Transcriber's Note: Inconsistencies in hyphenation and spelling found in the original book have been retained in this version. A list of these inconsistencies is found at the end of the text.

[i]

CATALOGUE OF EARLY PRINTED BOOKS

[ii] 
[iii] 

CATALOGUE

OF THE

William Loring Andrews

Collection of Early Books

IN THE

LIBRARY OF YALE UNIVERSITY

NEW HAVEN: YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
MCMXIII

[iv]

Copyright, 1913
by
Yale University Press

Printed from type October, 1913. 300 copies

[v]

PREFACE

The collection of early printed books presented to the Library of Yale University in 1894 by Mr. William Loring Andrews, of New York, was formed to illustrate the first century of printing, which is a better boundary for the survey than the half-century ending with the year 1500, more often chosen. The latter, the so-styled cradle period of the art, is wanting in real definition, being at most a convenient halting place, not a completed stage, whereas at the middle of the sixteenth century the printed book of the better class had acquired most of its maturer features and no longer has for us an unfamiliar look. Designed to serve as a permanent exhibition, it is a selection rather than a collection, not large, but wisely chosen, and no less attractive than instructive, having been formed a quarter of a century ago, at a time when opportunities were unusually favorable.

The surviving books of the first presses, which are the chief sources of our knowledge of the early art, are at the same time, when obtainable, the most efficient teachers. For the illustration of the typography, the feature of first importance, there is nothing comparable to the open pages of a representative series of the original books, such as are here spread out before us. The best of the available substitutes, phototype reproductions of specimen pages, apart from other limitations, must always lack the authority and the impressiveness of the originals.

While it is the main office of the present collection to set before the students of the University as a whole the more general features of the art of the early printer, a further service which it is prepared to render must not be overlooked. To such as are prompted to go into the subject more deeply it offers an excellent body of the original [vi] material upon which any serious study must of necessity be based.

The two fine fifteenth century MSS. at the head of the collection, far from serving a merely ornamental purpose, like their own illuminated initials for example, are a needful introduction. It is obvious that from such sources the first printers got the models of their types, and the MSS. in which Jenson found the prototypes of his famous roman characters, which in the judgment of some are still unsurpassed, could not have been very remote from these. Some of the more striking features which distinguish the early printed books from the later were not original with them, but only survivals from the MSS. The abbreviations and contractions in which both abound were the labor-saving devices of the copyists, adopted without hesitation by the printers who used the MSS. as copy and only slowly abandoned. The copyist left spaces in his MS. for initials to be supplied by the illuminator, without which his work was not considered complete, and for about a hundred years the printer continued to do the same. If the copyist saw fit to attach his name to his work, we look for it at the end of the volume and there also the printer placed his colophon. Signatures and catchwords, to guide the binder in the arrangement of the sheets, did not come in with the printed book, but had long been in use in the MSS.

Although out of the hundreds of presses active during the first century only a score are here represented, leaving wide gaps in the series, it is better, because more nearly in the natural line of development, that the books should be ranged under the country, the locality and the press to which they severally belong, than that they should be kept in strict chronological order. A general chronological order underlies the geographical even where it does not come to the surface. By right of seniority Germany stands at the head, and Mainz, the birthplace of [vii] printing, is followed by the other German towns in the order of their press age. Next come the presses of Italy, France, Holland and England, arranged in like order. To prevent, however, too wide a departure from the chronological succession which would result from the strict application of this rule, the later, i.e., the sixteenth century, Venice and Paris books are separated from the earlier and transferred to the end of the list, where in point of development they properly belong. Placed in the order thus indicated, the books, as befits so small a total, are numbered consecutively in one series. The conspectus, which brings into one view the titles, dates, places and printers' names, will serve also as a sufficient index.

While we are here most concerned with the genealogy and family history of the books, or in other words with their press relationships, the personal history attaching to them—habent sua fata libelli—is not without interest. The Zeno MS. and the Philo, printed on vellum, are the dedication copies, not merely set apart, but specially prepared for this use. In a few of the volumes are found the names or the arms of early owners. The Livy MS. and one-half of the printed books are from the library, dispersed in 1886, of Michael Wodhull (1740-1816) of Thenford, Northamptonshire, the first translator into English verse of all the extant works of Euripides, the most assiduous and painstaking and in some departments of bibliography the best equipped among the book collectors of his day. It was his custom (well illustrated in the present collection) to enter on the fly-leaf of each purchase the source and the cost, adding as a separate item the binding, often by Roger Payne, and to affix his name and the date. His visé "Collat: & complet:" is seldom wanting and often bibliographical notes and references to authorities are added. Justinian's Novellae, printed by Schoeffer, and all the Aldine press books save one are from the library gathered at Syston Park, Lincolnshire, [viii] by Sir John Thorold and his son, Sir John Hayford Thorold, between 1775 and 1831 and sold in 1884.

One valued mark of ownership, common to all the volumes, is the ex libris of the lover of choice books who united them in one family, not again to be separated, and gave them into the keeping of the University Library.

The accompanying list of Authorities, as will be apparent, is intended to supply merely the details necessary to complete the references of the catalogue.

Acknowledgments are due from the compiler to his associates in the Library and the University for assistance in the catalogue.

Addison Van Name, Librarian Emeritus.

Yale University Library, September, 1913.

[ix]

AUTHORITIES.

[x]

[xi]

[xii]

CONSPECTUS

MANUSCRIPTS

PRINTED BOOKS

[xiv]

[1]

MANUSCRIPTS

Fine white vellum, 192 leaves, in 19 quires of ten leaves each and two additional leaves at the end, the last of which is blank. Signed on the lower inner angle of the last page of each quire by a letter (A-T) which is repeated at the point directly facing it on the first page of the next quire. Leaves four to seven of the first quire and all of quires three to eight, a total of sixty-four leaves, have 28 lines to the page, the rest 27 lines. Ruled on one side only with a hard point. Leaf 10 1/2 × 7 in., text-page 7 × 3 3/4 in.

Written in regular Italian minuscules of the 15th century, formed on the models of the 11th and 12th centuries.

The subject of the memoir is the distinguished Venetian Admiral Carlo Zeno (1334-1418), brother of Nicolo and Antonio, reputed discoverers of America. His biographer, Jacopo Zeno (1417-1481), Bishop of Feltre and Belluno, and later of Padua, was his grandson. The work is dedicated to Pius II. in honor of his recent elevation to the papal throne, and since this is evidently the dedication copy, the accession of Enea Silvio Piccolomini in August, 1458, fixes approximately the date of the MS. In April, 1460, Jacopo Zeno was translated to the see of Padua.

The execution and the decoration of the MS. are in keeping with its special use. The gratulatory preface occupying ten pages is introduced by the following heading in letters of burnished gold:

IN LIBROS VITÆ MORVM RERVMQ: GESTARVM CAROLI ZENI VENETI. AD PIVM SECVN[2]DVM PONTIFICEM MAXIMVM. IACOBI FELTRENSIS ET BELLVNENSIS ANTISTITIS PRAEFATIO: [G]LORIOSA.... The ornamentation of the ten-line illuminated initial G is of the interlaced style, and a border of similar pattern surrounds the entire page, enclosing on the front margin vignettes—a vase, two rabbits and a stork—and at the foot the Piccolomini arms, supported by kneeling angels and surmounted by the papal keys and tiara. Each of the ten books has a heading in burnished gold in which the dedication to Pius II. is repeated, and an initial of like character to that of the preface, with a marginal ornament. The occasional marginal subject-headings and the book-number at the top of each leaf are likewise in gold.

The Latin text has thus far been printed only in Muratori's Rerum Italicarum Scriptores (of which a new edition is now in progress), vol. xix, Milan, 1731, from a MS. then, and still, preserved in the library of the Episcopal Seminary at Padua. This MS., the only one which he was able to discover, Muratori describes in the following language: "Codex autem Patavinus quamquam pervetustus a non satis docto Librario profectus est ac proinde occurrunt ibi quaedam parum castigata, quaedam etiam plane vitiata. Mutilus praeterea est in fine, ubi non multa quidem sed tamen aliqua desiderantur." Muratori's text breaks off in the middle of a sentence at the end of the nineteenth (i.e. the last full) quire of our MS., and accordingly lacks only the seventeen lines contained on the next leaf, which is the last. If, as seems quite possible, the quiring of the two MSS. is the same, the loss of the single unprotected leaf at the end is the more readily explained.

In 1591 there was published at Bergamo an abridged Italian version, made from an illuminated MS. which had once belonged to the famous library of Matthias Corvinus, but was then in the possession of Caterino Zeno, governor of Bergamo. It had been among the spoils car[3]ried to Constantinople after the capture of Buda by the Turks in 1526. There, seven years later, it had been bought and carried back to Italy by Caterino's father, the younger Nicolo, who, in 1558, first gave to the world the narrative of his ancestors' voyages. For no better reasons than that the Paduan MS. also was illuminated in gold and colors, and that it had been bought twenty-five years before (c. 1700) in Venice where this branch of the Zeno family had become extinct, Muratori was inclined to identify it with the Corvinus MS. The relations between Pius II. and the king of Hungary, who was his ally in the proposed crusade against the Turks upon which he was just embarking when overtaken by death, and to whom the 48,000 ducats which he left behind him were sent in aid of the prosecution of war, suggest another possibility. It may be safely assumed that between the present MS., given only an opportunity to acquire it, and any other copy the king's choice could not have hesitated.

The MS. is in 18th-century Italian binding, red morocco, gilt edges. Sold with other MSS. from the library of the Trivulzio family of Milan at Leavitt's auction, New York City, November, 1886.

Vellum. 336 leaves, the last blank. 34 quires all having ten leaves, except the 17th and 34th which have eight each. 31 lines to the page; catchword placed at right angles with the last line of the quire; ruled on both sides with plummet. Leaf 14 1/2 × 10 in., text-page 9 × 6 in.

Written in very regular, bold Italian minuscules of the period of the Renaissance.

The first page of the preface is surrounded by an illuminated border in gold and colors in the Renaissance style of ornament, into which are introduced the Caraccioli arms belonging to the distinguished Neapolitan [4]family of that name. The initial F on this page is historiated with a view of Rome, and each of the ten books has an eight-line initial of dull gold on a background of red, blue and green, with marginal ornamentation.

From the close agreement, even in punctuation, between this MS. and the edition printed at Milan in 1495 by Ulrich Scinzenzeler for Alexander Minutianus, and from other features which forbid the supposition that one is taken directly from the other, we must conclude that they both reproduce a common ancestor.

This MS. of the first Decade of Livy is in unusually fine preservation, and is bound in russia extra, with broad borders of gold and gilt marbled edges.

Brought from Palermo by Dr. Anthony Askew (1722-1772), it was sold with his collection of MSS. in 1785. Michael Wodhull, Esq., of Thenford, Northamptonshire, who gave seven guineas for the volume at "White's sale" in March, 1798, added to his customary entry of these details on the fly-leaf this note: "This appears to be the very Book which I saw Sir W. Burrell purchase at Dr. Askew's manuscript Auction (No. 482) for thirty-two guineas; in Sir W. Burrell's Auction, May, 1796, it is said to have gone for about five (No. 657). The note in Bib. Askev. manuscripta is: 'Ex Panormo in Sicilia hunc cod. adduxit secum Cl. Askevius.' & '300 annor. MSS. longe pulcherrimus.'"

