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; GW M34480; Goff P832; BMC V 178 (IC. 19711); Bod-inc P-392; CIBN P-491; BSB-Ink P-626.

GIP number: P77
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 quire of Part I is signed with an ampersand as in Bod-inc (not with a tironian sign as given in BMC).   Quire 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 goatskin 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.

 

Binding of Plutarchus: Vitae illustrium virorum