Bessarion, Johannes, Cardinal: Adversus calumniatorem Platonis.
Add: Correctio librorum Platonis de legibus Georgio Trapezuntio interprete. De natura et arte.
Rome: Conradus Sweynheym and Arnoldus Pannartz, [before 28 Aug. 1469]
Fol. [18 26 3-1710 1812 19-2010 2112 2210 23-248]. [234] leaves (1/1, 24/7-8 blank).
ISTC ib00518000; GW 4183; Goff B518; BMC IV 7 (IB. 17126); Bod-inc B-235; CIBN B-357; BSB-Ink B-404.
Dated [before 28 Aug. 1469] by ISTC “from mention in a letter of Georgius Trapezuntius to Bessarion (J. Monfasani, Collectanea Trapezuntiana (Binghamton: 1984), p. 165, sect. 14)”. Dated [before 13 Sept. 1469] by Goff, BMC, Bod-inc, GW et al.
Translated by Nicolaus Perottus - cf. Bod-inc.
Two copies held by the University of Glasgow.
Copy 1
| GIP number: | B35/1 |
| Shelf-mark: | Sp Coll Ferguson An-x.13 (see main library entry for this item) |
| Provenance: | Johannes Bessarion (1403-1472), Cardinal: inscription on 24/6v (f. 232v) written in small capitals over the erased colophon “BESSARION EPISCOPVS SABINVS CARDINALIS || NICAENVS PATRIARCHA CONSTANTINOPOLITA-||NVS LIBRVM HVNC ADVERSVS GEORGIVM || TRAPEZVNTIVM CRETENSEM DIVI PLATO-||NIS CALVMNIATOREM SVO LODOVICO MA-||RIO PARVTO FERRARIENSI DONO DEDIT ME-|| MORIAE ET HONORIS GRATIA ANNO CHR. || Mo.CCCCoLXVIIIIo PAVL. II PONT. MAX. ANN. Vo.”; inscription on 1/1v in lapidary style within a frame “LOD . MARIVS . PARVTVS . DIVO . BESSA . || CARDI . ET. PATRI . CONSTANTI . || OB. LIBR . HVNC . IN . CAL . PLATO . QVE [macron over final two letters] . SI . MAN . PRP . || DONO . DEDIT . AB . EO. ET. GRE . ET LAT . || CONSCRIPTVM . ANN . CHRISTI Mo.CCCCoLXVIIIIo PAVL . || PONT. MAX. DEDIT . MEM . ET . HON . GRATIA”. Lodovicus Marius Parutus / Ludovico Mario Paruti (fl. 1469), of Ferrara, humanist and poet; and according to M.E. Cosenza, Biographical and bibliographical dictionary of the Italian humanists (Boston: 1962) vol. 3, p. 2617, a secretary to Cardinal Bessarion: presentation copy from Bessarion - see above inscriptions. Nicolaus Uranius Advogarius (fl. 1495), Secretary to Cardinal Francesco Todeschini-Piccolomini (who reigned briefly – 22 Sept. to 18 Oct. 1503 – as Pope Pius III): on 1/1r “Iste liber est Nicolai VRanij Aduogarij decretor[um] doctoris canonici ferrarien[sis] protonotarij ap[osto]lici R[everendissi]mi Car[dina]lis Senen[sis] Secretarij [et] Capellanj empt[us] Rome 1495 duc[ati] 2”. Unidentified owner (fl. 1564/5): inscription in Hebrew on 1/1r (transliterated) “le-yadi zeh sefer refu’ot shyyh [...]” = “This is the book of remedies belonging to me [a date?: 325 = 1564/5]” - conjectured reading proposed by David Weston, former Keeper of Special Collections, University of Glasgow Library, and Emeritus Professor Stefan Reif, University of Cambridge. Lorenzo Antonio Drudi, physician and Librarian of the Biblioteca Gambalunghiana at Rimini from 1797 to 1818 (see www.aib.it/aib/stor/teche/rn-gam.htm): inscription on 1/1r “Nunc vero Laurentij Ant. Drudi Med. et Ph. Doct. Arimin. 1790”. Dimitrij Petrovich Boutourlin (1763-1829), Count, Russian senator, diplomat and museum director in St Petersburg: “No. 670” in crimson ink on verso of fourth front flyleaf, above which in black ink, and probably in the same hand, “Editio Princeps” followed by bibliographical references to Panzer, De Bure, Crevenna, Spencer, Audiffredi, La Vallière, Santander, Laire; at the foot of the same page the word “Enreg[istr]é” in pencil; item 670 in Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son exc. M. le Comte D. Boutourlin (Florence: 1831); item 451 in the sale catalogue, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de feu M. le Comte D. Boutourlin, deuxième partie (Paris: Silvestre, 1840). Joaquín Gómez de la Cortina (1808-1868), 1st Marqués de Morante: heraldic book-plate (arms printed in brown on pale green paper) on first front flyleaf; item 11142 “Fol. taf. azul, con mold. dor. ... Exemplar magnifico con todas sus margenes. Al final tiene una suscricion manuscrita ...” in Catalogus librorum Doctoris D. Joach. Gomez de la Cortina, March. de Morante, qui in aedibus suis exstant, 8 vols (Matriti: 1854-70), VI, p. 546, where the printed price list gives a price of 970 R[eale]s [de] v[elló]n for this item; lot 237, “Exemplaire magnifique dans toutes ses marges” (with transcription of inscription on 24/6v), in the sale catalogue, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de feu M. le Marquis de Morante ..., (Paris: Bachelin-Deflorenne, 1872). John Ferguson (1837-1916), Professor of Chemistry, University of Glasgow: source unknown; without Ferguson’s usual acquisition notes. University of Glasgow: Ferguson collection purchase, 1921. |
