Seneca, Lucius Annaeus: Epistolae ad Lucilium.
Paris: [Au Soufflet Vert (Louis Symonel et Socii)], 1475.
4to. [14 2-1510 168 17-2110 224 (22/4+1)]. [207] leaves.
ISTC is00377000; GW M41284; Goff S377; BMC VIII 15 (IA. 39228); Bod-inc S-131; CIBN S-188.
| GIP number: | S24 |
| Shelf-mark: | Sp Coll Hunterian By.3.36 (see main library entry for this item) |
| Note: | Stub showing between 21/10 and 22/1. |
| Variant: | The type of quire 17 is the first state, without the gothic form of the letter "d", and the first two lines of 17/1r (f. 153r) read "Exemplis et rationibus docet de morte non eſſe || curandum ..." - cf. Bod-inc. |
| Provenance: | Thomas Mahieu/Maiolus (d. after 1584), secretary to Catherine de Médicis, 1549-60: see 'Binding'. Louis Jean Gaignat (1697-1768), Secretary to King Louis XV: Gaignat sale, 1769; lot 2550 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 12 livres; see 'Dessain-Hunter correspondence' (University of Glasgow Library, MS Gen 36, f. 26r). University of Glasgow: Hunterian bequest, 1807; Hunterian Museum book label and bookplate on front pastedown, with former shelfmark "Y.10.7". |
| Binding: | France, mid 16th-century olive green gold-tooled goatskin with a design of uncoloured interlacing; gold-tooled flat spine; gilt-edged leaves; titled on front cover "L ANNEI || SENECE || EPISTOLAE" and at the foot is the legend "THO MAIOLI ET AMICOR"; in the centre of the rear cover is Mahieu's monogram "TDM" - cf. Mirjam M. Foot, 'The Henry Davis Gift: a collection of bookbindings', vol. 1, p. 186, p. 190 note 14, and G.D. Hobson, 'Maioli, Canevari and others', p. 41-42 (Group V, section B). Size: 204 x 139 mm. |
| Leaf size: | 198 x 134 mm. |
| Annotations: | Occasional underlining and manicules in quire 2; 16th-century shelfmark “Y.11” and another unread letter or symbol in the same hand on 2/2r (f. 6r); annotation “Argu[men]ta Epistolar[um]” on front free endpaper; letters Lxi-Lxxvii are numbered in manuscript in the absence of a printed numeration. |
| Decoration: | Six-line initial "I" on 2/1r (f. 5r) supplied in red, blue, and reserved white on a square ground of red and blue pen-work; other initials and paragraph marks supplied in red or blue throughout. |
| Imperfections: | Wanting the preliminary quire containing the Tabula. |
