Chapter II: Part 2

Folio. Sign. a-z^8, A^8, B^{12}, C-G^8, H^6. 250 leaves, 1, 204,
250 blank, 2 columns and head-line, 58 lines to the column, roman
letter. The head-lines give the subject, book and chapter numbers.
Eight-line spaces left for the initials of the five books and
three-line spaces, some with guide-letters, for the chapter
initials, both supplied in red. Blank first and last leaves
wanting. Hain *4551. Pellechet 3331. Proctor 4816.

Bound in olive green morocco with gold borders and gilt edges. Book-stamp of J. Richard, D.M., on first and last leaf of text, and book-plate of another owner, Jules Frayssenet, of Fleurance, printed on full leaf inserted between the fly-leaves, front and back, and the text. Leaf 10-1/4 × 7-3/4 in.

Andreas de Bonetis, of Pavia, printed at Venice from 1483 to 1487.

16. ALBERTIS, LEO BAPTISTA DE. De amoris remedio. 1471.

_Fol. 1^a_: BATISTAE DE ALBERTIS POETAE LAVREATI OPVS PRAECLARVM IN AMORIS REMEDIO FELICITER INCIPIT. _Fol. 20^b_, COLOPHON: BAPTISTAE DE ALBERTIS POETAE LAVREATI OPVS IN AMORIS REMEDIO VTILISSIMVM FELICITER FINIT. .M.CCCC.LXXI.

Quarto. Quires [1^8, 2^{12}], 20 leaves, 25 lines to the page,
roman letter, without signatures, catchwords, pagination, place or
printer's name. Two- to six-line spaces left for initials, but the
present copy is without rubrication. Hain *422. Panzer iii. 82, 69;
iv. 5, 16. Pellechet 268. Proctor 7346.

Notwithstanding the Latin title, the work itself is wholly in Italian and both in the MSS. and in later printed editions is found also under the title _Deifira ossia del mal principiato amore_. A companion volume by the same author, with the Latin title _De amore liber_, and the Italian, _Ecatomfilea ossia del vero amore_, was printed the same year, in the same type, the same number of leaves and lines to the page. Still another work in the same type and form and apparently of the same date, entitled _Historieta amorosa fra Leonora de' Bardi e Hippolito Bondelmonti_, is attributed on good evidence to De Albertis. Copies of all three works, printed alike on vellum and bound together in one volume, formerly in the Mac-Carthy Collection (Catalogue, Paris, 1815, no. 3595), are now in the Bibliothèque Nationale (_Vélins_ 1964). In the present copy of _De amoris remedio_ the manuscript signatures _b_ and _c_, partly cut away, point to an earlier binding, in which the _Historieta_ consisting of only twelve leaves may possibly have formed the signature _a_.

Panzer was disposed to identify the peculiar roman type of these volumes with that used by the fourth printer of Venice, Clemente of Padua, between whom and Zarotto of Milan, Hain was later in doubt. But Proctor was convinced that the small group of books to which these belong, nearly all of them connected in some way with Florence, were the productions of the first, so far unidentified, press of that city. The date they bear (1471) places them among the earliest books printed in the Italian language. Witness the following first editions: Petrarch's Canzoniere, 1470; Il Decamerone, 1471; La Divina Commedia, 1472.

The present copy, bound in blue morocco, with the crest of the Marquis of Blandford on side, was sold in his (White Knights) sale in 1819 for £2. Leaf 9-1/4 × 6-3/4 in.

From the Syston Park sale, December, 1884, with book-plate and the monogram (J.H.T.) of Sir John Hayford Thorold.

17. AESOPUS. Vita et fabulae græce. Vita et fabulae latine. Fabulae
selectae græce et latine. [Milan], Bonus Accursius, c. 1480.

_Part I._ _Fol. 1^a_: Bonus Accursius Pisanus doctissimo sapientissimo ducali quæstori Iohanni Francisco turriano salutem plurimam dicit. _Fol. 2^a_: ΑΙΣΩΠΟΥ ΒΙΟΣ ΤΟΥ ΜΥΘΟΠΟΙΟΥ ΜΑΞΙΜΩ ΤΩ ΠΛΑΝΟΥΔΗ ΣΥΓΓΡΑΦΕΙΣ. _Fol. 33^a_: ΑΙΣΩΠΟΥ ΜΥΘΟΙ. _Fol. 70^a_: Τελος των του Αισωπου Μυθων. _Part II._ _Fol. 1^a_: Vita Aesopi fabulatoris clarissimi e græco latina p_er_ Rynucium facta ad Reuere_n_dissimu_m_ Patre_m_ Dominu_m_ Antonium tituli Sancti Chrysogoni Presbyteru_m_ Cardinalem _et_ primo prohoemium. _Fol. 32^b_: FINIS. _Fol. 33^a_: Argumentum fabula_rum_ Aesopi e græco i_n_ latinu_m_. _Fol. 59^b_: Finis. Vita Aesopi per Rynucium thettalum traducta. Verum quoniam ab eo non nulla fueru_n_t praetetermissa (_sic_): fortassis q_ui_a græcus eius codex esset minus emendatus: Ego Bonus accursius Pisanus: eadem in ea omnia correxi; _et_ emendaui. _Fol. 60, blank._ _Part III._ _Fol. 1^a, blank._ _Fol. 1^b_: Bonus Accursius Pisanus doctissimo ac sapientissimo ducali Quæstori Iohanni francisco Turriano salutem plurimam dicit. _Fol. 2^a, col. 1_: ΜΥΘΟΙ ΑΙΣΩΠΟΥ, _col. 2_: Fabulae Aesopi. _Fol. 38^a, col. 1_: ΤΕΛΟΣ ΤΩΝ ΤΟΥ ΑΙΣΩΠΟΥ ΜΥΘΩΝ. _Col. 2_: FINIS AESOPI FABVLARVM. Bonus Accursius pisanus impressit: qui non doctorum hominum sed rudium ac puerorum gratia hunc laborem suscepit.