At the sale of the Wodhull library in January, 1886, the Livy MS. and the greater part of the 15th-century books hereinafter described were acquired by the donor of the collection, William Loring Andrews, M.A., of New York City.

[5]

PRINTED BOOKS

[Folio. 481 leaves, 2 columns, 48 lines to the column, gothic letter, without signatures, catchwords or pagination.]

Leaves 204, 205 containing Judith xiv. 17—Esther iv. 4.

Five-line initial of prologue and fourteen-line initial I of Esther i. 1 supplied in colors. Heading of leaf in alternate red and blue capitals. Initial-strokes in red on text capitals. Measurement 16 1/4 × 11 1/2 in.

The fourth printed Bible, and the first in which place, printers' names and date are given. These details, which are wanting in so many of the books of the early printers, Fust and Schoeffer—and Schoeffer when he carried on the business alone—rarely failed to add to anything large enough to be called a book that came from their press. This is their fifth book and the colophon attached to the first, the famous Psalter of 1457, was repeated in them all, with no essential change beyond the date, and continued to do duty for ten years longer. In the present Bible among the typographical differences found in the copies are three varieties of the colophon, two of which however are identical in language and differ only in the printers' use of contractions and capitals. The more common of the forms affirms that: "This present work by the ingenious invention of printing or stamping letters [6]without any scratching of the pen has been thus fashioned in the city of Mainz and to the worship of God has been diligently brought to completion by Johann Fust citizen and Peter Schoeffer clerk of the same diocese in the year of the Lord 1462, on the eve of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary."

In Seymour de Ricci's "Catalogue raisonné des premières impressions de Mayence (1445-1467)," Mainz, 1911, 61 known copies of this Bible, 36 of them on vellum, are enumerated and 41 copies which cannot now be traced. The fragment in our possession is entered (No. 115) as one leaf only, instead of two.

The second dated Bible, the eleventh in the series of printed Bibles, was that of Sweynheym and Pannartz, Rome, 1471; the third was a reprint by Schoeffer in 1472 of the present edition, page for page, line for line and in the same type.

Fol. 1a. [Text (red)]: In nomine domini nostri ihesu christi. de heredibus et falcidia constitutio prima si heres legata soluere noluerit Incipit constitutio Imperatoris Iustiniani. a. Iohanni pape secundo. [Commentary]: [I]N nomine domini. Iustinianus opus suum laudabile deo attribuit. Fol. 169b. Explicit liber autenticorum. Fol. 170a. [Text (red)]: Incipiunt consuetudines feudorum. Fol. 206a. [Text (red)]: Codicis domini iustiniani sacratissimi principis perpetui augusti repetite prelectionis incipit liber decimus. Fol. 300b, Colophon (red): Anno incarnacionis dominice .M.cccc.lxxvii. xii. kalendis septembrijs! Sanctissimo in christo patre ac domino, domino Sixto papa .iiii. pontifice maximo. Illustrissimo noblissime domus austrie domino, domino Friderico Romanorum Imperatore inuictissimo, monarchie christiane [7]dominis! Reuerendissimo deoque amabili in Christo patre ac domino, domino Diethero archipresule Maguntino; in ciuitate Maguncia impressorie artis inuentrice atque elimatrice prima .x. collacionum triumque librorum Codicum opus egregium, Petrus Schoiffer de Gernsheim, glorioso fauente deo suis consignando scutis, feliciter finiuit. [Printer's Device in red.]

The first page of each of the three works is ornamented with a floral scroll border in colors. At the head of the several books are thirteen initials in gold and colors. Chapter initials in alternate red and blue; initial-strokes in red in both text and commentary.

The present volume agrees in contents with the fifth and last volume of the Corpus juris as it is found arranged in the medieval MSS., except for the omission of the Institutiones, already sufficiently accessible in separate editions, of which no less than fifty were printed in the 15th century, the first of them by Schoeffer himself in 1468. The first three volumes of the Corpus were occupied by the Digests, the fourth by the Codex lib. i-ix. The last three books of the Codex relate mainly to public law and having lost much of their importance were transferred to the fifth volume.

That the order of the three parts in the present copy, viz. 1. Novellae, 2. Consuetudines, 3. Codex lib. x-xii, is that intended by the printer, is clear both from the position and from the language of the colophon—the position because the colophon is attached to the Codex, and [8]the language because it describes the volume as consisting of "the ten Collations and the three books of the Codes." The Novellae were usually divided by the commentators into nine Collations, perhaps, as Savigny suggests, to parallel the first nine books of the Codex. Sometimes, however, as in the present case, the Consuetudines feudorum were joined with them and reckoned as a tenth collation. Notwithstanding these plain indications, in the copy described by Hain *9623, and in the British Museum copy (as at present, though not as originally, bound), the Codex x-xii is placed between the Novellae and the Consuetudines, thus removing the colophon from its natural place at the end of the volume. In the first edition of these works, printed by Vitus Puecher, Rome, 1476, they were placed in the order last named, but the colophon was there attached to the Consuetudines.

After the death of his father-in-law and partner Fust, late in 1466 or early in 1467, Schoeffer conducted the press alone until his death in 1502. After 1478, however, his activity as a printer was much diminished.

The present large and fine copy (leaf 15 3/4 × 11 1/4 in.), with the manuscript signatures still in part preserved, is from the library of Sir John Hayford Thorold (1773-1831) of Syston Park, Lincolnshire, sold in December, 1884. In the Meerman sale at the Hague, 1824, this same copy, bound as at present in russia gilt, sold for 64 florins.

Fol. 1, blank. Fol. 2a: INCIPIT EPISTOLA ISIDORI IVNIORIS HISPALENSIS EPISCOPI AD BRAVLIONEM CESARAVGVSTANVM EPISCOPVM. [Three other letters to the same and two replies; tabula generalis.] Fol. 3b, col. 2: INCIPIVNT CAPITVLA PRIMI LIBRI. INCIPIT LIBER PRIMVS ETHIMOLOGIARVM ISIDORI HISPALENSIS EPISCOPI. DE DIS[9]CIPLINA ET ARTE. Fol. 27b, col. 1: INCIPIVNT CAPITVLA LIBRI QVARTI. Fol. 27b, col. 2: PREFACIO. [D]Omino et filio syseputo ysidorus..... INCIPIT LIBER YSIDORI DE RERVM NATVRA AD SISEPVTVM REGEM. Fol. 37a, col. 2: INCIPIVNT CAPITVLA LIBRI QVARTI. INCIPIT LIBER QVARTVS DE MEDICINA. Fol. 142a, Colophon: EXPLICIT LIBER ETHIMOLOGIARVM ISIDORI HISPALENSIS EPISCOPI.

On the first page large illuminated initial with floral border ornament, and similar initials at the head of the several books. Chapter initials supplied in red or blue; initial-strokes in red throughout the volume. Blank first leaf wanting.

Incorporated with the present edition of the Etymologiae by way of supplement, though not named in the table of contents, is an earlier treatise of Isidore's entitled De natura rerum, written at the request of Sisebut, king of the Visigoths, 612-621, and dedicated to him. It contains the sum of the physical philosophy of his time, and, being largely astronomical, is sometimes found in the MSS. under the title Liber de astronomia. In order to bring it into immediate connection with the corresponding section of the Etymologiae, it is placed immediately after the third book (devoted to the quadrivium, the last division of which is astronomy) and given irregularly the heading "Liber quartus," the regular Liber quartus (De medicina) beginning twenty pages later. Two of the 48 chapters of which it is composed are wanting here, but by the subdivision of other chapters the [10]number is raised to 58. Zainer of Augsburg, the printer of the first edition of the Etymologiae, dated 19 November, 1472, followed it the next month with an edition of De responsione mundi et astrorum ordinatione ad Sesibutum regem, which is the work in question under another title. Printed with the same type and the same number of lines to the page, it was in effect treated as a supplement to the Etymologiae.

According to the testimony of a fellow printer, de Lignamine, in the "Chronica summorum Pontificum," Rome, 1474, Mentelin as early as 1458 was printing at Strassburg 300 sheets a day. The third Latin Bible (1460-1461) and the first German Bible came from his press, but the first work to which he affixed his name and a date was the Speculum historiale of Vincent of Beauvais in 1473. He died in 1478.

The Wodhull copy, bought at "Hayes's sale" in 1794 for £5.5s., and bound in russia gilt, with Wodhull arms on side, by Mrs. Weir for £1.2s. Leaf 15 3/4 × 11 in.

Fol. 1, blank. Fol. 2a: Ex gestis romanorum hystorie notabiles: de vitijs virtutibusque tractantes: cum applicacionibus moralizatis et misticis: Incipiunt feliciter. Fol. 160b, col. 1, Colophon: Ex gestis romanorum cum pluribus applicatis historijs: de virtutibus et vitijs mistice ad intellectum transsumptis Recollectorij finis est feliciter. LAVS. DEO. Fol. 160b, col. 2: Incipiunt tituli numerorum omnium capitulorum et exemplorum. Fol. 163a: Tabula omnium exemplorum et capitulorum operis præcedentis. secundum ordinem alphabeti. Fol. 170a: Explicit tabula. Fol. 170b, blank.

[11]

On fol. 2a and 163a five-line initials in blue with graceful pen decoration in red. Initials of chapters and morals supplied in alternate red and blue. Paragraph-marks and initial-strokes in red; headings underlined in red. Blank first leaf wanting.

This edition of the Gesta contains 181 chapters and appears to have been preceded only by another undated edition printed at Utrecht by Ketelaer and Leempt, in long lines, with 152 chapters and no index.

Ulrich Zell was the first printer of Cologne. His first dated book was issued in 1466 and he continued to print quite up to the close of the fifteenth century. Nearly all his books are, like the present, without place, date or printer's name. Of the 177 books which he is known to have printed, the British Museum possesses 123.

The Wodhull copy, bound in russia, gilt edges. Leaf 10 3/4 × 7 1/2 in. Mem. on fly-leaf: "Pateson's Auction. £5.5s; washing, cleaning, mending and binding by Roger Payne £1.2s.6d. M. Wodhull, May 25th, 1786."

Fol. 1a: Ordo .xl. omeliarum beati gregorij pape ad secundinum episcopum Thauronitarum. Fol. 1b: SEQVITVR EPISTOLA [R]Euerendissimo et sanctissimo frati secundino coepiscopo. Gregorius seruus seruorum dei. Fol. 2a: EXPLICIT EPISTOLA INCIPIT EWANGELIVM. S. LVCAM.... Omelia prima beati Gregorij pape. Fol. 141b, Colophon: Adeptus est finis ambarum parcium omeliarum beatissimi gregorii pape vrbis rome jn die sancti hermetis sub Anno domini M cccc lxxiij. Fol. 142a: Table of the homilies in the order of the liturgical year.

[12]

Gregory's Homilies, of which this is the first edition, and the three next following works bound with it, are from the press of Günther Zainer, of Reutlingen, the first printer of Augsburg. All are in the same type, the heavy-faced gothic of his second font, are rubricated by the same hand, and though two of them are undated, were all evidently printed at about the same time. He was the first printer in Germany to make use of roman type, of which the earliest example seems to have been his "Calendarium pro anno 1472." He died in 1478, ten years after the appearance of his first dated book.

