Mela, Pomponius: Cosmographia, sive De situ orbis.
Venice: [Printer of Pomponius Mela], 15 Nov. 1477.
4to. a-g8 h6. [62] leaves (a1, h5-6 blank). a2, a3, a4 signed "a", "aii", "aiii".
ISTC im00448000; GW M34865; Goff M448; BMC V 261 (IA. 24844); Bod-inc M-176; CIBN M-280.
| GIP number: | M24 |
| Shelf-mark: | Sp Coll Bk5-g.22 (see main library entry for this item) |
| Variants: | A variant issue, without the date and place of printing on h4v and with the variant reading on g7v, line 1: “per eā rara: & nō grādia flumina emanant” - as in copy 1 of Bod-inc. M176. |
| Bound with: | The first of five incunabula bound together. Bound with: (2) Dionysius Periegetes, De situ orbis. Venice: Franciscus Renner, de Heilbronn, 1478 (D21); (3) Johannes de Sacro Bosco, Sphaera mundi. Venice: Franciscus Renner, de Heilbronn, 1478 (J21); (4) Johannes de Erfordia, Computus chirometralis. [Cologne: Johann Koelhoff, the Elder, ca. 1480-85] (J19); (5) Aurelius Victor, Sextus [pseudo-], De viris illustribus. Venice: Andreas de Paltasichis, 5 June 1477 (A126). |
| Provenance: | Henry Gibson (fl. 1553): initials “H G” on a2r. For additional inscriptions by Henry Gibson, see the third (J21) and fifth (A126) items which are bound up with this work; according to Durkan & Ross, Early Scottish libraries, p. 103, Henry Gibson was a “Notary in Glasgow. At Glasgow University in 1549, and at St. Andrews in 1553.” John Gibson (16th century): inscription on a2r “Joannes Gibsonus”; on h5v “Ioannes gibsoune” with a sample alphabet and two mottoes in his hand, one in Latin “Infantem nudum cum te natura crearit. Paupertatis onus patienter ferre meme[n]to.” (Cato, Disticha I, 21), the other in Scots “In my defence god me defend. And bring my saull to ane gud end.” (motto of the royal coat of arms of the kingdom of Scotland). Robert Wodrow (1679-1734), minister of Eastwood, ecclesiastical historian and Librarian of the University of Glasgow: inscription "Ex Libris Bibliothecae Universitatis Glasguensis Ex Dono M. Roberti Woddrow Pastoris Ecclesiae de Eastwood 1703" on a2r; see Munimenta alme Universitatis Glasguensis, ed. C. Innes, 4 vols (Glasgow: 1854), III, p. 448. University of Glasgow: signed "Jo: Stirling Principal" on a2r by John Stirling (1654-1727), in his capacity as Principal; Old Library shelfmark "AF 6 n.21." on a2r, matching entry in Catalogus librorum Bibliothecae Universitatis Glasguensis anno 1691; shelfmark "AS.2.5" on a2r matching entry in A. Arthur, Catalogus impressorum librorum in Bibliotheca Universitatis Glasguensis (Glasguae: 1791). |
| Binding: | Late 15th/early 16th-century blind-tooled calf over oak boards, bevelled edges; single small brass catch plate (all that survives of an original thong clasp) on front board; covers decorated with triple fillets to form a panel, which is divided by triple fillets into lozenges and triangles, each decorated with a single fleur-de-lys stamp. Rebacked in goatskin and restored, with new endpapers and flyleaves, by Anthony Gardner, Apr. 1967; binder’s note on rear free endpaper and flyleaf. Size: 205 × 145 mm. |
| Leaf size: | 193 x 130 mm. |
| Annotations: | Early manuscript title written above the incipit on a2r: “Pomponij Mellae Cosmographia”; marginal annotations in a 15th/16th-century hand, generally extracting keywords; many nota marks and several manicules in the first half of the text; many minor corrections to printed type (perhaps to make good poor presswork or faulty type?); running book numbers "1"-"3" in an early hand on rectos. |
| Decoration: | Five-line initial "O" on a2r supplied in red with reserved white; three-line initial "A" on c6v supplied in red; paragraph marks supplied in red and chapter headings underlined in red. |
| Imperfections: | Wanting the blank leaf a1. |
