Augustinus, Aurelius: De civitate dei.
Venice: Johannes and Vindelinus de Spira, 1470.
Fol. [1-28 3-2610 278 2810]. [274] leaves (1, 16, and 274 blank).
ISTC ia01233000; GW 2877; Goff A1233; BMC V 153 (IC. 19510); Bod-inc A-520; CIBN A-679; BSB-Ink A-855
Two copies held by the University of Glasgow Library
Copy 1
| GIP number: | A115/1 |
| Shelf-mark: | Sp Coll BD12-a.7 (see main library entry for this item) |
| Note: | Without the woodcut border on 3/1r (f. 17r) and woodcut initials at the beginning of books (as described in the BMC copy). |
| Provenance: | Vienna, Seminarium Passaviense: inscription on 1/2r “Seminarij Passaviensis Viennae 1662”. Stuttgart, Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Kgl. Öffentliche Bibliothek, founded in Ludwigsburg 1765 by Duke Karl Eugen, moved to Stuttgart 1777: on 1/2r is a round armorial book stamp “BIBLIOTH. PUBL. REG. STUTTG. [crowned arms]” and oval duplicate stamp “DOUBLETTE DER K. ÖFFENTL. BIBLIOTHEK IN STUTTGART”. Maurice Ogle & Son, Booksellers, Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow (1832-1871): sold book to William Euing; oval embossed stamp on front flyleaf “M Ogle & Son Royal Exchange Sqre. Glasgow”. William Euing (1788-1874), insurance broker, Glasgow: purchased from Ogle 20 Aug. 1849 according to Euing’s pencil acquisition note with price code on verso of front free endpaper “20-8-49 fc/- Letter from Og.” together with an early Euing inventory number in pencil “No 81”. University of Glasgow: presented by Euing in 1872 according to University Library bookplate on front pastedown. |
| Binding: | 19th-century blind-stamped calf; marbled endpapers; gilt-edged leaves. Size: 400 x 285 mm. |
| Leaf size: | 384 x 272 mm. |
| Annotations: | Fairly frequent marginal annotations in 15th/16th-century hands in black ink and in red (many cropped); a few marginal annotations and chapter numbers in black ink in a 17th-century hand in gathering 3; occasional underlining; in the ‘Rubricae’ (gatherings 1 and 2) chapter numbers are added in arabic numerals in red ink in a 15th/16th-century hand in the margins (a separate sequence for each of the 22 books, and in the case of books 6 and 7 the numbering is in roman numerals), and these chapter numbers are replicated in arabic numerals in red ink in the margins of the text beginning with book V; running book numbers “I”-“XXIJ” supplied in red on recto leaves. |
| Decoration: | On 3/1r (f. 17r) a fourteen-line initial “I” is supplied in black ink with reserved white together with an eight-line initial “G” in black ink; smaller initials in gathering 3 supplied in black or in red; occasional guide-letters in pencil; paragraph marks supplied in red or blue on the first three pages of the ‘Rubricae’; occasional capital strokes in red in books 17-19. |
| Imperfections: | Wanting the three blank leaves 1/1, 2/8 and 28/10. |
Copy 2
| GIP number: | A115/2 |
| Shelf-mark: | Sp Coll Hunterian By.1.3 (see main library entry for this item) |
| Note: | Without the woodcut border on 3/1r (f. 17r) and woodcut initials at the beginning of books (as described in the BMC copy). |
| Provenance: | La Baume le Blanc, Louis César de (1708-1780), duc de La Vallière; La Vallière sale 1767; lot 408 (“mar. rouge” i.e. red morocco) in G.F. de Bure, 'Catalogue des livres provenans de la bibliothèque de M.L.D.D.L.V'., 2 vols (Paris: 1767). William Hunter (1718-1783), physician and anatomist: purchased by Hunter at the La Vallière sale through his agent, Jean-Baptiste Dessain, for 130 livres 1 sou; see 'Dessain-Hunter correspondence' (University of Glasgow Library, MS Gen. 36, f. 5v). University of Glasgow: Hunterian bequest, 1807; Hunterian Museum bookplate on front pastedown, with former shelfmark “Ag.4.9”. Note: Hunter apparently had a second copy of this edition, which he purchased through his agent, Jean-Baptiste Dessain, for 40 livres 1 sou at the Gaignat sale - lot 240 in Guillaume de Bure, 'Bibliographie instructive: supplément ... ou catalogue des livres de feu M. L.J. Gaignat', 2 vols (Paris: 1769); see 'Dessain-Hunter correspondence' (University of Glasgow Library, MS Gen. 36, f. 24v). However, the binding of that copy is described in the sale catalogue and in the 'Dessain-Hunter correspondence' as “mar. bl.” i.e. blue morocco; it is no longer in the Hunterian Library. |
| Binding: | France, 18th-century red goatskin (i.e. 'morocco') decorated with triple gold fillets, a small gold fleuron at each corner; gold-tooled spine; marbled endpapers; gilt-edged leaves; watermark of a bunch of grapes and date “1742” on front and rear flyleaves. Size: 409 x 287 mm. |
| Leaf size: | 396 x 275 mm. |
| Annotations: | In the ‘Rubricae’ (gatherings 1 and 2) chapter numbers are added in arabic numerals in brown ink in a 16th/17th-century hand in the margins (a separate sequence for each of the 22 books) and these chapter numbers are replicated in roman numerals in the margins of the text; running book numbers in red ink in the form “li” (versos) and “2”-“22” (rectos); occasional traces of early signatures. |
| Decoration: | On 3/1r (f. 17r) a fourteen-line initial “I” is supplied in gold with punch-dotting and is set on a rectangular blue ground decorated with white tracery, from which foliage in pink and in green extends into the inner and upper margins; also on 3/1r an eight-line initial “G” is supplied in shades of green and black to represent foliage and is set on a square ground of dull pink decorated with a geometric pattern in dull gold, from which foliage in blue and grey extends into the inner and lower margins; the opening initial at the beginning of each book is supplied in red and set on a ground of blue pen-work, or with the colours reversed; smaller initials throughout supplied in alternate red and blue; rubrics supplied in red (occasionally with additions in black ink); paragraph marks supplied in alternate red and blue, capital strokes in red, in the ‘Rubricae’. |
| Imperfections: | Wanting the three blank leaves 1/1, 2/8 and 28/10. |
