelfmark “Au.5.10”. |
| Binding: | England, 18th-century gold-tooled red goatskin, bound for Lord Harley by Thomas Elliott. On both covers triple fillets form two concentric frames: within the outer frame is a floral roll (Nixon, ‘Harleian bindings’, pl. 14, Elliott roll 3), and within the inner frame are two ornamental rolls (Nixon, ‘Harleian bindings’, pl. 14, Elliott rolls 1 and 4); the spine decoration includes Nixon, ‘Harleian bindings’, pl. 15, Elliott nos 3a & b; the turn-ins are decorated with Elliott roll 2; marbled endpapers; rear flyleaf has watermark initial “D”. Size: 287 x 207 mm. |
| Leaf size: | 279 x 195 mm. |
| Annotations: | Frequent marginal annotations in Latin (with occasional words in Greek) in a 16th-century hand; on 2/1r (f. 3r) a financial annotation in Italian in a 16th/17th-century hand; very occasional traces of early signatures; 18th-century numbering or code in pencil resembling ‘IIIIij’ on mounted front flyleaf; a similar numbering appears in three other Hunterian incunables with a Harleian provenance (Bh.2.16 (P85/1), Bx.2.1 (A105), Bx.2.18 (D15/1)). |
| Decoration: | On 2/2r (f. 4r) a seven-line initial “N” is supplied in gold on a square ground of white-vine decoration defined in crimson, green and blue with a pattern of white dots, which extends into the inner and upper margins, and in the lower margin is a green laurel wreath containing an owner’s initials in black ink (see Provenance); similar seven-line initials in gold with white-vine decoration (but without marginal extensions) on 2/7r, 6/1r, 8/1r, 9/8r (ff. 17r, 41r, 56r, 71r). |
| Imperfections: | Wanting the two blank leaves 13/5-6. |
