Plinius Secundus, Gaius (Pliny the Elder): Historia naturalis.

Edited by Philippus Beroaldus.

Parma:  Stephanus Corallus, 1476.
Fol.   [112 28 3-810 912 10-1510 168 17-2710 286 29-3010 31-358 3610 378 384].   [358] leaves, the first and last blank.
ISTC ip00790000;  Goff P790;  BMC VII 939 (IC. 30223a);  Bod-inc P-362.

Shelf-mark: Sp Coll Hunterian Bw.1.5 (see main library entry for this item )
Variant: On 23/9r (f. 229r) the last word is “ulcerib[us]” as in Bod-inc and BMC IC. 30223a, not as in BMC IC. 30223 “ulcreib[us]”.
Note: Printer's pin-holes visible.
Provenance: Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556), Archbishop of Canterbury:  inscription on 1/2r “Thomas Cantuarien[sis]”;  “Liber olim Thomae Cranmeri Arch. Cantuariensis” on front fly leaf;  see David G. Selwyn, 'The library of Thomas Cranmer', no. 509 ('Oxford Bibliographical Society Publications', 3rd ser., vol. 1, 1996).
Thomas Rawlinson (1681-1725), bibliophile:  his mark “C. & P.” on front pastedown and his book-stamps on each cover (see 'Binding').
Anthony Askew (1722-1774), physician and classical scholar:  Askew sale, 13 Feb. 1775 onwards;  lot 2810 in 'Bibliotheca Askeviana …' (London:  Baker & Leigh, 1775).
William Hunter (1718-1783), physician and anatomist:  purchased by Hunter at the Askew sale for £3.3.0 according to the 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, with former shelfmark “Ae.3.1”.
Binding: England, 18th-century diced russia;  covers decorated with a double gold-fillet border;  gilt book-stamps of Thomas Rawlinson on each cover - in the centre a sheldrake holding a scallop shell in its beak enclosed within a wreath of foliage, and at each corner a scallop shell also within foliage - cf. Lilian G. Clark, 'Collectors and owners of incunabula in the British Museum' (1962), 71;  gold-tooled spine.   Size: 427 x 260 mm.
Leaf size: 418 x 246 mm.
Annotations: Manuscript annotations (some cropped by binder) in various hands throughout - though less frequent towards the end - some are pre-Cranmer, most post-Cranmer, none in Cranmer’s hand (see Selwyn op. cit.);  running book numbers in red ink in a large hand on recto leaves throughout “Liber primus - Secundus” to “Liber Trigesimus Septimus”;  annotation in a 17th-century(?) hand on 38/3v (f. 357v) citing references in the text to “Pygmaei” and “Descriptio vanitatis hominis”.
Decoration: Principal initials supplied in red and blue with reserved white and each set on a square ground of elaborate red and black pen-work extending into the margin;  smaller initials supplied in blue or red;  paragraph marks in red.
Imperfections: Wanting the first and final blank leaves.

Decorated initial and manuscript annotations in Plinius Secundus, Gaius (Pliny the Elder): Historia naturalis