Tortellius, Johannes: Orthographia.
Edited by Hieronymus Bononius.
Vicenza: Stephan Koblinger, 13 Jan. 1479.
Fol. A12 B-G10 H8 I10 K-N6.8 O12 a-e10 f-i8.10 k-l6 m-o8 p6 q-s10 t12 u-y10 z6 &10. [346] 1, 2 and 346 blank.
ISTC it00397000; GW M47233; Goff T397; BMC VII 1043 (IB. 31823); Bod-inc T-223; CIBN T-293; BSB-Ink T-386; Polain(B) 3792; Walsh 3503.
Collation taken from Walsh and Polain, who call for 12 leaves in gathering A (the first two blank) - as opposed to BMC and Bod-inc’s A10+1.
| GIP number: | T31 |
| Shelf-mark: | Sp Coll Be.2.2 (see main library entry for this item) |
| Note: | N4.5 misbound between M3 and M4 - the error noted in an early hand in the lower margins of M3v, N3v, N5v. |
| Provenance: | Helenenberg, (near Welschbillig) - Canons Regular of the Holy Cross / Brethren of the Holy Cross / Fratres Sanctae Crucis / Crosiers: inscription on the surviving blank leaf (A1 or A2) in a 15th/early 16th-century hand “Liber fr[atru]m S[an]c[t]e Cruc[is] montis S[an]c[t]e helene p[ro]pe castru[m] Welschbilch. Treueren[sis] dioc[esis]” followed by the title “Joha[n]nes Tortelli[us] Aretin[us] d[e] orthographia dictionu[m] grecar[um]”. 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 second 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); revised price in pencil “2=12=6” adjacent to excision (and repeated on first front flyleaf); no. 668 “Joan. Tortellius Arretinus de Orthographia Dictionum Graecorum, corio turcico deaurat. Venet. [sic] 1479” in Osborne’s '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 “T.2.9”. |
| Binding: | England, 18th-century gold-tooled red goatskin, bound for Lord Harley by Jane Steel. On both covers triple fillets form a frame, within which is a floral and fleur-de-lys roll (Nixon, ‘Harleian bindings’, pl. 10, Steel roll 1), and within the roll is a decorative border made up of several separate tools (none of which is amongst the Jane Steel tools illustrated in Nixon, ‘Harleian bindings’, pl. 10). Both covers have a lozenge-shaped centre-piece, made up of several individual tools including Nixon, ‘Harleian bindings’, pl. 10, Steel nos 7 and 9. The head and foot of the spine are decorated with Nixon, ‘Harleian bindings’, pl. 10, Steel roll 2, and a second roll not illustrated in Nixon, ‘Harleian bindings’, pl. 10; the spine compartments are decorated with several individual tools including Nixon ‘Harleian bindings’, pl. 10, Steel nos 1a and 1b; the edges and turn-ins are decorated with Steel roll 2; marbled endpapers. Size: 322 x 217 mm. |
| Leaf size: | 308 x 207 mm. |
| Annotations: | Frequent marginal annotations in a 15th/16th-century hand, mainly extracting keywords. |
| Decoration: | Fourteen-line initial “C” on A3r supplied in gold and blue with reserved white and set on a square ground of lilac pen-work which extends into the inner margin; other principal initials supplied in red and blue with reserved white, or in blue alone with reserved white, or in red alone with reserved white, or in red with lilac pen-work; paragraph marks in alternate red and blue; capital strokes in red throughout; occasional underlining in red. |
| Imperfections: | Wanting one of the two preliminary blank leaves (A1 or A2) and leaf A12 (the gap noted in an early hand on A11v “desu[n]t sequ[e]ntia videlicet de q]uat]tuor l[itte]ris . k . l . m . n”. |