Quarto. Pt. I, sign. [A-H^8, I^6] not printed, but stamped
irregularly on the extreme lower margin and partially cut away in
the binding, 70 leaves. Pt. II, sign, a-g^8, and four unsigned
leaves at the end, 60 leaves. Pt. III, sign. a-b^8, C-D^8, E^6, 38
leaves, the Greek text and the word-for-word Latin translation in
two parallel columns. Both the Greek and the Latin have 25 lines to
the page or column. Two- to five-line spaces for capitals, with
guide-letters, in both texts, but no rubrication. Two pinholes.
Hain *265+272. Pellechet 185+192. Proctor, Printing of Greek in the
15th cent., p. 60.

This is the first printed edition of any of the Greek classics, and the third book printed entirely in Greek, or in Greek with a Latin translation; the first being the Grammar of Lascaris, Milan, 1476, and the second the Lexicon of Crastonus not later than 1478. All three were printed with the same font of Greek type made by, or under the supervision of, Demetrius Damilas, the son of Milanese parents settled in Crete. Bonus Accursius was rather the publisher than the actual printer, who in the case of the Lascaris was Dionysius Paravisinus, and in the case of the Crastonus and the Aesop, probably the brothers de Honate, who at that date were the possessors of the peculiar roman type used in the Latin translations. After the Aesop this particular font of Greek type next appeared in the first edition of Homer, printed at Florence in 1488 by Bartolommeo di Libri, and in three of his subsequent books, once at Rome early in the 16th century, after which it disappears altogether.

In the present edition the Fabulae græce number 147, the Fabulae latine 100, the Fabulae selectae 62. The translator, Rinuccio d'Arezzo, who dedicates his work to Cardinal Antonio Cerdano, tells him in closing that he sends all that have come into his hands, though probably not all that Aesop wrote, since while they stand in alphabetical order, some letters are wanting and others have not their full quota. Not all copies have all the three parts, nor are they always bound in the same order. The present copy, though in all respects complete, is bound irregularly, as follows: 1. Fabulae selectae. 2. Fabulae græce. 3. Vita Aesopi græce. 4. Vita et fabulae latine. On the verso of the last blank leaf is written in an early hand "olim fuit _Reverendissimi_ m_agistri_ georgii de casali."

Mr. Wodhull paid "Edwards" for this copy, in 1799, £14.14s. Bound by Mrs. Weir in green morocco extra, gilt edges. Leaf 9 × 6 in.

18. OVIDIUS NASO, PUBLIUS. Metamorphoses. Parma, Andreas Portilia, 15
May, 1480.

_Fol. 1, blank_, _2^a_: TABVLAE F∀BVLARVM (_sic_) OVIDII METAMORPHOSEOS. _Fol. 6^a_: Domitius Calderinus Veronensis. [D]E Ouidii uita nihil a nobis i_n_ hoc loco scribe_n_du_m_ _est_. _Fol. 7^a_: P. OVIDII NASONIS SVLMONENSIS METAMORPHOSEOS LIBER PRIMVS. _Fol. 187^b_, COLOPHON: FINIS Impressum Parmæ Opera Et Impensis Andre_æ_ Portili_æ_ .M.CCCC.LXXX. Idibus Maiis Ioanne Galeazio Maria Mediolani Illustrissimo Duce Regna_n_te Fœliciter. _Fol. 188, blank._

Folio. Sign. a^6, b-q^8, r^{10}, s-y^8, z^6, &^6. 188 unnumbered
leaves, the first and last blank, 40 lines to the page, roman
letter. Three- to eight-line spaces, with guide-letters, left for
the initials of the fifteen books. Hain *12160.

First initial of each book supplied in red; heading of each book and each fable underlined in red; initial-strokes in every verse and paragraph-marks in red. Without the last blank leaf.

Andreas Portilia was the first printer at Parma, where his press was established in 1472 and continued, with two brief transfers to Bologna and Reggio, till 1486.

Mr. Wodhull's copy, for which he paid, at the sale of Dr. Chauncy's library in 1790, £2. Bound in red morocco, with rich gold tooling on back and sides, and book-plate of Charles Chauncy, M.D. (1706-1777). Leaf 12 × 8 in.

