Columna, Franciscus: Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.
Add: Leonardus Crassus, Johannes Baptista Scytha and Andreas Maro.
Venice: Aldus Manutius, Romanus, for Leonardus Crassus, Dec. 1499.
Fol. π4 a-y8 z10 A-E8 F4. [234] leaves. The preliminary gathering is numbered but not signed.
Woodcuts; woodcut initials.
ISTC ic00767000; Goff C767; BMC V 561; Bod-inc C-391; CIBN C-523; GW 7223.
Note: P. Scapecchi, ‘L’Hypnerotomachia Poliphili e suo autore’, in 'Accademie e biblioteche d'Italia', 51 (1983), 286-98 and ‘Giunte e considerazioni per la bibliografia sul Polifilo’, idem, 53 (1985), 68-73, argues that Columna is the dedicatee, and that the author is Fra Eliseo da Treviso. For further notes and references on the authorship, see CIBN.
| Shelf-mark: | Sp Coll Hunterian Bh.2.14 (see main library entry for this item) |
| Variants: | Sheets b1.8, c3.6, f2.7, s1.8, s2.7, u4.5, C2.7, C3.6, and F1.4 are all in the original setting - cf. N. Harris, ‘Nine reset sheets in the Aldine Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (1499)’, 'Gb. Jb'. (2006), 245-275; π1.4: as in GW’s main transcription, not as in GW Anm.1; a2.7: variant A in C. Bühler, ‘Newly discovered variant settings in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili’, in 'Festschrift für Claus Nissen', (Wiesbaden: 1973), 36-42; z6r, line 37: “... extauano ſedili diaſpre di”, not (with the error corrected) “... extauano ſedili de diaſprea” - cf. CIBN C-523. |
| Note: | For traces of blind impressions in this copy, see N. Harris ‘The blind impressions in the Aldine Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (1499)’, 'Gb. Jb'. (2004), 93-146. |
| Note: | First leaf reinforced by a sheet of 18th-century paper pasted onto the recto, and with two triangular openings cut to expose the printed title; final leaf (F4 which contains the Errata on its recto) also reinforced by a blank sheet of paper pasted onto the blank verso. Gatherings B and C transposed. |
| Provenance: | Louis XIV (1638-1715), King of France, or Louis XV (1710-1774), King of France: see Binding. John Baber (d. 1765): lot 1587 in 'A catalogue of the genuine and elegant library of John Baber ... of Sunning-Hill Park, lately deceased ... which will begin to be sold by auction, by Samuel Baker ... on Monday, the 31st of March, 1766...' (London: [1766]). William Hunter (1718-1783), physician and anatomist: purchased at the Baber sale for £2.12.6 according to the annotated BL copy of the Baber sale catalogue - shelfmark S.C.S. 6*(2). NB. Hunter may have had another copy of the 1499 Hypnerotomachia, purchased earlier as lot 1820 at the Clement Cottrell Dormer sale (1764) for £2.15.0 (see the annotated British Library copy of the Dormer sale catalogue where lot 1820 is marked as 'Hunter-Askew'). Only one copy remains in the Hunterian Library – on balance the Baber copy. University of Glasgow: Hunterian bequest 1807; Hunterian Museum bookplate on front pastedown, with former shelfmark “At.2.8”. |
| Binding: | France, 18th-century, gold-tooled red goatskin; covers decorated with a border formed from triple fillets and a floral roll incorporating a crown, an acorn, a fleur-de-lys, and a dragon or bird’s head; gold-tooled spine with a crowned monogram of interlaced L’s stamped in six spine compartments (monogram of Louis XIV or Louis XV – cf. Olivier, pl. 2494 and 2495) and with a fleur-de-lys in each corner; marbled endpapers; turquoise silk bookmark. Size: 312 x 208 mm. |
| Leaf size: | 303 x 198 mm. |
| Annotations: | Corrections in a mid 16th-century Italian hand on a5r, c4r, g6v, k3r, q3r, r8v, z5r-z6r, and A3v (the corrections taken from the Errata page i.e. F4r); 18th-century price ‘2:3:6’ on front free endpaper. |
| Decoration: | None. |
| Imperfections: | None. |
