Plinius Secundus, Gaius Caecilius (Pliny, the Younger): Epistolae.
Milan: Philippus de Lavagnia, 26 Feb. 1478.
4to. a-h8 I8 k8 l-m6. [92] leaves, the last blank.
ISTC ip00807000; Goff P807; BMC VI 706; Bod-inc P-377.
| Shelf-mark: | Sp Coll Hunterian Be.3.21 (see main library entry for this item) |
| Variant: | m5v, line 1 of colophon: “... quarto ...”, not as in BMC “... qurato ...” |
| Provenance: | Ludovicus (16th century), possible owner: partially read ownership(?) inscription in a 16th-century hand on verso of the final blank leaf (m6) “Salustius cu[m] Ep[isto]lis Plini [...] Ludouic[i] de Co[...]” - see Annotations. 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; no. 894 in his 'Catalogus bibliothecae Harleianae', vol. 5 (London: 1745); Osborne’s price in pencil (partially erased) on front flyleaf “£2-2-0”. Anonymous auction sale: lot 983 in 'A catalogue of a scarce collection of books, in English, French and Italian, being part of a well known library' (London: Baker & Leigh, 29 April [1771?]). William Hunter (1718-1783), physician and anatomist: purchased by Hunter at the above anonymous auction for £3.4.0 according to the annotated BL copy of the sale catalogue - shelfmark S.C.S. 12(2). University of Glasgow: Hunterian bequest, 1807; Hunterian Museum bookplate and book label on front pastedown, with former shelf mark “Aa.5.11”. |
| Binding: | England, 18th-century gold-tooled red morocco; bound for Lord Harley by Christopher Chapman. On both covers triple fillets form two concentric frames: within the outer frame is a floral roll (Nixon, ‘Harleian bindings’, pl. 13), and within the inner frame is an ornamental roll (Nixon, ‘Harleian bindings’, pl. 14, Chapman roll 1); both covers have a lozenge-shaped centre-piece, made up of several individual tools (including Nixon, ‘Harleian bindings’, pl. 15, Chapman nos 1a, 1b, 3, 7, 12, 15a, 15b, and 16). The head and foot of the spine are decorated with Chapman roll 2 (Nixon, ‘Harleian bindings’, pl. 14), and the tools used in the spine compartments include Nixon, ‘Harleian bindings’, pl. 15, Chapman nos 7 and 16; the turn-ins are decorated with Nixon, ‘Harleian bindings’, pl. 14, Chapman roll 3; marbled endpapers; flyleaves have watermark of a shield containing a fleur-de-lys, surmounted by a crown and with the letters “L V G” suspended below, and countermark “I V”. Size: 279 x 196 mm. |
| Leaf size: | 269 x 186 mm. |
| Annotations: | Brief marginal annotation in a 16th-century hand on d2v; partially read ownership(?) inscription in a 16th-century hand on verso of the final blank leaf (m6) “Salustius cu[m] Ep[isto]lis Plini [...] Ludouic[i] de Co[...]” - the first two words lightly scored through; recto leaves foliated “63”-“88”, “87”-“152” in the same(?) hand in lower right-hand corner - implying that this work was once bound with another work - an edition of Sallust. |
| Decoration: | Several initials supplied in red or blue with red pen-work decoration; other initials and paragraph marks supplied throughout in plain red or blue; capital strokes in red throughout. |
| Imperfections: | None. |
