Suetonius Tranquillus, Gaius: Vitae XII Caesarum.
Edited by Johannes Antonius Campanus. Preliminaries: Johannes Antonius Campanus: Epistola Francisco Piccolomineo.
Rome: [Johannes Philippus de Lignamine], Aug. 1470.
Fol. [112 2-1110 12-138]. [128] leaves, the last two blank.
ISTC is00815000; GW M44220; Goff S815; BMC IV 29 (IB. 17366); Bod-inc S-336; CIBN S-483.
| GIP number: | S59 |
| Shelf-mark: | Sp Coll Hunterian Be.1.9 (see main library entry for this item) |
| Provenance: | Unidentified owner: painted coat of arms (worn or partially erased) in lower margin of 1/2r: azure, a bend argent between a mullet or of six points and a bezant(?) or. William Hunter (1718-1783), physician and anatomist: source uncertain. According to the 'Dessain-Hunter correspondence' (University of Glasgow Library, MS Gen. 36, f. 24v), Hunter purchased two copies of this edition at the Gaignat sale in 1769 - lots 2921 & 2922, for which he paid 240 livres 3 sous and 96 livres respectively. However the bindings of these two copies are described in the Gaignat sale catalogue as “mar. r.” i.e. red morocco and “mar. bl.” i.e. blue morocco - neither of which corresponds to the binding of the only copy now in the Hunterian Library - which has an 18th-century price “10.10.0” in sterling in pencil on the first front flyleaf. University of Glasgow: Hunterian bequest, 1807; Hunterian Museum bookplate on front pastedown, with former shelfmark “Al.2.2”. |
| Binding: | 18th-century diced brown russia, covers decorated with a gold-tooled border made up of triple fillets and two different rolls, each incorporating a fleur-de-lys; marbled endpapers; gilt-edged leaves. Size: 345 x 243 mm. |
| Leaf size: | 332 x 231 mm. |
| Annotations: | Occasional marginal annotations (heavily washed) in a humanist hand in the early part of the book, more frequent from quire 8 onwards; vestiges of early signatures in quire 1. |
| Decoration: | Six-line initial “A” on 1/2r supplied in gold on a square ground of white vine decoration defined in blue, crimson and green, which extends as a border edged with gold into the inner, top and lower margins; on the lower margin is a painted coat of arms (worn or partially erased) within a green laurel wreath - see Provenance. Other principal initials supplied in either red or (heavily washed-out) blue. |
| Imperfections: | Wanting the final blank leaf. |
