Plinius Secundus, Gaius (Pliny, the Elder): Historia naturalis [Italian] Historia naturale.

Translated by Christophorus Landinus.

Venice: Nicolaus Jenson, 1476.
Fol. [1-21¹⁰ 22-26⁸ 27-36¹⁰ 37¹⁰ (-37/10) 38¹⁰ 39⁸ 40-41¹⁰ 42⁸ 43¹⁰].  [415] leaves (1/1, 43/10 blank).
ISTC ip00801000; GW M34342; Goff P801; BMC V 176 (IC. 19694); Bod-inc P-372; CIBN P-469; BSB-Ink P-611.

Two copies held by the University of Glasgow.

Copy 1 

GIP number:	P73/1
Shelf-mark:	Sp Coll Hunterian Bx.1.10 (see main library entry for this item)
Variants:	42/3r (f. 400r), line 11:  “... SCHISTO ...”, not “... SCISTO ...” - cf. BMC;  this copy has none of the variants recorded by Hain 13105* in quires 11, 12, and 34.
Note:	Bifolia 43/2.9 and 43/3.8 transposed.
Note:	Printer's pin-holes visible.
Note:	Stub of 37/10 showing.
Provenance:	Paris, Bibliothèque du Roi: roman numeral “Clxvij” written in ink in a 16th-century hand on 1/2r, together with two numbers in a 17th-century hand “20” and “170” on the same page - characteristic provenance marks of books formerly in the Bibliothèque du Roi - cf. infra Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae, Venice: Nicolaus Jenson, 1472 (Be.2.4); Fiore novello es tratto dalla Bibbia, [Venice? n. pr.], 20 Aug. 1473 (Bg.2.6); and Johannes Duns Scotus, In primum librum Sententiarum, Venice: Johannes de Colonia and Johannes Manthen, 26 July 1477 (By.2.3). Colbert, Paris, “Bibliotheca Colbertina” i.e. the library successively owned by Jean Baptiste Colbert de Torcy (1619-1683); Jacques Nicolas Colbert, Archbishop of Rouen (1655-1707); and Charles Eléonor Colbert, Comte de Seignely (d. 1747). The Colbert Library was sold in Paris in 1728: 'Bibliotheca Colbertina: seu catalogus librorum bibliothecae, quae fuit primum J.B. Colbert ... ac demum Caroli-Leonorii Colbert'. Inscription “Bibliothecae Colbertinae” at head of first page of an inserted manuscript index (see Annotations); lot 3228 in vol. 1 of the Colbert Library sale catalogue; sold for 30 livres according to the annotated copy of the sale catalogue in University of Glasgow Library (shelfmark Hunterian Add. 49-51). Louis-Léon-Félicité, duc de Brancas de Lauraguais (1733-1824): arms in gilt on both covers; lot 183 in Guillaume de Bure, 'Catalogue d’une collection de livres choisis provenans du cabinet de M***' (Paris: 1770). William Hunter (1718-1783), physician and anatomist: perhaps purchased indirectly after the Brancas de Lauraguais sale since lot 183 is not included in Peter Molini’s bill to Hunter listing items successfully acquired by Molini at the sale (University of Glasgow Library, Hunter Papers H214). University of Glasgow: Hunterian bequest 1807; Hunterian Museum bookplate and book label on front pastedown, with former shelfmark “Ab.4.10”.
Binding:	France, 18th-century red goatskin decorated with triple gold fillets, a small gold fleuron at each corner;  gilt arms of Louis-Léon-Félicité Brancas, duc de Lauraguais on both covers (Olivier 740);  gold-tooled spine decorated with a pattern formed from a repeated drawer-handle tool;  marbled endpapers;  gilt-edged leaves;  green silk bookmark.   Size: 405 x 280 mm.
Leaf size:	395 x 270 mm.
Annotations:	23-page index (‘Tabula plinij p[er] alphabetum’) in a 16th-century hand bound in at front;  deleted and partially cropped annotation beginning ‘trois cents vingt(?) [...]’ in a 16th-century hand on 1/2r;  frequent marginal annotations (mainly extracting keywords) in a humanist hand in quires 3-5, thereafter intermittently;  running book numbers ‘I-XXXvij’ in a 16th-century hand;  foliated ‘1-414’ in a 16th-century hand from 1/2-43/10;  quires numbered ‘1-43’ in extreme upper left-hand corner of first recto, probably by the 18th-century binder.
Decoration:	None.
Imperfections:	None.

Copy 2

 

GIP number:	P73/2
Shelf-mark:	Sp Coll BD12-a.11 (see main library entry for this item)
Variants:	42/3r (f. 400r), line 11:  “... SCHISTO ...”, not “... SCISTO ...” - cf. BMC;  this copy has none of the variants recorded by Hain 13105* in gatherings 11, 12, and 34.
Note:	Printer’s pin-holes visible.
Provenance:	Unidentified owner: unidentified painted coat of arms on 3/2r (f. 22r): party per fess, damaged in chief, but with remnants of azure and or remaining over an underlay of red paint; in base or, three bars nebuly azure. Edward Knight (fl. 1857-1874), bookseller, Islington, London: sold book to William Euing. William Euing (1788-1874), insurance broker, Glasgow: purchased from Knight 18 Apr. 1857 according to Euing’s acquisitions inventory (MS Euing 49, item 39); Euing’s inventory number “No 39” on front flyleaf and his armorial bookplate on front pastedown. University of Glasgow: presented by Euing in 1872 according to University Library bookplate on front pastedown.
Binding:	Scotland, 20th-century half brown goatskin, brown cloth sides; oval gilt stamp of Glasgow College Library on spine; rebound 20 Feb 1946 according to date in pencil on rear pastedown; no evidence survives of the earlier binding. Size: 392 x 260 mm.
Leaf size:	387 x 253 mm.
Annotations:	Very occasional marginal annotations in a 16th-century hand;  running book numbers from book 3 onwards “3”-“36” and “Vlto”;  foliated “315”-“408” from 34/1-43/9 (ff. 321-414).
Decoration:	On 3/2r (f. 22r) a twelve-line faceted initial “E” is supplied in gold on a square ground of blue, crimson, and green, decorated with tracery; the page has four decorative borders - the inner border is composed of a column of overlapping leaves in purple and blue, the other three borders are decorated with flower, fruit and leaf forms within a regular pattern of swirling hair-lines, with the addition of a putto’s head in the top border, a roundel containing the letters “IHS” in the outer border, and a coat of arms within a green laurel wreath (see Provenance) in the lower border; on 1/6r a thirteen-line initial “D” is supplied in red chalk, and a similar eleven-line initial “H” appears on 23/8r (f. 226r); two-line initials supplied in red intermittently in quires 3, 4, and 14. See N.R. Thorp, 'The glory of the page', no. 96.
Imperfections:	Wanting the first and final blank leaves.