Lactantius, Lucius Coelius Firmianus: Opera.
Add: Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus: De resurrectione Christi carmen.
Rostock: Fratres Domus Horti Viridis ad S. Michaelem, 9 Apr. 1476.
Fol. [112 2-910 1012 (10/12+χ1) 11-2010]. [205] leaves (1/1, 20/10 blank).
ISTC il00007000; GW 16546; Goff L7; BMC II 566 (IB. 10203); Bod-inc L-008; CIBN L-7; BSB-Ink L-6.
Two copies held by the University of Glasgow.
Copy 1
| GIP number: | L4/1 |
| Shelf-mark: | Sp Coll Hunterian Bx.2.9 (see main library entry for this item) |
| Note: | Stub showing between 9/10 and 10/1. |
| Variants: | 2/1r (f. 13r), line 1: “... exellēti ...” not as BMC “... exēllēti ...”; colophon in red as in BMC (in some copies printed in black). |
| Provenance: | Weidmann family, of Thalheim an der Thur, Switzerland (15th/16th century): painted coat of arms on 2/1r (f. 13r): azure an eight-pointed mullet surmounted by a reversed crescent moon or; see https://www.chgh.ch/11426-w/weber-weyermann/weidmann/45152-weidmann-thalheim.html Bernhard (16th century), of Worms: inscription on a blank leaf inserted before 1/2r “Pro Bernhard Von Wormaciensi”. Jodocus Bartellus (early 16th century), canonicus, Andreaskirche, Worms (Rheinhessen): inscription on a blank leaf inserted before 1/2r “Anno d[omi]nj 1542 Ego Andreas rauber emi hunc libru[m] ab heredibus Iodoci bartelli canonici S. Andreae worm[atiensis] p[ro] iiij batzonibus”, below which are the initials “A R”. Andreas Rauber (fl. 1542), of Worms (Rheinhessen) - see above. Johann Hesser (16th century), canonicus, Pauluskirche, Worms (Rheinhessen): inscription on 1/2r “Ex libris Joannis Hesserj Cano: Wormat: ad S. Paulu[m]. Edward Harley (1689-1741), Lord Harley; from 1724 2nd Earl of Oxford: see Binding. Thomas Osborne (d. 1767), bookseller: purchased all the Harleian printed books; top corner of first front flyleaf cut off - as in many other Harleian volumes - probably by Osborne to remove his earlier price (cf. J.B. Oldham, Shrewsbury School bindings, p.114); revised price in pencil “2-10-0” adjacent to excision; no. 1043 in Osborne’s Catalogus bibliothecae Harleianae, vol. 3 (London: 1744) and no. 841 in his Catalogus bibliothecae Harleianae, vol. 5 (London: 1745). William Hunter (1718-1783), physician and anatomist: source unknown. University of Glasgow: Hunterian bequest 1807; Hunterian Museum bookplate on front pastedown, with former shelfmark “B.7.14”. |
| Binding: | England, 18th-century gold-tooled red goatskin; bound for Lord Harley by Christopher Chapman. On both covers triple fillets form two concentric frames: within the outer frame is a floral roll (Nixon, ‘Harleian bindings’, pl. 13), and within the inner frame is an ornamental roll (Nixon, ‘Harleian bindings’, pl. 14, Chapman roll 1). Both covers have a lozenge-shaped centre-piece, made up of several individual tools (including Nixon, ‘Harleian bindings’, pl. 15, Chapman nos 5, 8, 14a, and 14b). The head and foot of the spine are decorated with Chapman roll 2 (Nixon, ‘Harleian bindings’, pl. 14), and the spine compartments are decorated with several individual tools, none of which is included amongst the Chapman tools illustrated in Nixon, ‘Harleian bindings’, pl. 15. The turn-ins are decorated with Nixon, ‘Harleian bindings’, Chapman roll 3; marbled endpapers; flyleaves have a watermark of a fleur-de-lys within a shield surmounted by a crown and with the ligature letters “W R” suspended below the shield, and a countermark “I V”. Traces of a fore-edge title in ink written from head to tail. Size: 295 x 215 mm. |
| Leaf size: | 283 x 203 mm. |
