Mesue, Johannes [pseudo-]: Opera medicinalia [Italian].

Il libro della consolatione delle medicine semplici solenni.

[Modena]:  Johannes Vurster, 25 June 1475.
Fol.   & 4to.   a¹² b-g⁸ h-k¹⁰ l⁸ m-x¹⁰ yy¹⁰ z¹⁰ y⁶.   [224] leaves (a1, y6 blank).
ISTC im00518000;  GW M23036;  Goff M518 ;  BMC VII 1059 (IB. 32207);  Bod-inc M-206;  CIBN M-328;  BSB-Ink M-350.

GIP number:	M31
Shelf-mark:	Sp Coll Hunterian Bw.2.4 (see main library entry for this item)
Note:	The manually-stamped signatures, which are placed far down in the lower right-hand corners, are not present in this copy - presumably as a result of cropping by the binder.
Provenance:	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);  no. 1924 in Osborne’s Catalogus bibliothecae Harleianae, vol. 3 (London:  1744) and no. 3065 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 “Ak.4.12”.
Binding:	England, 18th-century gold-tooled red goatskin;  bound for Lord Harley by Christopher Chapman.   On both covers triple fillets form a frame, within which are two rolls, the first is a floral roll (Nixon, ‘Harleian bindings’, pl. 13) and the second 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, 14a, and 14b.   Rebacked by Douglas Cockerell and Son, Feb. 1961, with remnants of original spine covering mounted on rear pastedown;  the tools of the spine compartments include Nixon, ‘Harleian bindings’, pl. 15, Chapman no. 10.   Turn-ins decorated with Chapman roll 2;  marbled endpapers.   Early manuscript title “Gio: Meſue 1475” on lower edge of text block.   Size:  290 x 200 mm.
Leaf size:	278 x 188 mm.
Annotations:	Very occasional brief marginal annotations in a 15th/16th-century hand;  foliated on rectos in an early hand “2”-“131” from a2-p4 (the foliation often repeated on the facing verso);  the blank pages a1r, y5v, y6r and y6v have medical recipes in Italian in a 17th-century hand;  18th-century shelfmark “B6” on verso of front free endpaper.
Decoration:	Initials and paragraph marks supplied in red throughout.
Imperfections:	None.