Ambrosius: De officiis.
[Rome: Johannes Philippus de Lignamine, ca. 1471]
Fol. [1-710 86 912]. [88] leaves.
ISTC ia00559000; GW 1607; Goff A559; BMC XII 3 (IB. 17423); Bod-inc A-235; CIBN A-298.
On the date, see BMC and CIBN A-298. Goff dated ca. 1473.
| GIP number: | A55 |
| Shelf-mark: | Sp Coll Hunterian Bw.2.11 (see main library entry for this item) |
| Provenance: | Eroli family, Italy (15th/16th century): on 1/1r is a partially identified coat of arms - per pale, the dexter side per fess gules and argent (oxidised), three ivy leaves vert two and one (Eroli family), the sinister side azure a bend argent (oxidised) an eight-pointed mullet or in chief (unidentified). An identical coat of arms is to be found in the Hunterian copy of another work from the same press: Leo I, Pont. Max., Sermones. [Rome: Johannes Philippus de Lignamine, before 21 Sept. 1470] (shelfmark Bf.1.13). F. H[...]: partially erased early ownership inscription on 9/12r (f. 88r) “F. H[...] me possidet”. Louis Jean Gaignat (1697-1768), Secretary to King Louis XV: Gaignat sale, 1769; lot 226 in Guillaume de Bure, 'Bibliographie instructive: supplément ... ou catalogue des livres de feu M. L.J. Gaignat', 2 vols (Paris: 1769). NB according to the Bibliothèque Méjanes annotated copy (Res. O. 189) of the Gaignat sale catalogue, Gaignat bought the book for 72 livres. William Hunter (1718-1783), physician and anatomist: purchased by Hunter at the Gaignat sale through his agent, Jean-Baptiste Dessain, for 66 livres 6 sous; see 'Dessain-Hunter correspondence' (University of Glasgow Library, MS Gen. 36, f. 24v). University of Glasgow: Hunterian bequest, 1807; Hunterian Museum bookplate on front pastedown, with former shelfmark “B.8.20”. |
| Binding: | France, 18th-century red goatskin decorated with triple gold fillets, a small gold fleuron at each corner; gold-tooled spine; marbled endpapers; gilt-edged leaves; turquoise silk bookmark. Size: 288 x 221 mm. |
| Leaf size: | 283 x 214 mm. |
| Annotations: | Occasional 15th/16th-century marginal annotations; occasional “nota” marks and manicules; running headings “Li I” - “Li 3” in brown ink; traces of early manuscript signatures in some gatherings. |
| Decoration: | On 1/1r a six-line initial “N” is supplied in gold on a square ground of white-vine decoration defined in crimson, blue and green, which, bordered in gold, extends into the inner, upper and lower margins, with further foliate extensions into the outer margin of gold discs and hair-line pen-work; the white-vine decoration of the lower margin contains a green laurel wreath edged in gold, within which is a painted coat of arms (see Provenance); slight offsetting of all the above decoration visible on 4/10v (f. 40v); on 5/2v (f. 42v) a six-line initial “S” is supplied in gold on a square ground of white-vine decoration defined in crimson, blue and green, which extends into the outer and upper margins with offsetting onto the facing page; similarly decorated four-line initial “D” supplied in gold on 7/6r (f. 66r) with offsetting onto the facing page. |
| Imperfections: | None. |