| Annotations: | Copious marginal annotations in a 16th-century hand; frequent underlining, manicules and nota marks; running headings throughout; evidence of early signatures. On the recto of a blank leaf inserted before 1/2r are various inscriptions including a motto “Verbum domini manet in eternu[m]” (motto of the Lutheran Reformation), a quotation “Caelum & terra transibunt verba autem mea non transibunt” (Mark 13:31), a quotation closely similar to an epigram of Julianus Aegyptius (perhaps via Angelo Poliziano) beginning “Ite alio fures” and ending “custos addita pauperies”, and a brief inscription mentioning the philosophers Anaxagoras, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. On the verso of the same leaf is a manuscript copy, written in a 15th/16th-century hand, of the letter of Johannes Andreas de Bussis to Pope Paul II which appears in several 15th-century printed editions of the Opera of Lactantius. On a blank leaf inserted before 2/1 (f. 13) - which is conjunct with the blank leaf before 1/2 - is a manuscript copy of the letter of Angelus Sabinus to Dominicus de Dominicis, which appears in the edition of the Opera of Lactantius printed at Rome in 1474 by Ulrich Han and Simon Nicolai Chardella. On the blank verso of 20/9 (f. 204) - and continuing on three inserted leaves following it - are copies (written in the same early hand as the Johannes Andreas de Bussis and Angelus Sabinus letters) from the text of De Phoenice of Lactantius (“Est locus in primo felix oriente remotus”), from Ovid’s Metamorphoses XV (“Haec tamen ex aliis generis primordia ducunt”), and from Dante’s Inferno XXV (“Cossi per li gran savi se confessa”) - all of which texts are also included in several 15th-century editions of Lactantius. |
| Decoration: | Six-line initial “M” on 2/1r (f. 13r) in the form of two entwined branches (or stems) supplied in green, purple and dull gold, and in the lower margin is a painted coat of arms (see Provenance above) suspended by cords from entwined foliage in green, purple, blue, and dull gold; other initials throughout supplied in red or in red with reserved white, often with marginal flourishes; capital strokes and paragraph marks in red; occasional marginal pen-and-ink drawings e.g. of sun, moon and star on 5/7r (f. 49r). |
| Imperfections: | Wanting the blank leaves 1/1 and 20/10. |
Copy 2
| GIP number: | L4/2 |
| Shelf-mark: | Sp Coll BD7-d.13 (see main library entry for this item) |
| Variants: | 2/1r (f. 13r), line 1: “... exellēti ...” not as BMC “... exēllēti ...”; colophon in red as in BMC (in some copies printed in black). |
| Note: | In quire 17, bifolium 17/2.9 is duplicated. |
| Provenance: | William Euing (1788-1874), insurance broker, Glasgow: source unknown; an early Euing inventory number “11” in pencil on verso of front free endpaper. University of Glasgow: presented by Euing in 1872 according to University Library bookplate on front pastedown. |
| Binding: | Scotland, 19th-century gold-tooled brown calf; covers have a mitred two-panel design formed from triple fillets, with an ornament added at the inner corners of the centre panel; gold-tooled spine; marbled endpapers; green silk bookmark; binder’s ticket ‘J. Carss & Co. Bookbinders, 31 Argyle Street, Glasgow’. Size: 283 × 198 mm. |
| Leaf size: | 274 x 188 mm. |
| Annotations: | Occasional washed-out marginal annotations and underlining in an early hand; occasional evidence of early signatures; motto(?) in German in red ink (written by the rubricator?) on 14/5v (f. 140v) “Hoffen ist meynn hochstes heil”; 19th-century pencil number “3/239” on 1/2r is probably a binder’s job number. |
| Decoration: | Initials supplied throughout in red or blue, with frequent marginal flourishing; paragraph marks in red or blue; capital strokes in red. |
| Imperfections: | Wanting the blank leaves 1/1 and 20/10. |
More images from Bx.2.9 copy of this book