The Wodhull copy, bound by Roger Payne in russia gilt. Leaf 12 × 8 1/4 in. Mem. on fly-leaf: "Payne's sale. £2.12.6, binding and restoring 17s.6d. These four pieces were taken out of old monastic binding. M. Wodhull, Jan. 5th, 1795."

Fol. 1a: Prologus beati jeronimi presbiteri in psalterium quod ipse de hebraico transtulit in latinum [E]Vsebius jeronimus soffronio suo salutem. Fol. 1b: Explicit prologus beati jeronimi. Incipit psalterium Psalmos dauid primus. Fol. 51a: Canticum Ysaie capitulo lxxij (sic), followed by cantica of Hezekiah, Hannah, Moses (2), Habakkuk. Fol. 54a, Colophon: Explicit translacio soliloquiorum siue psalterij beatissimi Ieronimi eusebii presbiteri quod ad peticionem soffronij transtulit ut in epistolam ante psalterium impressa praemittitur etc.

Jerome's final translations of the Old Testament books direct from the Hebrew were all adopted into the received Latin version, the Vulgate, except this of the Psalms.[13] Here his earlier revision of the old Italic version on the basis of the Septuagint had become so firmly established in liturgical use that the translation from the Hebrew, though more exact, could not displace it. This appears to be the first printed edition.

Bound with No. 5. Gregorii Homiliæ.

Fol. 1a: [S]Entite de domino in bonitate et in simplicitate cordis quaerite illum. Fol. 2a: Explicit prologus Incipit modus ad summam perveniendi sapienciam. Fol. 24a, l. 33, End: sibi sparso diuinitus in ipsum ardentissime se extendit etc. Fol. 24b, blank.

Bound with No. 5. Gregorii Homiliae.

Fol. 1a: Incipit soliloquium beatissimi Augustini episcopi yponensi (sic) de arra anime. Fol. 7b, End: Raptus est finis huius tractatus Augustini de arra anime. feria tercia post festum sancti Dyonisy Anno domini lxxiij etc. Fol. 8, blank.

The author of the work here directly ascribed to St. Augustine was the mystic theologian Hugo de Sancto Victore (1097-1140), member of the Canons Regular of St. Augustine and head of the abbey school of St. Victor, near Paris. From his familiarity with the writings of[14] Augustine and likeness to his spirit, he was styled Alter Augustinus, a title which furnishes a plausible but not wholly satisfactory explanation of the confusion in the present case. For among the spurious writings which have been put under Augustine's name more than one has been borrowed from this author. For example, chapters 5-10 of the Liber de diligendo Deo are taken almost word for word from the present treatise.

In the present edition of this soliloquy cast in the form of a dialogue the interlocutors are Augustinus and Anima (both names always printed in capitals); in a Strassburg edition of about the same date, Hugo and anima sua; in the collected edition of Hugo's works, homo and anima.

Bound with No. 5. Gregorii Homiliae.

Fol. 1, blank. Fol. 2a: Hec est tabula omnium sermonum contentorum hoc in uolumine. Fol. 3a: Sacre theologie magistri necnon sacri eloquij preconis celeberrimi fratris Roberti de Litio ordinis Minorum professoris opus quadragesimale perutilissimum quod de penitentia dictum est. Feliciter incipit. Fol. 267a, Colophon:

Fol. 267b, 268, blank. Fol. 269a: Sermo in festo annuntiationis uirginis marie et eiusdem Roberti cum tribus (sic) aliis sermonibus sequentibus. s. de predestinato numero damnatorum et de cathenis. Fol. 289b: Finis trium sermonum Fratris Roberti... Fol. 290, blank.

Wendelin of Speier succeeded in 1470 to the press established in 1469 by his brother John, the first printer of Venice, who lived to complete only four books. Gothic type was introduced into Italy by Wendelin.

Roberto Caraccioli, born at Lecce in 1425, was bishop of his native city from 1484 to 1495. The great reputation which these sermons enjoyed is attested by the fact that four editions, three of them printed in Venice, appeared in 1472, and four more in 1473, one of which was Wendelin's second edition, an exact reprint of the present.

The Wodhull copy, bought at the sale of the library of Samuel Tyssen, in 1801, for £1.1s., bound in russia gilt, with Wodhull arms on side, at a further cost of 19 shillings. Leaf 10 1/8 × 7 1/2 in.

Fol. 1a: LAVRENTII VALLENSIS ELegantiarum compendiosæ collectionis in ordinem alphabeti directæ principium. Fol. 9a, blank. Fol. 9b: LAVRENTII VALLENSIS VIRI CLARISSIMI ET DE LINGVA LATINA BENE MERENTIS AD IOANNEM TORTELLIVM ARETINVM: CVI OPUS ELEGANTIARVM LINGVAE LATINAE DEDICAT EPISTOLA. Fol. 11a: LAVRENTII VALLENSIS PATRICII ROMANI COMMENTARIORVM GRAMMATICORVM SECVNDVM ELEGANTIAM LINGVAE LATINAE LIBER PRIMVS DE NOMINE VERBOQVE. ET EX HIS DVOBVS COMPOSITO PARTICIPIO INCTPIT PROOEMIVM. Fol. 159b: LAVRENTII VALLENSIS DE LANGVAE LATINAE ELEGANTIA TERTIVS LIBER FINIT: INCIPIT IIII. DE NOMINVM[16] SIGNIFICATIONIBVS. [For TERTIVS read QVINTUS; for IIII. DE NOMINVM SIGNIFICATIONIBVS read VI. DE NOTIS SCRIPTORVM.] Fol. 190a: LAVRENTII VALLENSIS DE LINGVAE LATINAE ELEGANTIA: ET DE EGO MEI TVI ET SVI AD IOANNEM TORTELLIVM ARETINVM LIBER INCIPIT. Fol. 200b, Colophon: LAVRENTII VALLENSIS DE LINGVAE LATINAE ELEGANTIA: ET DE EGO MEI TVI ET SVI AD IOANNEM TORTELLIVM ARETINVM PER ME M. NICOLAVM IENSON VENETIIS OPVS FELICITER IMPRESSVM EST. M.CCCCLXXI. Fol. 201, 202, blank.

At the head of the first page is a large initial of the interlaced vine pattern in gold and colors, with a border of the same pattern enclosing the entire page. The remaining five books, the prefatory epistle and the supplement De ego, mei et sui are introduced by initials of the same size and style. Alternate red and blue capitals at the head of chapters, paragraph-marks also in red and blue.

A few of the spaces left for Greek words are filled in manuscript, but more are left vacant. When Jenson later in the same year printed Cicero's Letters, he was provided with Greek type. The blank fol. 9a is occupied by a transcript in an early hand of the greater part of lib. i, cap. iv (De ficu), from a MS. the readings of which differ materially from the printed text.

For the purposes of the index the six books have been divided into a continuous series of 479 chapters, designated in the margins of the text by manuscript roman numerals, but in the index by printed numerals. The [17] references are not, as in later editions, to book and chapter, but to chapters only. The index, alphabetized by the first letter of the word only, printed on different paper and forming a separate quire, is here placed at the beginning of the volume; but traces of earlier manuscript signatures still remaining, bear witness to a former order in which the text preceded the index, as is still the case in some copies of this edition.

Most of Jenson's early books were folios. But notwithstanding the size of the leaf (13 × 8 in.), this is a quarto, as both the direction of the chain-lines and the position of the water-mark prove. However, because of the limitations of the early presses, it was doubtless printed on half-sheets, folio-wise, two pages at most at one impression.

Of the twenty-four 15th-century editions of the Elegantiae the three earliest, one of which was Jenson's, were printed in 1471.

Although the tradition that Nicolas Jenson, master of the mint at Tours, was sent by Charles VII. in 1458 to Mainz to learn the secrets of the newly discovered art of printing is otherwise unsupported and, in view of the manner in which the invention was afterwards carried to France as well as to other countries by private initiative, improbable, he was already a master of the art, wherever and however acquired, when he established in 1470 the press which held the leading place at Venice until his death in 1480.

The present exceptionally fine copy of the Elegantiae, bound in citron morocco, with gold borders and gilt edges, is the Wodhull copy, bought in 1786 of Payne for £10.10s.

Fol. 1, blank. Fol. 2a: CAIVS PLYNIVS MARCO SVO SALVTEM. Fol. 4a: CAII PLYNII SECVNDI[18] NATVRALIS HISTORIAE LIBER .I. CAIVS PLYNIVS SECVNDVS NOVOCOMENSIS DOMITIANO SVO SALVTEM. PRAEFATIO. Fol. 21a: CAII PLINII SECVNDI NATVRALIS HISTORIAE LIBER .II. Fol. 355a, Colophon: CAII PLYNII SECVNDI NATVRALIS HISTORIAE LIBRI TRICESIMI SEPTIMI ET VLTIMI FINIS IMPRESSI VENETIIS PER NICOLAVM IENSON GALLICVM .M.CCCC.LXXII. NICOLAO TRONO INCLYTO VENETIARVM DVCE. Followed by: Iohannis andreæ episcopi aleriensis ad pontificem summum Paulum secundum uenetum epistola. Fol. 356a: Hereneus lugdunensis episcopus: item Iustinus ex philosopho martyr: item cum diuo Hieronymo Eusebius cæsariensis: serio posteritatem adiurarunt: ut eorum descripturi opera conferrent diligenter exemplaria: et sollerti studio emendarent. Idem ego tum in cæteris libris omnibus tum maxime in Plynio ut fiat; uehementer obsecro: obtestor: atque adiuro: ne ad priora menda: et tenebras inextricabiles tanti sudoris opus relabatur. Instauratum aliquantulum sub romano pontifice maximo Paulo secundo ueneto. Fol. 356b, blank.

The rubrication of the present copy is not only elaborate but also of unusual merit. The first of the twelve-line initials of the thirty-seven books is finely illuminated in gold and colors. The others, in the outlines of which grotesque features are occasionally introduced, are set off by skilful pen-work, harmonizing in general effect, but carefully avoiding repetition in details. The chapter initials also, a thousand or more in number, in alternate red and blue, or red and green, have much variety and grace. The initial L, for example, occurring twenty-eight times in the first book, is never repeated in the same form [19] and color. The blank fol. 3b is occupied by the name Jesus in very large and ornate characters, in different colors, surrounded by scroll and figure decoration. The Bagneri arms, included in the ornamentation of the first initial, point to an early ownership of the volume, and the arms of the Antella family of Florence at the foot of the first page, to a later ownership.

The introductory epistle of the younger Pliny, describing his uncle's manner of life, was addressed to his friend Macer, who here becomes Marcus by the easy transposition of Macro to Marco. Less easily explained is the substitution in the dedication of Domitian for his brother Titus Vespasian, to whom Pliny dedicated the work.

