Theophrastou Peri phytōn historia
Details
Type of record: Book
Title: Theophrastou Peri phytōn historia
Other titles: De historia plantarum; Peri phytōn historia; Theophrasti de historia plantarum; Inquiry into plants
Classmark: BC Incunabula/THE
Creator(s): Theophrastus
Additional creator(s): Manuzio, Aldo (1515) (Printer); Forbes, Duncan (1685-1747) (Former owner); Annandale, James Johnstone Marquess of (1730) (Former owner); Ashworth, Alfred (Former owner); Brotherton, Edward Allen Brotherton 1st baron (1856-1930) (Former owner)
Related people: Manuzio, Aldo; Forbes, Duncan; Annandale, James Johnstone; Ashworth, Alfred; Brotherton, Edward Allen Brotherton
Publisher: Aldus Manutius, Romanus
Publication city: Venice
Date(s): 1497
Language: Greek, Ancient (to 1453)
Size and medium: 1, 226 leaves
Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/106214
Printed items catalogue: https://leeds.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?vid=44LEE_INST:VU1&docid=alma991008150279705181
Collection group(s): Incunabula
Description
Imprint from ISTC.
For signatures see BMC.
Table of contents (preliminary leaf) in Greek and Latin.
Volume 1 of part 4 of Aldus' 5 part edition of the works of Aristotle (Greek) published in Venice, 1495-98.
Printed with 29 long lines to a full page.
Text printed in Greek.
Printed headlines in Greek.
Leaf numbers printed at top right of text on rectos.
Ornamental woodcut initials.
Ornamental woodcut headpieces each decorated with different flowers and foliage.
Indexed in: ISTC no. ia00959000.
Indexed in: Hain. Repertorium (with Copinger's Supplement) 1657 (4:1); Goff A959; BMC V 553, 556, 555, 556, 558.
Features
Marginal annotations throughout in Greek in black ink manuscript.
This copy is missing the preliminary leaf with the table of contents.
Some worm damage.
Bindings
Nineteenth-century binding of full pale brown calf over pasteboard but retaining an earlier spine and covers. The upper and lower covers are decorated with a gold-tooled border of flowers and stylised foliage with the same pattern blind-tooled inside. There is a central panel comprising a single gold-fillet with flowers at each outer corner and fleurons at each inner corner. The same pattern of flowers and stylised foliage is blind-tooled to either side of the fillets forming the panel, and lines of the same blind-tooled design connect each corner of the panel to the outer border. The spine has five raised bands each gold-tooled with a criss-cross pattern. In the second panel is a pared black leather lettering piece gold-tooled with the words: Theophrastus Edit. Antiqua. The other panels are gold-tooled with a central motif surrounded by a filigree border and thin lines forming a fringe above and below. The pastedowns are of marbled brown paper and there are brown cloth hinges. The
turn-ins are gold-tooled with a single fillet and the board edges are gold-tooled with the same design of flowers and stylised foliage as the upper and lower covers. The book has gilt edges and a green sik ribbon register. Size: 315 x 228mm. Leaf size: 302 x 205mm.
Provenance
Pasted onto the recto of the first front flyleaf is a piece of paper with an inscription in black ink manuscript: Hunc Librum Nobilissimo D. D. Jacobo Marchioni Annandius Donavit vir Eruditissimus ac Causarum Patronus disertissimus, Duncanus Forbes. The book was probably given by Duncan Forbes, Lord Culloden to James Johnstone, 2nd Marquess of Annandale between 1725, when Forbes was appointed Lord Advocate and 1730, the year of Annandale's death.
Armorial bookplate on the front pastedown: Hopetoun. This is the bookplate of the library of Hopetoun, a stately house near Edinburgh, Scotland. In ink manuscript on the bookplate is the number: T-8. Hopetoun was the family home of Henrietta Hope who inherited the estate of her brother James Johnstone on his death in 1730: this book presumably formed part.
Note in black ink manuscript on the verso of the front pastedown: This book new bound June 1859 Hopetoun.
Armorial bookplate of Alfred Ashworth of Horsley Hall, Gresford, Wales on the front pastedown. Alfred Ashworth was appointed High Sheriff of Denbigh in 1909.
Small black and white armorial bookplate of Sir Edward Allen Brotherton on the front pastedown. The book was most likely acquired before 17 June 1929 when Brotherton was created Baron Brotherton of Wakefield.
Access and usage
Access
Access to this material is unrestricted.
On our website
Profile: Alfred Ashworth (1843-1910)
Biography of Alfred Ashworth, who is associated with the incunabula held in Special Collections at Leeds University Library.
Profile: Duncan Forbes (1685-1747)
Biography of Duncan Forbes, who is associated with the incunabula held in Special Collections at Leeds University Library.
Profile: James Johnstone, 2nd Marquess of Annandale
Biography of James Johnstone, 2nd Marquess of Annandale, who is associated with the incunabula held in Special Collections at Leeds University Library.