Plinius Secundus, Gaius (Pliny the Elder): Historia naturalis.
Edited by Philippus Beroaldus.
Parma: Stephanus Corallus, 1476.
Fol. [112 28 3-810 912 10-1510 168 17-2710 286 29-3010 31-358 3610 378 384]. [358] leaves, the first and last blank.
ISTC ip00790000; Goff P790; BMC VII 939 (IC. 30223a); Bod-inc P-362.
| Shelf-mark: | Sp Coll Hunterian Bw.1.5 (see main library entry for this item ) |
| Variant: | On 23/9r (f. 229r) the last word is “ulcerib[us]” as in Bod-inc and BMC IC. 30223a, not as in BMC IC. 30223 “ulcreib[us]”. |
| Note: | Printer's pin-holes visible. |
| Provenance: | Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556), Archbishop of Canterbury: inscription on 1/2r “Thomas Cantuarien[sis]”; “Liber olim Thomae Cranmeri Arch. Cantuariensis” on front fly leaf; see David G. Selwyn, 'The library of Thomas Cranmer', no. 509 ('Oxford Bibliographical Society Publications', 3rd ser., vol. 1, 1996). Thomas Rawlinson (1681-1725), bibliophile: his mark “C. & P.” on front pastedown and his book-stamps on each cover (see 'Binding'). Anthony Askew (1722-1774), physician and classical scholar: Askew sale, 13 Feb. 1775 onwards; lot 2810 in 'Bibliotheca Askeviana …' (London: Baker & Leigh, 1775). William Hunter (1718-1783), physician and anatomist: purchased by Hunter at the Askew sale for £3.3.0 according to the annotated copy of the Askew sale catalogue in University of Glasgow Library (shelfmark Mu36-c.8). University of Glasgow: Hunterian bequest, 1807; Hunterian Museum bookplate, with former shelfmark “Ae.3.1”. |
| Binding: | England, 18th-century diced russia; covers decorated with a double gold-fillet border; gilt book-stamps of Thomas Rawlinson on each cover - in the centre a sheldrake holding a scallop shell in its beak enclosed within a wreath of foliage, and at each corner a scallop shell also within foliage - cf. Lilian G. Clark, 'Collectors and owners of incunabula in the British Museum' (1962), 71; gold-tooled spine. Size: 427 x 260 mm. |
| Leaf size: | 418 x 246 mm. |
| Annotations: | Manuscript annotations (some cropped by binder) in various hands throughout - though less frequent towards the end - some are pre-Cranmer, most post-Cranmer, none in Cranmer’s hand (see Selwyn op. cit.); running book numbers in red ink in a large hand on recto leaves throughout “Liber primus - Secundus” to “Liber Trigesimus Septimus”; annotation in a 17th-century(?) hand on 38/3v (f. 357v) citing references in the text to “Pygmaei” and “Descriptio vanitatis hominis”. |
| Decoration: | Principal initials supplied in red and blue with reserved white and each set on a square ground of elaborate red and black pen-work extending into the margin; smaller initials supplied in blue or red; paragraph marks in red. |
| Imperfections: | Wanting the first and final blank leaves. |