Two editions of the Naturalis Historia preceded this, the first printed by John of Speier in 1469, with a five years' privilege from the Venetian senate, which expired at his death in 1470, the second by Sweynheym and Pannartz, Rome, 1470. With the first of these, Jenson's edition agrees in the number of pages and of lines to the page. From the second he reprinted the letter addressed by the editor Johannes Andreas, Bishop of Aleria, to his patron Pope Paul II., and the earnest appeal for care on the part of any who should reprint his Pliny, "ne ad priora menda et tenebras inextricabiles tanti sudoris opus relabatur." Fifteen more editions were printed before the close of the 15th century. Jenson's Pliny is generally regarded as the finest production of his press. The type is his first font.

The Wodhull copy, bought of Thomas Payne, book-seller, in 1791 for £12.12s., and bound by Roger Payne in russia gilt, with Wodhull arms on side, at the additional cost of £1. Leaf 15 1/4 × 10 1/4 in.

Fol. 1, blank. Fol. 2-20, alphabetical index. Fol. 21, blank. Fol. 22a: NONII MARCELLI PERIPATETICI [20] TIBVRTICENSIS COMPENDIOSA DOCTRINA AD FILIVM DE PROPRIETATE SERMONVM. Fol. 194a, Colophon: NONII MARCELLI PERIPATETICI TIBVRTICENSIS COMPENDIOSA DOCTRINA AD FILIVM DE PROPRIETATE SERMONVM IMPRESSA VENETIIS INDVSTRIA ATQVE IMPENDIO NICOLAI IENSON GALLICI. .M.CCCC.LXXVI. Fol. 194b, blank.

On the first page of text a large initial S in gold on a panel of color, with marginal decoration. Other large chapter initials in red and blue alternately. Numerous paragraph-marks in alternate red and blue. Blank first leaf wanting.

The index, which occupies the first nineteen leaves, is alphabetized as far as the second letter of the word. The references are by roman numerals to the leaves (not pages) of the work, which themselves have only manuscript foliation in arabic figures.

The first edition of Nonius was printed at Rome in 1470 by Lauer; the second, in 1471, was without place or name. Jenson's edition, which is the third, borrowed from both of these but added also something of value. The correct title, De compendiosa doctrina, first appears here. The usual title, De proprietate sermonum, belongs strictly to the first chapter. As in all the early editions, the third chapter is lacking, having been discovered later and first included in the 1513 edition of Aldus. Jenson's Greek type long remained in favor for incidental use in Latin books after it had been displaced in Greek books by Aldine types.

[21]

The Wodhull copy, "Payne's sale, £5.5s., January, 1792." Bound by Roger Payne in red morocco, gilt edges. Leaf 11 × 8 in.

Fol. 1a, blank. 1b: Tabula questionum domini Johannis de Janduno super tres libros de anima Aristotelis. Fol. 2a: [I]Nest enim mentibus hominum Veri boni naturalis inserta cupiditas. Fol. 92b, Colophon: Expliciunt questiones domini Johannis de Janduno super tres libros de anima Aristotelis impresse Venetijs per Franciscum de Hailbrun et Nicolaum de Franckfordia socios. M.CCCCLXXiii.

On first page of text a twenty-four line initial illuminated in gold and colors, with border ornament. Book and chapter initials in alternate red and blue. Arabic numerals, which made their first appearance in printed books in 1470, were very sparingly used even at a considerably later date than 1473.

The author, commonly known as Johannes de Gandavo (Ghent), of the early part of the 14th century, wrote commentaries also on other works of Aristotle. Of the present work five editions, of which this is the first, were printed at Venice in the 15th century.

Franz Renner of Heilbronn conducted a press at Venice from 1471 to 1483, having as partner from 1473 to 1477 Nicolas of Frankfort. The present volume is printed in a small round-faced gothic type, the second of the nine fonts which he used.

[22]

The Wodhull copy, bought at the Maffei Pinelli sale, London, 1789, for £1.13s. Bound in hf. vellum. Leaf 16 3/4 × 11 1/2 in.

Fol. 1, blank. Fol. 2a: THEODORI: GEAECI: THESSALONICENSIS: PRAEFATIO: IN LIBROS: DE ANIMALIBVS: ARISTOTELIS: PHILOSOPHI: AD XYSTVM: QVARTVM: MAXIMVM. Fol. 7b: ARISTOTELIS: DE HISTORIA: ANIMALIVM: LIBER PRIMVS INTERPRETE THEODORO. Fol. 131a: ARISTOTELIS DE PARTIBVS ANIMALIVM LIBER PRIMVS INTERPRETE THEODORO. Fol. 184a: ARISTOTELIS DE GENERATIONE ANIMALIVM LIBER PRIMVS INTERPRETE THEODORO. Fol. 250b, Colophon: Finiunt libri de animalibus Aristotelis interprete Theodoro Gaze. V. clarissimo: quos Ludouicus podocatharus Cyprius ex Archetypo ipsius Theodori fideliter et diligenter auscultauit: et formulis imprimi curauit Venetiis per Iohannem de Colonia sociumque eius Iohannem manthen de Gherretzem. Anno domini .M.CCCC.LXXVI. Fol. 251a: Tabula cartarum secundum ordinem ponendarum. Fol. 251b, 252, blank.

The border surrounding the first page of text, and eighteen initials of the several books, are illuminated in gold and colors. Chapter initials supplied in red and blue alternately.

Printed signatures, which appear to have been first introduced by Zarotto of Milan in 1470, and a register of sheets, first used by John of Cologne in 1475, are both found in this volume. The register, which may give only the number of sheets in each of the quires, or the [23]first word of each sheet of the quire, is here of the latter kind. Unfortunately two sheets escaped registration and the words are supplied in manuscript.

Three separate treatises of Aristotle are contained in this volume: Historia de animalibus libri ix; De partibus animalium libri iv; De generatione animalium libri v.

Theodore Gaza, the translator, was a learned Greek from Thessalonica, who took up his residence in Italy on the capture of his native city by the Turks. The translation was made at the instance of Nicolas V., who had invited him to Rome in 1450, but was first printed in the present edition (Venice, 1476) and dedicated in a flattering epistle of eleven pages to the reigning pope, Sixtus IV. The fifty scudi which the pope sent in acknowledgment of the dedication copy Gaza is said to have thrown in disgust into the Tiber. It is interesting to note in this connection that while the Venice editions of 1492 and 1498 retain the name of Sixtus IV. in the dedication, Aldus after having omitted the epistle altogether in his 1504 edition, in that of 1513 quietly substituted the name of Nicolas V., the earlier and worthier patron, without a word of change in the language of the dedication itself. Later editions have followed the example of Aldus.

John of Cologne, established as a printer at Venice as early as 1471, was associated 1472-1473 with Wendelin of Speier, whose business and types he took over in 1474. He had as partner, 1474-1480, John Manthen, and in 1480, Nicolas Jenson. The type of the Aristotle is a close imitation of the first font of John and Wendelin of Speier.

The Wodhull copy, bought at the Pinelli sale for £2.12s.6d. Bound in hf. vellum. Leaf 12 × 8 1/4 in.

Fol. 1, blank. Fol. 2a: INCIPIT PROLOGVS IN LI[24]BRVM QVI INTITVLATVR ARBOR VITE CRVCIFIXE IESV. ET DICITVR OPVS VBERTINI DE CASALI. QVI FVIT FRATER PROFESSVS ORDINIS MINORVM BEATI FRANCISCI. Fol. 4a, col. 2: Explicit primus prologus. Incipit secundus. Fol. 5a, col. 2: Explicit prologus secundus. Incipit liber primus. Fol. 248b, col. 2, Colophon: Liber qui intitulatur Arbor uite crucifixe Iesu deuotissimi fratris Vbertini de Casali ordinis minorum feliciter explicit. Impressus Venetiis per Andream de Bonettis de Papia. Anno .M.CCCC.LXXXV. Die.xii.Martii. Ioanne Mocenico inclyto principe regnante. Fol. 249a: Tabula capitulorum. Fol. 249b, col. 2: Registrum. Fol. 250, blank.

Bound in olive green morocco with gold borders and gilt edges. Book-stamp of J. Richard, D.M., on first and last leaf of text, and book-plate of another owner, Jules Frayssenet, of Fleurance, printed on full leaf inserted between the fly-leaves, front and back, and the text. Leaf 10 1/4 × 7 3/4 in.

Andreas de Bonetis, of Pavia, printed at Venice from 1483 to 1487.

Fol. 1a: BATISTAE DE ALBERTIS POETAE LAVREATI OPVS PRAECLARVM IN AMORIS REMEDIO FELICITER INCIPIT. Fol. 20b, Colophon: BAPTISTAE DE ALBERTIS POETAE LAVREATI OPVS IN AMORIS REMEDIO VTILISSIMVM FELICITER FINIT. .M.CCCC.LXXI.

Notwithstanding the Latin title, the work itself is wholly in Italian and both in the MSS. and in later printed editions is found also under the title Deifira ossia del mal principiato amore. A companion volume by the same author, with the Latin title De amore liber, and the Italian, Ecatomfilea ossia del vero amore, was printed the same year, in the same type, the same number of leaves and lines to the page. Still another work in the same type and form and apparently of the same date, entitled Historieta amorosa fra Leonora de' Bardi e Hippolito Bondelmonti, is attributed on good evidence to De Albertis. Copies of all three works, printed alike on vellum and bound together in one volume, formerly in the Mac-Carthy Collection (Catalogue, Paris, 1815, no. 3595), are now in the Bibliothèque Nationale (Vélins 1964). In the present copy of De amoris remedio the manuscript signatures b and c, partly cut away, point to an earlier binding, in which the Historieta consisting of only twelve leaves may possibly have formed the signature a.

Panzer was disposed to identify the peculiar roman type of these volumes with that used by the fourth printer of Venice, Clemente of Padua, between whom and Zarotto of Milan, Hain was later in doubt. But Proctor was convinced that the small group of books to which these belong, nearly all of them connected in some way with Florence, were the productions of the first, so far unidentified, press of that city. The date they bear (1471) places them among the earliest books printed in the Italian language. Witness the following first editions: Petrarch's Canzoniere, 1470; Il Decamerone, 1471; La Divina Commedia, 1472.

The present copy, bound in blue morocco, with the crest of the Marquis of Blandford on side, was sold in his (White Knights) sale in 1819 for £2. Leaf 9 1/4 × 6 3/4 in.

[26]

From the Syston Park sale, December, 1884, with book-plate and the monogram (J.H.T.) of Sir John Hayford Thorold.

