Albertus Magnus [pseudo-]: Liber aggregationis, seu Liber secretorum de virtutibus herbarum, lapidum et animalium quorundam.

Add:  De mirabilibus mundi.

London:  William de Machlinia, [ca. 1485]
4to.   a-d⁸ e⁶ f⁴.   [42] leaves, the first blank.
ISTC ia00254500; GW 653; BMC XI 255 (IA. 55455); Bod-inc A-116.

GIP number:	A20
Shelf-mark:	Sp Coll  Ferguson Ah-a.29 (see main library entry for this item)
Bound with:	There is evidence that this copy of the 'Liber aggegationis', at the time when it was owned by William Herbert (see Provenance), was bound (as the second item) with a copy of another work from the press of William de Machlinia (also now in the Ferguson Collection):  Albertus Magnus [pseudo-], Secreta mulierum et virorum [London:  William de Machlinia, not after 22 Aug. 1485].   William Herbert in his “Corrections and additions” to Ames (Joseph Ames, 'Typographical antiquities ... Begun by the late Joseph Ames  ... Considerably augmented ... by William Herbert' (London 1785-90) vol. 3, p. 1773) says in his description of his copy of the 'Liber aggregationis':  “To my copy of this book is prefixed another, printed on the same types.   It wants the title-leaf;  but has this head-title, in ancient writing, ‘Albertus magnus de ſecretis Nature et de miraculis Mundi.’ ... Contains g 7, in eights.   On the last page, ‘Finis huius tractatuli venerablis Alberti Magni, ſecreta expliciunt mulierum.’   It must have had another leaf, but whether blank, or not, i cannot say, knowing of no other copy.   Quarto.”   Herbert’s copy of the 'Secreta mulierum' no longer precedes his 'Liber aggregationis' and the two appear to have been separated at some point prior to 1808 - perhaps by Herbert himself.   Professor John Ferguson published a detailed account of his (and the few other extant) copies of both of these rare editions:  'On a copy of Albertus Magnus’ De secretis mulierum, printed by Machlinia.   Communicated to the Society of Antiquaries' (Westminster:  1886) pp. 1-9, in which he argued that “there is ... much stronger evidence that my own copy of the 'De Secretis' [i.e. as opposed to the copy in the library of the British Museum] was that which belonged originally to Herbert and was described by him.   Both Herbert’s 'Liber Aggregationis' and my own 'De Secretis' have the capitals rubricated, the 'De Secretis' more completely than the other;  but in addition there are several flourishes in red at the end of each paragraph of so unmistakable a character that they must have been executed by the same hand.   These seem to me to identify the two copies beyond all question.   In this case Herbert’s copy, after it was separated from the 'Liber Aggregationis', must have been utterly neglected, leaves were lost and the corners wasted.   Ultimately it came into the hands of some one who, recognising its value, had it most carefully mended and sumptuously bound.”
Provenance:	William Herbert (1718-1795), bibliographer and printseller:  inscription on a2r “W. Herbert”. Charles Combe (1743-1817), physician and numismatist:  according to Dibdin “Herbert’s own beautiful copy was purchased by Mr. Triphook, at the sale of Dr. Combe’s duplicates A.D. 1808;  and it is now in the collection of the Marquis of Blandford.” -  see Joseph Ames, 'Typographical antiquities ... Begun by the late Joseph Ames ... considerably augmented by William Herbert ... and now greatly enlarged, with copious notes ... by the Rev. Thomas Frognall Dibdin' 4 vols (London:  [1809]-1819), vol. 2, p. 16. Robert Triphook (1781/2-1868), London bookseller:  see above. George Spencer-Churchill (1766-1840), 5th Duke of Marlborough (styled Marquess of Blandford until 1817):  ‘Catalogus librorum qui in Bibliotheca Blandfordiensi reperiuntur’ (1812), Fasc. 3, ‘De re botanica et re rustica’, p. 1;  sale (‘White Knights Library’, part I, 1819), lot 134;  sold for £7.10.0;  see the annotated GUL copy of the sale catalogue (shelfmark S.M. 1506). Sir John Hayford Thorold (1773-1831), 10th Bt.:  Syston Park book-plate (Franks 29398) and book-label engraved with the initials ‘JHT’ (evidence of an earlier book-plate removed before the Syston Park book-plate was added);  lot 53 in ‘The Syston Park Library: catalogue of an important portion of the extensive & valuable library of the late Sir John Hayford Thorold …’ (London: Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, 1884);  sold to Quaritch for £40.0.0;  see the British Library annotated copy of the Syston Park Library sale catalogue. Bernard Quaritch (1819-1899), bookseller, London:  presumably acted as John Ferguson’s agent at the sale. John Ferguson (1837-1916), Professor of Chemistry, University of Glasgow:  “J. Ferguson Glasgow – January 1885” in pencil on front free endpaper together with his notes on four other copies.
Binding:	England, 18th-century straight-grained, dark green goatskin;  covers decorated with a border and a lozenge-shaped centre-piece in blind;  blind-tooled spine;  khaki-coloured endpapers;  gilt-edged leaves (gauffered);  buff silk bookmark;  binding attributed to Roger Payne in Syston Park sale catalogue and also in a pencil note on front flyleaf.   Size:  212 x 145 mm.
Leaf size:	204 x 139 mm.
Annotations:	Single early marginal annotation on f3r, single “nota” mark on d8r, underlining on d8v;  slip of paper pasted onto front free endpaper with manuscript excerpt  from Dibdin’s 'Typographical antiquities', vol. 2, p.16;  other bibliographical notes in pencil on front flyleaf;  pencil number “S.5” on verso of front free endpaper.
Decoration:	Capital strokes, paragraph strokes, and zigzag line-fillers supplied in red; up to the end of quire d only alternate openings are rubricated, thereafter every opening.
Imperfections:	Wanting the blank leaf a1.