Bonaventura [pseudo-]:  Meditationes vitae Christi [English].  The myrroure of the blessyd lyf of Jhesu Cryste.

Translated by Nicholas Love.  Add:  A short treatise of the sacrament of Christ's blessed body.  A short devote prayer of Jesus Christ.

[Westminster]: William Caxton, [ca. 1489-90]
Fol. a-s⁸ t⁴.  [148] leaves (a1 blank).  Signature on p2 is printed “pj”.
Woodcuts.
ISTC ib00903000;  GW 4764;  Goff B903;  BMC XI 172 (IB. 55120);  Bod-inc B-445;  DeR(C) 10.8.

The pseudo-Bonaventuran Meditationes Vitae Christi is the work of a Franciscan of San Gimignano in Tuscany, in all probability Johannes de Caulibus - cf. BMC XI 172.

GIP number:	B93
Shelf-mark:	Sp Coll Hunterian Bv.2.24 (see main library entry for this item)
Note:	For a further description of this copy see http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/exhibns/month/jul2000.html
Provenance:	Edward Harley (1689-1741), Lord Harley;  from 1724 2nd Earl of Oxford:  see BMC XI 173-4, where Hunter’s copy is identified as the Harleian copy - De Ricci(C) 10: 4 wrongly identified the copy in the British Library (C.10.b.15 = IB. 55120) as the Harleian copy. Thomas Osborne (d. 1767), bookseller:  purchased all the Harleian printed books;  price in pencil “2-2-0” on front free endpaper;  no. 1546 in Osborne’s Catalogus bibliothecae Harleianae, vol. 3 (London: 1744). John Ratcliffe (1707-1776), book collector:  lot 1664 in Bibliotheca Ratcliffiana (1776). William Hunter (1718-1783), physician and anatomist:  purchased by Hunter for £3.3.0 at the Ratcliffe sale according to the annotated BL copy of the Ratcliffe sale catalogue (shelfmark 822.d.6). University of Glasgow:  Hunterian bequest 1807;  Hunterian Museum bookplate and book label on front pastedown, with former shelfmark “Ab.9.18”. Note:  Hunter’s is one of two copies owned by John Ratcliffe, whose other, larger copy is now the British Library copy (C.10.b.15 = IB. 55120) referred to above.  Some of the missing leaves from the Hunterian copy had been transferred by Ratcliffe whilst in his possession to perfect his larger copy (see BMC XI, 173).
Binding:	England, 18th-century calf, bound for Lord Harley by Thomas Elliott.  On both covers double gold fillets form a frame, within which is a blind roll (Nixon, ‘Harleian bindings’, pl. 14, Elliott roll 4).  Dark green leather title label added to spine at a later date in the 18th century, and three of the six spine compartments have a red leather covering added, which is tooled with a “Gothic window” design;  dark blue paper pastedowns (also a later addition).  Edges decorated in gilt with a roll similar to Nixon, ‘Harleian bindings’, pl. 14, Elliott roll 2, and turn-ins decorated in blind with the same roll.  Volume conserved and rebacked in calf with title and shelfmark in blind tooling in 2019 by Keira McKee (Book conservator, Archives & Special Collections, University of Glasgow Library);  existing pastedowns retained over new pastedowns;  new handmade paper endpapers and flyleaves;  title label and fragments of Harleian spine covering preserved separately with the book.  NB. during conservation work, stab sewing holes were noted - these might date to the first binding or could date to the initial gathering of sheets for sale by the printer (the Harleian binding is assumed to be at least the second binding).  Size: 265 x 205 mm.
Leaf size:	254 x 190 mm.
Annotations:	Marginal annotation on a4r referring to death of Archbishop Thomas Arundell and to his successor, Henry Chichele;  scribbling in lower margin of a4r;  letter “h” and doodles in margin of c8v;  crude marginal drawing of a hand on d1r;  pen-trials of the letter “h” on d3r;  marginal scribbles on d5v and d6r;  brief marginal annotation on k2r;  reference to “Ames. 42” on front free endpaper, together with title written in ink in an 18th-century hand (beneath which is an erasure).
Decoration:	None.
Imperfections:	Wanting a1-3, a8, b2, b7-8, c1-2, d2, d7, m3-5, r5-7, s5, s6, t4.