Part I. Fol. 1a: Bonus Accursius Pisanus doctissimo sapientissimo ducali quæstori Iohanni Francisco turriano salutem plurimam dicit. Fol. 2a: ἈΙΣΩΠΟΥ ΒΙΟΣ ΤΟΥ ΜΥΘΟΠΟΙΟΥ ΜΑΞΙΜΩ ΤΩ ΠΛΑΝΟΥΔΗ ΣΥΓΓΡΑΦΕΙΣ. Fol. 33a: ἈΙΣΩΠΟΥ ΜΥΘΟΙ. Fol. 70a: Τέλος τὣν τοὓ Ἀισώπου Μύθων. Part II. Fol. 1a: Vita Aesopi fabulatoris clarissimi e græco latina per Rynucium facta ad Reuerendissimum Patrem Dominum Antonium tituli Sancti Chrysogoni Presbyterum Cardinalem et primo prohoemium. Fol. 32b: FINIS. Fol. 33a: Argumentum fabularum Aesopi e græco in latinum. Fol. 59b: Finis. Vita Aesopi per Rynucium thettalum traducta. Verum quoniam ab eo non nulla fuerunt praetetermissa (sic): fortassis quia græcus eius codex esset minus emendatus: Ego Bonus accursius Pisanus: eadem in ea omnia correxi; et emendaui. Fol. 60, blank. Part III. Fol. 1a, blank. Fol. 1b: Bonus Accursius Pisanus doctissimo ac sapientissimo ducali Quæstori Iohanni francisco Turriano salutem plurimam dicit. Fol. 2a, col. 1: ΜΥΘΟΙ ἈΙΣΩΠΟΥ, col. 2: Fabulae Aesopi. Fol. 38a, col. 1: ΤΕΛΟΣ ΤΩΝ ΤΟΥ ἈΙΣΩΠΟΥ ΜΥΘΩΝ. Col. 2: FINIS AESOPI FABVLARVM. Bonus Accursius pisanus impressit: qui non doctorum hominum sed rudium ac puerorum gratia hunc laborem suscepit.

[27]

This is the first printed edition of any of the Greek classics, and the third book printed entirely in Greek, or in Greek with a Latin translation; the first being the Grammar of Lascaris, Milan, 1476, and the second the Lexicon of Crastonus not later than 1478. All three were printed with the same font of Greek type made by, or under the supervision of, Demetrius Damilas, the son of Milanese parents settled in Crete. Bonus Accursius was rather the publisher than the actual printer, who in the case of the Lascaris was Dionysius Paravisinus, and in the case of the Crastonus and the Aesop, probably the brothers de Honate, who at that date were the possessors of the peculiar roman type used in the Latin translations. After the Aesop this particular font of Greek type next appeared in the first edition of Homer, printed at Florence in 1488 by Bartolommeo di Libri, and in three of his subsequent books, once at Rome early in the 16th century, after which it disappears altogether.

In the present edition the Fabulae græce number 147, the Fabulae latine 100, the Fabulae selectae 62. The translator, Rinuccio d'Arezzo, who dedicates his work to Cardinal Antonio Cerdano, tells him in closing that he sends all that have come into his hands, though probably not all that Aesop wrote, since while they stand in alphabetical order, some letters are wanting and others have not their full quota. Not all copies have all the three parts, nor are they always bound in the same order. The present copy, though in all respects complete, is bound irregularly, as follows: 1. Fabulae selectae. 2. Fabulae græce. 3. Vita Aesopi græce. 4. Vita et fabulae latine. On the verso of the last blank leaf is written in an early hand "olim fuit Reverendissimi magistri georgii de casali."

Mr. Wodhull paid "Edwards" for this copy, in 1799, £14.14s. Bound by Mrs. Weir in green morocco extra, gilt edges. Leaf 9 × 6 in.

[28]

Fol. 1, blank, 2a: TABVLAE F∀BVLARVM (sic) OVIDII METAMORPHOSEOS. Fol. 6a: Domitius Calderinus Veronensis. [D]E Ouidii uita nihil a nobis in hoc loco scribendum est. Fol. 7a: P. OVIDII NASONIS SVLMONENSIS METAMORPHOSEOS LIBER PRIMVS. Fol. 187b, Colophon: FINIS Impressum Parmæ Opera Et Impensis Andreæ Portiliæ .M.CCCC.LXXX. Idibus Maiis Ioanne Galeazio Maria Mediolani Illustrissimo Duce Regnante Fœliciter. Fol. 188, blank.

First initial of each book supplied in red; heading of each book and each fable underlined in red; initial-strokes in every verse and paragraph-marks in red. Without the last blank leaf.

Andreas Portilia was the first printer at Parma, where his press was established in 1472 and continued, with two brief transfers to Bologna and Reggio, till 1486.

Mr. Wodhull's copy, for which he paid, at the sale of Dr. Chauncy's library in 1790, £2. Bound in red morocco, with rich gold tooling on back and sides, and book-plate of Charles Chauncy, M.D. (1706-1777). Leaf 12 × 8 in.

Fol. 1: Aeneæ siluii poætæ laureati, in hystoriam de duobus amantibus præfatio prima ad perquam generosum militem Casparem Slik fœliciter incipit. Fol. 2b: Aeneæ siluii in hystoriam de duobus amantibus praefatio secunda ad Martinum Sozinum, Senensem, iuris utriusque perspicacissimum interpretem iocunde incipit. Fol. 4a: Aeneæ siluii de duobus amantibus hystoria perquam iocunde incipit! Fol. 44b: Vale. ex Vienna quinto nonas Iulii. anno Millesimo quadringentesimo quadrage[29]simo quarto; Colophon: Aeneæ Siluii poæte laureati de duobus amantibus eurialo et lucresia, finit fœliciter. Fol. 45, 46, blank.

Large initial on first page supplied in blue and gold, with pen ornamentation in red and blue. Other capitals and the paragraph-marks in alternate red and blue. Last blank leaf wanting.

This and the two next works of the present list bound with it were printed at the first Paris press, a private press set up in the Sorbonne in 1470 by Johann Heynlin, Prior, and Guillaume Fichet, Librarian, of the University, and maintained by them until April, 1473. During these three years twenty-two books were printed, all in the same roman type, copied from the Cæsar of Sweynheym and Pannartz, Rome, 1469. In only two of them are the actual printers, Friburger and his associates, named.

To the twenty-eight 15th-century editions—not to speak of the translations—of this novel described by Hain, Copinger's Supplement adds half as many more. The present edition is perhaps the third. Claudin, who makes it the nineteenth in the list of the Sorbonne books, could trace but four copies. This makes a fifth.

The three books from the Sorbonne press are bound in one volume, red morocco, gilt edges, with book-plate of Sir Willim Burrell. It passed from his possession some years before his death and was bought by Michael Wodhull at Payne's sale April 7, 1789, for £4.4s. The binder, possibly mistaking the date of the author's subscription (Vienna, 1444) for that of the printing, has placed it on the back of the volume. Leaf 7 3/4 × 5 1/4 in.

[30]

Fol. 1a: Aeneæ Siluii poætæ laureati (cui et pro pontificali dignitate Pio nomen est) in disputationem de curialium miseria ad perspicacissimum iurisconsultum Iohannem Ech, serenissimi diuique principis, Alberti, cæsaris inuictissimi! Alberti quoque austriæ ducies inclyti consiliarium atque oratorem præfacio fœliciter incipit; Fol. 34a: Vale uir (nisi ex curialibus unus esses) meo iudicio prudens; Colophon: Aeneæ Siluii de curialium miseria disputatio finem habet fœlicem; Fol. 35, 36, blank.

First initial rubricated in the same style and by the same hand as in the De duobus amantibus. Other capitals and paragraph-marks in red and blue alternately. Initial-strokes in yellow. At the bottom of fol. 29a a line accidentally dropped by the compositor is supplied in manuscript by a contemporary hand, viz., "non te uolunt. Quidam uero potentes sunt! ac ex." Both the recto and the verso of the leaf have the full complement of 23 lines but there is a hiatus in the text. The copies in the Bibliothèque Nationale, and the Bibliothèque Mazarine, Paris, have the line supplied in manuscript in like manner, but instead of uero read non, which does not suit the context.

According to Claudin this is the twentieth book printed at the Sorbonne press. To the five copies known to him this adds a sixth.

Bound with No. 19. De duobus amantibus.

Fol. 1a: Ad prudentem et magnificum uirum Cosmam de medicis florentinum, Leonardi Aretini clarissimi ora[31]toris, in epistolas platonis quas ex græcis latinas fecit! praefatio; Fol. 52a, Colophon: FINIS.

Leonardo Bruni, often called Leonardo Aretini from his birthplace Arezzo, translated five of the dialogues of Plato in addition to the letters.

The first notice of this edition is found in the Catalogue Bolongaro-Crevenna (Amst., 1789), where it is described as containing 52 printed leaves. It appears from the price-list printed after the sale in 1790 that it had not been sold, but was "retenu, faute de commissions ou de concurrence," and was still obtainable at the price of 15 florins. No trace of it has since been found and Panzer and Hain were able only to copy the catalogue description. Philippe (1885) described Heynlin's copy, which is preserved in the library of the University of Basel, as consisting of one first blank leaf, forty-nine printed leaves and two blank leaves at the end. Claudin (1898), with a second copy discovered meantime in the Bibliothèque d'Angers at his command, finds one first blank and forty-nine printed leaves, and remarks that the two blank leaves placed by Philippe at the beginning [should be end] are only independent fly-leaves. Our copy has fifty-two printed leaves and no blanks and no occasion for them, since the printed leaves, of themselves, form complete quires. Claudin's collation, which gives both the quires and a register of the first words of each quire, shows that both his copies lack the sixth quire of our copy, composed like the seventh of only two leaves and beginning "sibus interdixistis." There is moreover still unexplained and not easily explainable in the [32] descriptions of both the Basel and Angers copies the presence of a troublesome first blank leaf and the absence of another leaf of text, in addition to the lacking sixth quire. It follows that, at least until the Crevenna copy, which appears to have been in agreement with ours, comes to light again, this must remain the only complete copy known.

Bound with Nos. 19 and 20, from the same press.

Fol. 1, blank. Fol. 2a: Sequitur tabula capitulorum Sophologij. Fol. 5a: Doctissimi atque excellentissimi patris: sacrarum litterarum doctoris deuotissimi: fratris Iacobi magni: religionis fratrum heremitarum: sancti Augustini sophologium incipit. Cuius principalis intentio est inducere legentis animum ad sapientie amorem. Fol. 218a: Jacobi Magni sophologium finit feliciter. Fol. 218b: Epigramma ad huius operis conspectorem [five distichs.] Colophon: Anno domini millesimo .cccc.lxxvij. die .i. mensis Iunij. Impressum fuit istud sophologium parisius per Martinum crantz. Vdalricum gering, et Michaelem friburger.

Border ornamentation in color on fol. 5a. Initials at the head of the first four of the ten books in dull gold and color; those of the remaining books in color only. Chapter initials and paragraph-marks in alternate red and blue. Blank first leaf wanting. The bottom line of fol. 116b which had been accidentally moved across to the foot of fol. 115a (the companion page on the imposing stone) is supplied in manuscript where it was lacking and the misplaced line of print is canceled.

[33]

On the discontinuance of the Sorbonne press in 1473, the printers, Crantz, Gering, and Friburger, moved into the neighboring Rue Saint-Jacques and set up a press, with new type, on their own account. An edition of the Sophologium had been one of the last books printed at the old press. A second edition was issued from the new press in 1475, of which the present edition is, in type, number of pages and lines, an exact reprint, but has printed signatures and is a quarto while that was a folio. Caxton's "Book of Good Manners," printed in 1487, was a translation of "Le livre des bonnes meurs," another work by the same author.

The present copy, bound in green morocco with gold borders and gilt edges, is from the Syston Park library, sold in December, 1884. Leaf 10 3/4 × 7 1/4 in.