| Binding: | 19th-century, dark blue straight-grained goatskin; covers decorated with a border of two gold rolls; gold-tooled spine; buff-coloured pastedowns; fragments of a pink and blue silk bookmark. Size: 339 x 242 mm. |
| Leaf size: | 333 x 230 mm. |
| Annotations: | Frequent marginal annotations in Latin and Greek in a humanist hand in the first half of the volume (washed out by binder but mainly still legible). On the verso of the penultimate blank leaf 24/7 (f. 233) is a manuscript copy of a letter dated Milan, 21 Jan. 1469, from Francisco Filelfo to Theodorus Gaza beginning “Franciscus Philelfus Theodoro Gazae sal.” and ending “Vale amicoru[m] optime. Ex Mediolano .xii. K[a]L. Februarias Mo ccccoLxix. PhileLfus.” The letter, which mentions “sapientissimus pater Bessario cardinalis”, is mainly in Latin (in brown ink) with some lines or single words in Greek (in faded red ink). It is printed in Book 29 (f. 205r-v) of Filelfo’s Epistolarum familiarum libri XXXVII, Venice: 1502 (see www.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/itali/philelphus1/jpg/s205a.html), and also survives in several manuscript collections of his Epistolae' - ex inf. Professor John Monfasani (State University of New York, Albany) and Dr Jeroen De Keyser (Seminarium Philologiae Humanisticae, Universiteit Leuven). Occasional evidence of an early foliation; faint traces of a two-line early inscription on the verso of the final blank leaf 24/8 (f. 234) - illegible under ultraviolet lamp. On rear pastedown “vi/” in red pencil in a 19th-century hand; leaves numbered in pencil in a 19th-century hand at lower inner corner from 1/2 onwards “1” and ending “233 qui avec le 1er blanc font en tout 234 feuillets, et non 230 comme les Bibliographes l’annoncent”; on front pastedown in a 19th-century hand three numbers in pencil “12009” and “2361” (lightly scored through) and “2997 B”. |
| Decoration: | Ten-line initial “I” on 3/2r (f. 16r) supplied in red but now heavily washed-out; title of each book also provided in red but now almost invisible; paragraph marks and nota marks in heavily washed-out red in the list of contents (quires 1-2). |
| Imperfections: | None. |
Copy 2
| GIP number: | B35/2 |
| Shelf-mark: | Sp Coll Hunterian Bf.2.8 (see main library entry for this item) |
| Provenance: | Louis-Jean Gaignat (1697-1768), Secretary to King Louis XV: Gaignat sale, 1769; lot 827 in Guillaume de Bure, Bibliographie instructive: supplément ... ou catalogue des livres de feu M. L.J. Gaignat, 2 vols (Paris: 1769). William Hunter (1718-1783), physician and anatomist: purchased by Hunter at the Gaignat sale through his agent, Jean-Baptiste Dessain, for 37 livres; see Dessain-Hunter correspondence (University of Glasgow Library, MS Gen. 36, f. 23r). University of Glasgow: Hunterian bequest, 1807; Hunterian Museum bookplate on front pastedown, with former shelfmark “Au.2.6”. |
| Binding: | France, 18th-century blue goatskin; covers decorated with a triple gold-fillet border, a small gold circle at each corner; gold-tooled spine; marbled endpapers; gilt-edged leaves; pink silk bookmark. Size: 311 x 225 mm. |
| Leaf size: | 303 x 211 mm. |
| Annotations: | Frequent 15th/16th-century marginal annotations in Latin and occasionally in Greek (some cropped by binder); frequent nota marks; occasional corrections of text; very occasional evidence of an early foliation in ink. |
| Decoration: | Principal initial at the beginning of each of the six books supplied in crimson; incipits also provided in crimson in a humanist hand; paragraph marks in crimson; chapter numbers added in crimson in the outer margins. |
| Imperfections: | Wanting the blank leaves 1/1 and 24/7-8. |
