Solinus, Gaius Julius: Polyhistor, sive De mirabilibus mundi.

Parma:  Andreas Portilia, 20 Dec. 1480 [1479-80]
4to.   a4 b-i8 K8 l-m8 n10.   [102] leaves, the first blank.
ISTC is00619000; GW M42823; Goff S619; BMC VII 937 (IA. 30264); Bod-inc S-247; CIBN S-306.

Dated M.cccclxxx. xiii. Kalen. Ianuariis.   'The true date of this book is perhaps rather about the turn of 1479/80 than late in 1480' (BMC), a dating accepted by CIBN.

Collation as in BMC, not as in Bod-inc.

GIP number: S45
Shelf-mark: Sp Coll BD7-e.13 (see main library entry for this item)
Provenance: Edward Piper, bookseller (fl. 1843-1844):  sold book to William Euing in Dec. 1843.
William Euing (1788-1874), insurance broker, Glasgow:  Euing’s pencil acquisition note on front pastedown “WE/26 12/43 E. Piper”;  Euing's inventory number “39”  in pencil on front pastedown.
University of Glasgow:  presented by Euing in 1872 according to University Library bookplate on front pastedown.
Binding: 19th-century gold-tooled olive goatskin;  gold-tooled spine;  gilt-edged leaves.   Size:  207 x 149 mm.
Leaf size: 203 x 143 mm.
Annotations: Copious marginal annotations in several humanist hands, with attempts at erasure on d8r, e2v and n1v;  occasional underlining and “nota” marks;  chapter numbers added in an early hand “2” - “59” from b1v - m6v;  many leaves foliated in an early hand, with missing leaf number supplied in pencil in a modern hand.
Decoration: In the outer and lower margins of b1r is a drawing in blue water-colour wash, with pen-and-ink outlines, showing the twins Romulus and Remus as putti wrestling before the cave or grotto where they were raised by a she-wolf;  suspended from a tree above the cave is a shield on which is depicted a bird (a vulture?) on a crimson background grasping a tree trunk with its right foot;  three-line initial “S” in crimson on b1r;  two-line initial “D” in black ink on b6r;  two-line initial “N” in reddish ink on e6v;  in the margin of b6r is a pen-and-ink drawing of the head of a man who is pinching his nose with his thumb and finger, immediately above which is a hand pointing to the chapter heading “De homine et primum de menstruis”.
Imperfections: Wanting the first blank leaf.

 

Drawing in Solinus, Gaius Julius: Polyhistor, sive De mirabilibus mundi