Fol. 1a, Title: DIt boeck is ghenomet. dat vader boeck. dat in den latijne is ghehieten Vitas patrum. inhoudende dye historien ende legenden der heyligher vaderen die hare leuen in strengher penitencie ouerghebracht hebben Ouergheset in goeder verstandelre duytscer sprake. [Rest of page occupied by two woodcuts.] Fol. 1b: [H]Ier beghint die tafele van desen boecke dat ghehieten is dat va (sic) vader boeck. Fol. 4b: Hier eyndet die tafef (sic) van den boecke..... Fol. 5a: [Woodcut of the Annunciation, which is repeated on the verso of the leaf.] Fol. 6a: Hier beghinnet dat eerste deel van desen boecke dat ghenoemet is Vitaspatrum in latijne. Fol. 165b, Colophon: Hier eyndet dat derde deel van desen boecke van den wonderlijke wercken ende goede exempelen ende goede leringhen der heigher (sic) vaderen so als die heylige leraer Jeronimus vut den griecken in den latine ghetogen heeft Ouergheset in goeder verstandelre duytscer spraken om salicheit alre goeder kersten menscen. Ghedruct bi mi Peter van Os In den iare ons heren Mcccc [34] ende xc. den eersten dach van den April. [Printer's Device, (shields of Zwolle and of the printer combined).] Fol. 166, blank.

Prologue initial on fol. 6a supplied in blue with pen ornamentation in red. Chapter initials and paragraph-marks in alternate red and blue. Initial-strokes in red. Blank last leaf wanting.

Bound by Alfred Matthews in three-quarter levant morocco with blind tooling, gilt edges. Leaf 10 1/2 × 8 in.

Peter van Os, of Breda, was actively engaged in printing at Zwolle from 1479 till the end of the century, except for the three years 1481-1484.

The English translation of the "Vitas Patrum," which was the closing labor of Caxton's life, was printed in 1495 by Wynken de Worde with this colophon: "Thus endyth the moost vertuouse hystorye of the deuoute and right renowned lyues of holy faders lyuynge in deserte, worthy of remembraunce to all wel dysposed persons which hath ben translated oute of Frenche into Englisshe by William Caxton of Westmynstre late deed and fynysshed at the laste daye of hys lyff."

Fol. 1, blank. Fol. 2a: Prohemye. [G]Rete thankynges lawde & honoure we merytoryously ben bounde to yelde [35]and offre vnto wryters of hystoryes, whiche gretely haue prouffyted oure mortal lyf, that shewe vnto the reders and herers by the ensamples of thynges passyd, what thynge is to be desyred. [Fol. 4-20, alphabetical table; 21, blank; 22-24, dialogue between the Clerke and the Lorde on translation, Trevisa's epistle to Lord Berkeley; 25, blank.] Fol. 26a: Prolicionycion. Prefacio prima ad historiam. [A]Fter solempne and wyse wryters of Arte and of scyence.... Fol. 389b: God be thanked of al his dedes. This translacion is ended on a thursdaye the eyghtenth daye of Apryll the yere of our lord a thousand thre hondred and .lvij. The xxxj yere of Kyng Edward the thyrd after the Conquest of Englond, the yere of my lordes age Syr thomas lord of berkley that made me make this translacion fyue and thyrtty. [390a, Caxton's epilogue to Trevisa; 390b, blank.] Fol. 391a: Jncipit Liber vltimus. Fol. 449a: Ended the second day of Juyll the xxij yere of the regne of kynge Edward the fourth & of the Incarnacion of oure lord a thousand foure score and tweyne. Fynysshed per Caxton. Fol. 449b, 450, blank.

Seventy-two leaves, including the five blanks, are wanting in this copy, viz.: sign. a-C; 1, 1, 4, 5, 8; 2, 1, 4, 5; 3, 2; 4, 1; 27, 3; [28*,2]; 44, 7; 50-55. The lacking parts comprise the first twenty leaves (Prohemye and alphabetical index), the last forty leaves (Caxton's eighth book), and twelve intermediate leaves. Of these the Proheyme is supplied in facsimile and sign. 4, 1 in manuscript. What is possibly an original impression of Caxton's large device is placed at the end of the volume. This was used by Caxton only during his last years, 1487-91, and by Wynkyn de Worde, into whose hands the original block passed, in his folios for thirty years longer. From one of the latter this may have been taken, possibly from the Polychronicon of 1495, where the other side of the leaf it occupied was blank, as is the case here also.

Trevisa's translation of Higden was completed, according to the best MSS., in 1387, not in 1357 as stated on fol. 389b. (In 1357 the 18th of April fell on Tuesday, not Thursday, and Thomas Lord Berkeley was then in the fifth, not the thirty-fifth year of his age.) Caxton was himself the translator of twenty-two of the one hundred books which he printed and it was therefore not strange that Trevisa's English should have been in his hands, as the proem states, "a lytel embelysshed fro tholde makyng." In what these embellishments consisted is partially explained in the epilogue: "Therfore I William Caxton a symple persone haue endeuoyred me to wryte fyrst ouer all the sayd book of proloconycon, and somewhat haue chaunged the rude and old Englyssh, that is to wete certayn wordes, which in these dayes [1482] be neyther usyd ne understanden". He went however further than this and so changed the inflections and orthography that the language is no longer of the four[37]teenth but rather of the fifteenth century. But in no other way could it have been made to harmonize with his proposed continuation, concerning which he proceeds to say: "and also am auysed to make another booke after this sayd werke whiche shal be sett here after the same, And shal haue his chapytres and his table a parte. For I dar not presume to sette my book ne ioyne hit to his, for dyuerse causes". Accordingly he begins his "Liber ultimus" with a new signature, preceded by a blank page. His "table" nevertheless is combined with that of the preceding seven books in one alphabet. Wynkyn de Worde's edition has a more elaborate index of ninety pages in which each of the eight books is indexed in a separate alphabet.

Apart from the interest attaching to this "Liber ultimus" as the only original work of any length from Caxton's pen, the Polychronicon is next to the Golden Legend his largest book, and in the Prohemye they are grouped together as the "twoo bookes notable" which treat of history. It happens also, probably because of larger editions printed, that of these two books many more copies have survived than of any of his other books, about one-fourth of which are now represented only by single copies. Of the Polychronicon, Seymour de Ricci's "Census of Caxtons" (1909) enumerates forty known copies (very few of them entirely complete), evenly divided between public and private libraries. To this list he adds, under the heading "Present owners untraced," forty-eight copies (nos. 41-88) which appeared at sales between 1698 and 1901, some of them possibly identical with copies already described as "known." In this second division is found the present copy (no. 79), purchased by the donor of this collection at the Smets sale, New York, May, 1868, in calf binding, with the name of the owner "A. A. Smets, Savannah, May 28, 1836" on the fly-leaf. It was at once sent to Francis Bedford for binding, with instructions to have the "inlaying, repair[38]ing etc. done over in the very best manner, by the best restorer in France or England." Bound in brown morocco, richly blind-tooled, with Tudor rose, fleur-de-lis and acorn emblems. Leaf 10 1/4 × 7 1/2 in. The Smets fly-leaf and the original instructions sent to Mr. Bedford with the volume and returned by him with an added note over his own signature, laid in.

Other copies of the Polychronicon which have passed through Mr. Bedford's hands have been bound in the same style, among them the Menzies copy, sold New York, November, 1876, which de Ricci wrongly conjectured might be identical with the Smets.

Fol. 1a. Title: Thordinary of Crysten men [woodcut below.] Fol. 1b-4b, table of contents. Fol. 5a [woodcut above]: Here begynneth a notable treatyse and ful necessarye to all crysten men for to knowe & it is named the Ordynary of Crystyens or of crysten men. Fol. 217b: Here endeth the book named the ordynarye of crysten men newely hystoryed and translated out of Frensshe in to Englysshe. Enprynted in the cyte of London in the Fletestrete in the sygne of ye sonne by Wnykyn de worde. ye yere of our lorde .M.CCCCC.vi. Fol. 218a, title repeated over woodcut. Fol. 218b, [Printer's Device]

The present copy lacks the first four leaves, containing the title and the table of contents; but both the title and [39]the woodcut accompanying it are repeated elsewhere in the volume, the title on fol. 218a, the woodcut on fol. 87a.

Of the French original, L'ordinaire des chrestiens, at least six editions were printed before 1500, the earliest apparently at Rouen, c. 1487. In them it is stated that the writing was commenced 22 May, 1467 and finished (consommé) 22 May, 1469. The corresponding dates in the prologue and epilogue of the translation are "fyrst begonne to be wryten" 14 Jan., 1467, "fyrst consumed" 14 Jan., 1500. The confusion, common to both the French and the English of the 15th century, in the derivatives of consummare and consumere relieves the translator, Andrew Chertsey, from the appearance of an over-literal translation, but the change in the date of the completed work can hardly be in the direction of accuracy.

The woodcuts which appeared in the first edition of the "Ordinary" printed in 1502 are in this second edition replaced by others of different design and better execution, borrowed mainly from "The crafte to lyve well and to dye well", printed by de Worde in 1505 and like the present work translated by Chertsey from a French original, L'art de bien vivre et de bien mourir. Two of these illustrations, "Temptation to Impatience" (fol. 73b) and "Soul leaving the Body" (fol. 218a), are copied from the early block-book Ars moriendi.

Bound by Alfred Matthews in blind-tooled crimson morocco, with inside gold borders and gilt edges. Leaf 8 1/4 × 5 3/4 in.

Wynkyn de Worde, Caxton's assistant, was a native of Wörth, Alsace. He came into possession of his master's printing materials on his death in 1491 and continued to occupy his house in Westminster until 1500 when he moved to Fleet Street within the city. In the number of his books, almost eight hundred, he surpassed all the early printers, but many of them were works of small size and consequence. Some of his largest and finest books were reprints of Caxton's folios. Mention has [40]been made of his use of Caxton's original device without addition. In all of his own various devices also, the place of honor in the center is given to Caxton's initials and cipher, plainly as a mark of loyalty to the master, not an advertisement of himself as the successor.

Fol. 1a, Title: INtrationum excellentissimus liber perquam necessarius omnibus legis hominibus: fere in se continens omnem medullam diversarum materiarum ac placitorum tam realium, personalium, quam mixtorum. Necnon multorum breuium tam executionum quam aliorum valde vtilium illis hunc librum inspecturis aut inscrutandis. Que quidem supradicta faciliter possunt inveniri per indicem alphabeticum peruigilanti studio confectum & per ordinem litterarum redactum... Fol. 1b, [Full page woodcut of the king's arms crowned, supported by a dragon and a greyhound, with a portcullis on either side and a rose and two angels above.] Fol. 2a: Intrationum libri Index Alphabeticus. Fol. 10b: Finis tabule Intrationum. Fol. 193a, Colophon: Explicit opus excellentissimum & perutile in se continens multas materias omnibus legis hominibus perquam necessarias nouiter Impressum, correctum, emendatum, & non minimo labore reuisum Londoni in vico vulgariter nuncupato Fletstrete in officina ere ac impensis honesti viri Ricardi Pynson Regis Impressoris moram suam trahentis sub signo diui Georgii Anno nostre redemptionis .M.CCCCC.x. Die vero vltima Mensis Februarii. Fol. 193b, [Printer's Device.] Fol. 194, blank.

