Hieronymus, S.: Epistolae.

Edited by Adrianus de Brielis.

Mainz:  Peter Schoeffer, 7 Sept. 1470.
Fol.   [1⁴ 2-5¹⁰ 6⁸ (6/7+χ1) 7-19¹⁰ 20⁸ 21⁶ (21/5+χ1) 22-24¹⁰ 25⁶ (25/5+χ1) 26-28¹⁰ 29⁸ 30⁶ 31⁴ (31/3+χ1) 32¹⁰ 33⁸ (33/1+χ1, 33/7+χ1) 34¹⁰ 35¹² (35/7+χ1) 36-42¹⁰ 43¹⁰ (43/9+χ1)].  [408] leaves.
Woodcut printer’s device in red.
ISTC ih00165000;  GW 12425;  Goff H165(a);  BMC I 26 (IC. 147);  Bod-inc H-086;  CIBN H-99.

Note:  Text divided into twelve distinctiones.  On 24/9r (f. 227r), col. 2, five lines - apparently originally omitted - have been inserted by a later impression in the lower margin.

GIP number:	H18
Shelf-mark:	Sp Coll Hunterian Bv.1.8 (see main library entry for this item)
Variant:	ISTC and other authorities report two issues:  I (= GW 12424) with introduction on 1/1r beginning ‘[O]Mnib[us] eccleſiaſtici ordinis deuotiſ || zelatoribuſ veritatis’ and with colophon on 43/10v (f. 408v) beginning ‘[I]am decet ut noſtris cōcordēt vltima primis. || [S]It decus illi. qui dedit hoc opus iniciare.’ and II (= GW 12425) with introduction beginning ‘[O]Mnes chriſtiane religionis homi=||nes ...’ and with colophon beginning ‘[I]am decet ut noſtris [con]cordēt vltima primis. || [S]It decus illi qui dedit iſtud principiare.’  In this copy the opening lines of the introduction and the first two lines of the colophon follow the transcriptions of GW 12425 (i.e. issue II).  However, in the second quire the first eight lines of col. 1 on 2/1r follow the transcription of GW 12424 (i.e. issue I).
Note:	Printer’s pin-holes visible.  Stubs showing after 6/1, 21/1, 25/1, 31/1, 33/1, 33/7, 35/5, 43/1 (ff. 45, 192, 229, 280, 295, 302, 319, 398).
Provenance:	Unidentified ecclesiastical owner (16th century):  unidentified painted coat of arms in lower margin of 2/1r (f. 5r):  sable a fess dancetty argent, surmounted by a mitre in azure and or;  in the same border a shield:  per fess gules and argent, in chief an eight-pointed mullet argent. William Hunter (1718-1783), physician and anatomist:  source unknown. University of Glasgow:  Hunterian bequest 1807;  Hunterian Museum bookplate on front pastedown, with former shelfmark “Bd.2.3”.
Binding:	France, 18th-century citron goatskin;  covers decorated with a triple gold-fillet border, a small gold fleuron at each corner;  gold-tooled spine;  marbled endpapers;  gilt-edged leaves;  blue silk bookmark;  evidence of tabs (now mainly lost) separating the distinctiones.   Size:  479 x 350 mm.
Leaf size:	461 x 329 mm.
Annotations:	Very occasional marginal annotations and interlinear corrections in 16th-century hands;  heavily erased ownership(?) inscription on 1/1r;  number “147” in red ink in an 18th-century hand on verso of front free endpaper.
Decoration:	On 2/1r (f. 5r), col. 1, a sixteen-line initial “D”, which is supplied in shades of blue with white tracery to resemble foliage, is set on a square grey ground with floral and foliate decoration in orange, yellow, mauve and green, and, within the body of the initial, is similar decoration in the same colours on a yellow background;  on 2/1r, col. 2, an eight-line initial “B”, which is supplied in shades of mauve with white tracery to resemble foliage, is set on a square orange ground with yellow pen-work embellishment, and, within the body of the initial, are two flowers in orange, mauve, blue and green on a yellow background;  the lower margin of 2/1r is decorated with a foliate and floral border in mauve, orange, blue, green and yellow, which contains two coats of arms (see Provenance);  the opening initials of the twelve distinctiones (‘distinctio secunda’-‘distinctio duodecima’) are supplied in red and blue with reserved white, with infills of foliate designs in red and green, and are surrounded by decorative pen-work in purple and green;  numerous five-line initials are supplied in red with reserved white, often with flourishes;  smaller initials supplied in red;  capital strokes and paragraph marks in red throughout.
Imperfections:	None.