[Vitae illustrium virorum] (v.1)

Description

Signatures: Part I: [a⁴ b¹⁰ c⁸ d-f¹⁰ g-h⁸ i⁶ k-p¹⁰ q⁸ r¹⁰ s¹² t¹⁰ v⁴ x-z¹⁰ A-D⁸ E¹² F-G¹⁰ H¹² I¹⁰ K⁴]. Part II: [a¹⁰ b⁸ c⁶ d-e¹⁰ f⁶ g¹⁰ h⁸ i-l¹⁰ m-n⁸ o¹² p-q⁸ r¹⁰ s-t⁸ u¹⁰ x⁸ y¹⁰ z⁸ A-C¹⁰ D-E¹² F⁶ G⁸ H-I¹² K⁸].


Imprint from ISTC.


In two parts. The whole (sixty Vitae) was on sale at Milan by 27 April 1470 (E. Motta, in Rivista storica italiana 1 (1884) p.255 n.2).


Edited by Johannes Antonius Campanus.


Includes the lives of Hannibal, Scipio Africanus and Carolus Magnus by Donatus Acciaiolus; of Agesilaus by Xenophon (attributed to Plutarch); of Cicero by Leonardus Brunus Aretinus (attributed to Plutarch); of Evagoras by Isocrates; of T. Pomponius Atticus by Cornelius Nepos; of Plato by Guarinus Veronensis; of Aristoteles by Leonardus Brunus Aretinus; of Homer, ascribed to Herodotus; and of Virgil by Donatus.


Printed with 45 long lines to a full page.


Initial spaces and heading spaces at the beginning of each book.


Spaces left for Greek.


Part I: leaves 176, 260 and 296 blank. Part II: leaves 142, 186, 224, 264 and 284 blank.


Indexed in: Goff P830; HC 13125; Pell Ms 9560 (9385); CIBN P-489; Delisle 1501; IBE 4693; IGI 7920; Sajó-Soltész 2796; Mendes 1059; Coll(S) 879; Madsen 3330; Sack(Freiburg) 2929; Mittler-Kind 193; Walsh 1299; Oates 1370; Rhodes(Oxford Colleges) 1450; Sheppard 2663; Pr 3348; BMC IV 21.

Features

There are occasional marginal annotations in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century black and red ink manuscript in both volumes.


Some Greek words have been supplied in ink manuscript.


Headlines have been supplied in red ink manuscript on the rectos of the life of Theseus and the first two leaves of the life of Romulus.


Leaf numbers have been supplied in Roman numerals in fifteenth- or sixteenth-century black ink manuscript at the top right of rectos in volume 2, now severely cropped.


Over the two volumes 81 major initials have been supplied in yellow and gold on variegated blue, crimson, and green grounds, many of them with ornamentation of interlaced stylised foliage. The 53 initials in volume 1 are by a superior artist to those in volume 2.


The major initial on leaf [3r] has ornamentation extending into the inner margin, with the same decoration of interlaced stylised foliage to either side of the coat of arms at the foot of the leaf.


Bindings


Nineteenth-century bindings of full pigskin over pasteboard by Zaehnsdorf. The upper and lower covers are blind-tooled with a border and frame of quadruple fillets. The central panel is decorated with lines of diagonal quadruple fillets containing quatrefoils and flowers within lozenges. The spines have five raised bands with blind-tooled fillets and diagonal hatching to either side of each. Written directly onto the spine in black ink manuscript in the second and third panels of volume 1 are the words: Plutarchus Tomus I. Written directly onto the spine in black ink manuscript in the second and third panels of volume 2 are the words: Plutarchus Tomus II. The leaf edges are sprinkled blue. The books are preserved in half red goatskin cases with marbled paper edges and linings, also by Zaehnsdorf. Volume 1 - Size: 392 x 287mm. Leaf size: 381 x 273mm. Volume 2 - Size: 390 x 285mm. Leaf size: 374 x 269mm.

Provenance

At the foot of leaf [3r] is a coat of arms in the form of a black shield containing a lion rampant in gold with red claws and tongue.


Above the coat of arms at the foot of leaf [3r] are initials written in gold: I.F.M..


Beneath the text at the foot of leaf [1r] of volume 2 is an inscription in black ink manuscript with a date: Abbas [...] Julius emit 16[..].


There is a circular black library stamp in the first initial space on leaf [1r] of volume 2: Bibl. S. Pvden. de Vrbe.


Coloured armorial bookplate of Sir Edward Allen Brotherton on the front pastedown of each volume. The books were 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.