In the present copy the index (sign. Aa. 2-6, Bb. 1-4) is separated from the title (Aa. 1) and placed at the end of the volume. Name of Johēs Coningesby written in a sixteenth century hand on the first page of both text and index. The device is the fourth of Pynson's seven devices and was in use 1496-1513. Allusion is made in the colophon to an earlier edition, no copy of which appears to be known. The work was reprinted by Henry Smythe, London, 1546.

Richard Pynson, a Norman by birth, established himself in London about 1490, taking over, as there is good reason to believe, the business of Machlinia, a printer of law books, for which his knowledge of Norman-French especially fitted him. In 1508 he was made Printer to the King and in that year also he printed two books in roman type, the first use of that character in England. He is known to have printed at least 371 books, a much smaller number than de Worde, but as a rule larger and more important books. He is regarded as the best English printer of his time and the Liber Intrationum is one of his finest books.

Bound in red velvet, with silk linings and gilt edges. Leaf 12 3/4 ×  9 1/4 in.

From the Syston Park library, with the book-plate and monogram of Sir John Henry Thorold.

Title: PLVTARCHI OPVSCVLA. LXXXXII. Index Moralium omnium, & eorum quæ in ipsis tractantur, habetur in hoc quaternione. Numerus autem Arithmeticus [42] remittit lectorem ad semipaginam, ubi tractantur singula. [Aldine anchor]. P. 1050, Colophon: Venetiis, in ædibus Aldi & Andreæ Asulani Soceri. mense Martio. M. D. IX. [Blank leaf with anchor on verso.]

Plutarch's Moralia belongs to that imposing series of first editions of the Greek classics which among all the services of Aldus Manutius to the revival of learning are perhaps his best title to enduring fame. When he set up his press in 1495 five in all, and but one, Homer, of the first rank, had been printed. When he died twenty years later his first editions outnumbered those of all his contemporaries put together, and the rank was even more significant than the number, for among them were included Aristotle, Plato, Thucydides, Herodotus, Aristophanes, Sophocles, Euripides, Pindar and Demosthenes. The Plutarch was printed from MSS. still preserved in the library of St. Mark.

The Greek type of Aldus was a new departure, based on the cursive or business handwriting of his day in distinction from the older book-hand which had served as the model for the first Greek fonts. It gained immediate popularity and for more than two hundred years, either directly or through fonts based upon it, dominated the [43] Greek printing of Europe. At length, mainly because of the ligatures and contractions, it was supplanted by type of more open and regular forms.

In 1508 Aldus took as partner his father-in-law, Andrea Torresano d'Asola, a Venetian printer who in 1480 had taken over the business of Nicolas Jenson. The imprint which had hitherto been apud Aldum or in aedibus Aldi now became in aedibus Aldi et Andreae soceri. After the death of Aldus in 1515 the press was conducted without change of name by the surviving partner until his own death in 1529.

Thick paper copy. Leaf 10 3/4 × 7 in. On p. 1050 is written Collegii Societatis Jesu Embricae 1605.

From the library of Sir J. H. Thorold of Syston Park, with book-plate. Bound by R. Storr, Grantham, in red morocco, gilt edges, with anchor on sides. The "Dictionary of English Book-collectors," pt. 2, calls attention to the Aldine anchor (made more realistic by an end of rope cable twisted about it) stamped by the Grantham bookbinders Messrs. Storr & Ridge upon many of the Thorold books, "not only those bound by themselves, but also those bound by far better men." Examples of both kinds are found in the present collection.

As an illustration of the first Greek type of Aldus there is joined to this collection a finely executed manuscript facsimile on vellum of his Musaeus of 1495, his second book (preceded by the Grammar of Lascaris), but the first in which the font appeared in its completed state. From the Syston Park library. Bound by Bozérian Jeune, in blue morocco extra.

Title: LIBRI DE RE RVSTICA. M. CATONIS LIB. I. M. TERENTII VARRONIS LIB. III. L. IVNII MODERATI COLVMELLAE LIB. XII. Eiusdem de arboribus liber separatus ab alijs, quare autem id factum [44]fuerit: ostenditur in epistola ad lectorem. PALLADII LIB. XIIII. De duobus dierum generibus: simulque de umbris, et horis, quæ apud Palladium, in alia epistola ad lectorem. Georgij Alexandrini enarrationes priscarum dictionum, quæ in his libris Catonis: Varronis: Columellæ. [Aldine anchor]. Hos libros Pontificis etiam Leonis decreto, nequis alius usquam locorum impune imprimat, cautum est. Fol. 308a: Colophon: VENETIIS IN AEDIBVS ALDI ET ANDREAE SOCERI MENSE MAIO M.D.XIIII. [Aldine anchor on verso].

The italic type of Aldus, a cursive or semi-cursive roman, the counterpart of his cursive Greek, was modeled as he himself informs us on the handwriting of Petrarch a lettra per lettra. It first appeared in the Vergil of 1501, the first of his octavo series of classics and only three months later, as was but just, in Le cose volgari of Petrarch. It had at the outset, corresponding to the Greek ligatures, many double letters and even groups of three cast on the same body, which were for the most part eliminated later by Paulus Manutius. Originally it consisted only of lower-case letters and borrowed the capitals of the roman font, using for economy of space small [45]capitals which DeVinne points out as the useful invention of Aldus. Aldus was sensible of the deficiency and the last clause of his will was a request to his partner, Andrea, to have suitable capitals made by the celebrated engraver, Giulio Campagnola. It was, however, not until 1558 that they were finally supplied by Paulus, in connection with a new italic font. What has now ceased to be anything more than a useful auxiliary type was by Aldus employed as a text type, a chief recommendation being that it was more condensed than the roman and enabled him to greatly reduce the price of his books by making an octavo do the work of a quarto or folio. In 1501 he printed six, and in 1502 eleven octavos, whereas all his earlier books, with one unimportant exception, had been of the larger forms.

In 1496 the Venetian Senate granted to Aldus protection for his Greek type and the books printed with it for the period of twenty years, and in 1502 a like privilege covering both his italic and Greek type for ten years. A similar grant made by Alexander VI. in 1502 was renewed by Julius II. in January, 1513, for fifteen years and confirmed by his successor, Leo X., in December of the same year.

From the library of Robert Samuel Turner, sold in 1888.

Bound in red morocco extra, with gold tooling in the Grolier style, edges gilt over red. Leaf 8 1/2 × 5 1/4 in. Book-stamp on verso of last leaf: "Ex libris J.B.P.H. Caqué, D.M. Rem. 1775".

Title: IN HOC VOLVMINE HAEC CONTINENTVR. Rhetoricorum ad C. Herennium lib. IIII. M. T. Ciceronis de inuentione lib. II. Eiusdem de oratore ad Quintum fratrem lib. III. Eiusdem de claris oratori[46]bus, qui dicitur Brutus lib. I. Eiusdem Orator ad Brutum lib. I. Eiusdem Topica ad Trebatium lib. I. Eiusdem oratoriæ partitiones lib. I. Eiusdem de optimo genere oratorum præfatio quædam. Index rerum notabilium, quæ toto opere continentur, per ordinem alphabeti. [Aldine anchor] Hos libros etiam Pontificum Alexandri, Iulij, ac Leonis demum decretis, nequis alius usquam locorum impune imprimat, cautum est. Fol. 245a, Colophon: VENETIIS IN AEDIBVS ALDI, ET ANDREAE SOCERI MENSE OCTOBRI M.D.XXI. [Blank leaf with anchor on verso].

Reprinted, with only the addition of the index, from the 1514 edition of Aldus. In the preface is found the often quoted inscription placed over the door of Aldus to discourage the idle visitor: Quisquis es: rogat te Aldus etiam: atque etiam: ut, si quid est, quod a se velis: perpaucis agas, etc. The edition of 1533, with the imprint in ædibus haeredum Aldi Manutii Romani & Andreae Asulani Soceri and a short preface by Paulus Manutius (it was his first book as director of the press) is also essentially unchanged, but his edition of 1546, in octavo, was thoroughly revised in text and accompanied by a folio volume of variorum commentaries.

Bound by Roger Payne, in blue morocco, gilt edges, with cipher of Sir Mark Masterman Sykes on back, at whose sale in 1824 it brought £1.11s.6d. The Syston Park copy with book-plate, and monogram of Sir John Hayford Thorold. Leaf 8 1/2 × 5 1/4 in.

[47]

Title: IN HOC VOLVMINE HAEC CONTINENTVR. AVRELII CORNELII CELSI MEDICINAE LIBRI .VIII. QVAM EMENDATISSIMI, GRAECIS ETIAM OMNIBVS DICTIONIBVS RESTITVTIS. QVINTI SERENI LIBER DE MEDICINA ET IPSE CASTIGATISS. ACCEDIT INDEX IN CELSVM ET SERENVM SANE QVAM COPIOSVS. [Aldine anchor] Venetorum decreto, ne quis aliquo in loco Venetæ ditionis hos libros imprimat, impressosue alibi uendat, cautum est. Fol. 1a: AVRELII CORNELII CELSI ARTIVM LIBER SEXTVS, IDEM MEDICINAE LIBER PRIMVS. Fol. 164a: Colophon: VENETIIS IN AEDIBVS ALDI, ET ANDREAE ASVLANI SOCERI MENSE MARTIO. M.D.XXVIII. [Aldine anchor on verso].

The De Medicina of Celsus is the second and only surviving part of his Encyclopædia entitled Artes, in five divisions. The first division, De Agricultura, consisted of five books, so that the sixth book of Artes was at the same time the first of De Medicina.

The Syston Park copy, uncut. Bound by Roger Payne in red morocco. Leaf 9 × 5 1/2 in.

Title: M.TVLLII CICERONIS EPISTOLAE ad Atticum, ad M. Brutum, ad Quintum fratrem, summa diligentia castigatæ, ut in ijs menda, quæ plurima erant, pau[48]cissima jam supersint. PAVLI MANVTII IN EASDEM EPISTOLAS Scholia, quibus abditi locorum sensus ostenduntur, cum explicatione castigationum, quæ in his epistolis pene innumerabilis factæ sunt. [Aldine anchor] PAVLVS MANVTIVS ALDI F. VENETIIS, M.D.XL. Fol. 344a, Colophon: APVD ALDI FILIOS. VENETIIS, M.D.XL. MENSE AVGVSTO. [Aldine anchor on verso]

Except for the interval 1533-6 the press was inactive from 1529 to 1540, on account of dissensions between the heirs of Andrea and Aldus. The partnership having been dissolved the press was reopened in 1540 by the sons of Aldus (apud Aldi filios) under the direction of the youngest, Paulus Manutius (1512-74), who restored and added to its lustre. Of Cicero, his favorite author, he revised the entire text and printed repeated editions of some of the works: e.g. of the Epistolae ad Atticum, ad M. Brutum, ad Quintum fratrem not less than ten, of which this is the first. The brief scholia he expanded later into full and valuable commentaries, on the Letters to Atticus in 1547, on the Letters to Brutus and Quintus in 1557.

It was Petrarch who in 1345 discovered in a Verona MS. the long lost Letters to Atticus, Brutus and Quintus and copied them with his own hand. Both the MS. and Petrarch's copy are lost. But of the MS. another transcript, procured by Petrarch's friend Salutati in 1389, is preserved in the Laurentian Library, and of the Petrarch copy we have here a replica in the type which Aldus characterized as manum mentiens.

[49]

From the Syston Park library, with book-plate. Bound by Roger Payne, in blue morocco, gilt edges. Leaf 6 1/2 × 4 in.

Title: M. TVLLII CICERONIS ORATIONVM PARS I. [Aldine anchor] CORRIGENTE PAVLO MANVTIO, ALDI FILIO. VENETIIS, M.D.XLVI. Fol. 308a, Colophon: VENETIIS, APVD ALDI FILIOS, M.D.XXXXVI.

The second edition of the Orations printed by Paulus, vol. I only (II, III wanting), on large paper. Renouard (who knew of no complete copy of the three volumes l.p.) remarks, p. 141, on the too elongated form of most of the Aldine large paper octavos, in which all the increased space is at the bottom. In the present copy it is divided between the bottom and the outer margin, the inner margin and the top having no increase of width—an arrangement well adapted for marginal annotations and perhaps designed for that use. An early owner of this copy has in fact added to the printed title (Orationum Pars I) with a pen the word Commentata, but proceeded no further with his plan than simply to underscore a number of words on the first three pages, leaving the margins untouched.

The most important of the commentaries of Paulus was that on the Orations, completed not long before his death and printed by his son Aldus in 1578-9 in three folio volumes.

From the Syston Park library, with book-plate and the monogram of Sir J. H. Thorold. Bound in red morocco, gilt edges, with Aldine anchor in gold on sides. Leaf 8 × 5 1/4 in.

[50]

Title: PTOLEMAEI PLANISPHAERIVM. IORDANI PLANISPHAERIVM. FEDERICI COMMANDINI VRBINATIS IN PTOLEMAEI PLANISPHAERIVM COMMENTARIVS. In quo uniuersa Scenographices ratio quam breuissime traditur, ac demonstrationibus confirmatur. [Aldine anchor] VENETIIS, M.D.LVIII.

In 1554 the subscription assumed the new form apud Paulum Manutium Aldi F., showing that Paulus had acquired his brothers' rights in the press. At the same time he returned to the earlier and simpler form of the anchor with the name Aldus, instead of the Aldi filii and the ornamental border in use since 1546. Sometimes, as in the present volume, the subscription is omitted altogether and the anchor with the name Aldus alone used. Here moreover the place and date appear only on the title-page and the colophon is dropped as no longer useful.

The original Greek text of Ptolemy's Planisphere is lost. To the present Latin translation, made by an unknown hand from the Arabic, is appended (fol. 25) this subscription: Facta est translatio haec Tolosae Cal. Iunii[51] Anno Domini MCXLIIII. The revival of the study of the Greek mathematicians in the sixteenth century was largely due to the admirable translations and commentaries of Federigo Commandino of Urbino (1509-75). This edition of Ptolemy's Planisphere still remains the best. In the same year Paulus printed Archimedis Opera nonnulla a Federico Commandino Vrbinate nuper in latinum conversa et commentariis illustrata.

Uncut copy, bound in blue morocco, with vellum fly-leaves. Leaf 8 3/4 × 6 1/2 in. From the Syston Park library with book-plate and monogram of Sir John Hayford Thorold.

Title: T.LIVII PATAVINI, Historiarum ab urbe condita, LIBRI. QVI. EXSTANT XXXV CVM. VNIVERSAE. HISTORIAE. EPITOMIS Caroli Sigonij Scholia, quibus ijdem libri, atque epitomae partim emendantur, partim etiam explanantur, Ab Auctore multis in partibus aucta. [Printer's device] VENETIIS ∞ DLXXII. In Aedibus Manutianis.

Editions of Livy with the Scholia of Sigonius were issued from the Aldine press in 1555, 1566, 1572 and 1592. This third edition is distinguished from those which pre[52]ceded it by some additions to the Scholia and an appendix in which the editor defends his views on the chronology of Livy against the attacks of two opponents. But typographically it is inferior to the second edition as the second was inferior to the first, which alone was printed under the active supervision of Paulus. In 1561 he went to Rome to undertake the direction of a press which Pius IV. was about to establish and died there in 1574, having made only one brief visit to Venice in the intervening thirteen years. In his absence the Venice press, when not inactive or leased, was mainly in the charge of his son, the younger Aldus (1547-97), who in spite of the promise of his early years failed both as a scholar and as a printer to sustain the reputation of his father and grandfather. To the present edition Aldus contributed the Veterum scriptorum de T. Liuio testimonia, and he is also unquestionably responsible for the large and strange device which replaces the simple anchor for which his father had shown so marked a preference. It consists of the arms granted to Paulus in 1571 by the Emperor Maximilian II. (in which the Aldine anchor occupies a subordinate place) surrounded by a border of heavy ornament with the addition: Ex privilegio Maximiliani II. Imp. Caes. Aug. When his father's death had made him the head of the press he continued for some years to employ the same device. For the Livy of 1592, much inferior to the present edition, and of interest only as showing the decline into which the Aldine press, and the Italian presses in general, had fallen at the end of the sixteenth century, he was only indirectly responsible. He left Venice in 1585 and spent the last years of his life at Rome, as professor of belles-lettres and joint director of the Vatican press.

Title: Biblia sacra, integrum vtriusque testamenti corpus complectens, diligenter recognita et emendata. [53] Cum concordantijs simul et argumentis: cumque iuris canonici allegationibus passim adnotatis. Insuper in calce eiusdem annexe sunt nominum Hebraicorum, Chaldeorum, atque Grecorum interpretationes. Huic editioni adiectus est Index rerum et sententiarum vetris et noui testamenti. [Printer's device (shield bearing the initials T. K. suspended from a tree and supported by two unicorns, with name THIELMAN.KERVER. at foot), both the title and the device framed in a woodcut border]. Fol. 562a, Colophon: Parisijs, ex officina libraria yolande bonhomme, Uidue spectabilis viri Thielmanni Keruer, sub signo vnicornis in vico sancti Jacobi vbi et venundatur. Absolutum Anno domini Millesimo quingentesimo quadragesimo nono Decimo nono Calendas Septembris. [Printer's device on verso].

The octavo Latin Bibles of the Kerver press, fifteen editions of which appeared between 1508 and 1560, were closely patterned after Froben's edition, Basel, 1591 (the first Bible printed in octavo form), both as regards the text, based on the "Fontibus ex Græcis" editions, 1478 ff., and the introductory and supplementary matter of various origin accompanying it. The earliest of these supplements, Interpretationes nominum Hebraicorum, an etymological index of Hebrew proper names, appeared first in the Bible of Sweynheym and Pannartz, Rome, 1471, and was reprinted without change in most of the editions previous to 1515. In the Complutensian Polyglot it underwent revision and the revised form appears in all the editions of Yolande Bonhomme, with due acknowl[54]edgment to Cardinal Ximenes. The Index rerum et sententiarum, however, announced in the title as a new addition to this edition (as it had been also announced in the edition of 1546, not mentioned by Masch and Copinger, of which this is an exact duplicate) was borrowed from the Bible of Robert Stephens, Paris, 1534, without acknowledgment, perhaps in order the better to escape the suspicion of heresy attached to his work. In Copinger's chronological table of the printed editions of the Latin Bible during the 15th and 16th centuries (Incunabula Biblica, p. 207) this is no. 339, total number 562.

The Kerver press was less celebrated for its Bibles than for liturgical works, and for the books of private devotion (Horae, Heures) of which Brunet (Manuel, v, col. 1614-27) enumerates no less than fifty-six, printed by Thielmann, his widow, or his sons, between 1497 and 1571. The wood-engravings with which they were illustrated were repeated in the successive editions and occasionally also in the Bibles. Two of these borrowed cuts are found in the present edition, facing the Old and the New Testament. The first represents the Expulsion from the Garden, but the verse printed underneath (Gen. ii. 7) calls for the Creation of Adam, which in Yolande's editions of 1526 and 1534 is actually present, while here another engraving has been substituted, but the verse left standing. Facing the New Testament, under the heading Jesu Christi secundum carnem genealogia, is a genealogical tree springing from "the root of Jesse."

Following the usual alphabetical order of the signatures (A-Z, aaa-eee), the Index rerum et sententiarum (sign. U-Z) is here placed before the Interpretationes (sign. aaa-eee). This is contrary to the direction of the Collectio codicum found on the last leaf of the Index (Z6), where the order prescribed is A-T, aaa-eee, U-Z, which is further supported by the colophon and printer's device on Z6. The Index as the latest supplement was meant to stand at the end of the volume.

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Bound in oak boards covered with stamped leather, brass corners and bosses, gilt gauffred edges. Around the central boss of the back cover is stamped the date A.D. 1571, and on the front cover, in corresponding position and order, the initials F E P L P F.

From the Osterley Park sale, May, 1885, with the book-plate of Victor Albert George Child Villiers, Earl of Jersey. Leaf 6 1/2 × 4 1/2 in.

Title: Philonis Iudæi DE DIVINIS DECEM oraculis, quæ summa sunt legum capita Liber, Iohanne Væuræo interprete. [Printer's device] LVTETIAE, Apud Carolum Stephanum, Typographum Regium. M.D.LIIII.

Renouard, Annales de l'impr. des Estienne, 2e éd., p. 106; adds to his description of the volume the following note: "Dédié au cardinal de Lorraine, pour lequel il en fut tiré sur vélin un exemplaire que depuis l'on a vu relié en maroq. jaune ancien, avec une tête en or sur la couverture. Il a passé dans une Bibliothèque inconnue." The present copy answers completely to this description and is without doubt the dedication copy in question. The binding (17th cent.) is yellow morocco, browned by age, gilt edges, with a medallion head in gold embossed on the back cover. Within are written names of former owners; on the title page N. Tetel, 1644 datum Remis and Claude Henry Corrard; on the cover linings ex Libris Claudii Tetel ad Mussey(?); Ce livre appartient à mlle Jean Collot.

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By an oversight Renouard omitted this volume from his list (p. 271) of "Editions Stéphaniennes dont on connoit un on plusieurs exemplaires imprimés sur vélin." It increases the number to twenty-three, seventeen of them printed by the first Henri and only six by his descendants.

Charles Estienne (1504?-1564), a member of a second remarkable family of scholar-printers of the sixteenth century, whose history forms so interesting a parallel to that of Aldus and his descendants, though he does not rank with his brother Robert, or Robert's son the second Henry, certainly brought no discredit on the family name. He was educated as a physician, but when Robert withdrew to Geneva to escape the persecutions of the Sorbonne, he took charge of the Paris press and conducted it with ability from 1551 to 1561, printing one hundred volumes and receiving the appointment of king's printer. Aside from this attractive volume no vellum copy of his books is known.

From the Wodhull sale, with the Wodhull arms stamped in gold on the front cover. Mem. within: "Payne's sale. £3 3s. M. Wodhull, Apr. 14th 1792. Collat & complet." On the last blank leaf is entered the date "Oct. 17th 1808," a record possibly of a later "visitation." Similar dates, some years later than the date of purchase are found on the end leaves of other Wodhull books. Leaf 7 × 4 1/2 in.

Transcriber's Note:

The following inconsistencies found in the text have been retained:

head-line / headline
Homiliæ / Homiliae (in referring to the same book)
De Vinne / DeVinne
Prohemye / Proheyme