19. PIUS II. (AENEAS SILVIUS PICCOLOMINI). De duobus amantibus. [Paris,
Michael Friburger, Ulric Gering and Martin Crantz, 1472.]

_Fol. 1_: Aeneæ siluii poætæ laureati, in hystoria_m_ de duobus ama_n_tibus p_r_æfatio prima ad perq_uam_ generosum milite_m_ Casparem Slik fœliciter incipit. _Fol. 2^b_: Aeneæ siluii in hystoria_m_ de duobus ama_n_tibus p_rae_fatio secunda ad Martinu_m_ Sozinu_m_, Senensem, iuris utriusque p_er_spicacissimum interpretem iocunde incipit. _Fol. 4^a_: Aeneæ siluii de duobus ama_n_tibus hystoria perq_uam_ iocunde incipit! _Fol. 44^b_: Vale. ex Vienna quinto nonas Iulii. anno Millesimo quadringentesimo quadragesimo quarto; COLOPHON: Aene_æ_ Siluii po_æ_te laureati de duobus ama_n_tibus eurialo _et_ lucresia, finit fœlicit_er_. _Fol. 45, 46, blank._

Quarto. Quires [1-4^{10}, 5^6], 46 leaves, the last two blank, 23
lines to the page, roman letter, without signatures, catchwords,
pagination, place, printer's name or date. Two- to six-line spaces
left for capitals. Claudin XIX. Pellechet 147. Hain 216.

Large initial on first page supplied in blue and gold, with pen ornamentation in red and blue. Other capitals and the paragraph-marks in alternate red and blue. Last blank leaf wanting.

This and the two next works of the present list bound with it were printed at the first Paris press, a private press set up in the Sorbonne in 1470 by Johann Heynlin, Prior, and Guillaume Fichet, Librarian, of the University, and maintained by them until April, 1473. During these three years twenty-two books were printed, all in the same roman type, copied from the _Cæsar_ of Sweynheym and Pannartz, Rome, 1469. In only two of them are the actual printers, Friburger and his associates, named.

To the twenty-eight 15th-century editions--not to speak of the translations--of this novel described by Hain, Copinger's Supplement adds half as many more. The present edition is perhaps the third. Claudin, who makes it the nineteenth in the list of the Sorbonne books, could trace but four copies. This makes a fifth.

The three books from the Sorbonne press are bound in one volume, red morocco, gilt edges, with book-plate of Sir William Burrell. It passed from his possession some years before his death and was bought by Michael Wodhull at Payne's sale April 7, 1789, for £4.4s. The binder, possibly mistaking the date of the author's subscription (Vienna, 1444) for that of the printing, has placed it on the back of the volume. Leaf 7-3/4 × 5-1/4 in.

20. PIUS II. (AENEAS SILVIUS PICCOLOMINI). De curialium miseria. [Paris,
Michael Friburger, Ulric Gering and Martin Crantz, 1472.]

_Fol. 1^a_: Aeneæ Siluii poætæ laureati (cui _et_ pro pontificali dignitate Pio nomen est) in disputatione_m_ de curialiu_m_ miseria ad perspicacissimu_m_ iurisconsultu_m_ Iohanne_m_ Ech, serenissimi diuiq_ue_ principis, Alberti, cæsaris inuictissimi! Alberti quoque austriæ ducies inclyti consiliariu_m_ atq_ue_ oratore_m_ præfacio fœliciter incipit; _Fol. 34^a_: Vale uir (nisi ex curialibus unus esses) meo iudicio prudens; COLOPHON: Aeneæ Siluii de curialiu_m_ miseria disputatio finem habet fœlicem; _Fol. 35, 36, blank._

Quarto. Quires [1-3^{10}, 4^6], 36 leaves, the last two blank, 23
lines to the page, roman letter, without signatures, catchwords,
pagination, place, printer's name or date. Two- and six-line spaces
left for capitals. Claudin XX. Pellechet 132. Hain 198.

First initial rubricated in the same style and by the same hand as in the _De duobus amantibus_. Other capitals and paragraph-marks in red and blue alternately. Initial-strokes in yellow. At the bottom of fol. 29^a a line accidentally dropped by the compositor is supplied in manuscript by a contemporary hand, viz., "non te uolunt. Quida_m_ uero pote_n_tes sunt! ac ex." Both the recto and the verso of the leaf have the full complement of 23 lines but there is a hiatus in the text. The copies in the Bibliothèque Nationale, and the Bibliothèque Mazarine, Paris, have the line supplied in manuscript in like manner, but instead of _uero_ read _non_, which does not suit the context.

According to Claudin this is the twentieth book printed at the Sorbonne press. To the five copies known to him this adds a sixth.

Bound with No. 19. De duobus amantibus.

21. PLATO. Epistolae. [Paris, Michael Friburger, Ulric Gering and Martin
Crantz, 1472.]

_Fol. 1^a_: Ad prudentem _et_ magnificum uirum Cosma_m_ de medicis florentinu_m_, Leonardi Aretini clarissimi oratoris, in ep_isto_las plato_n_is quas ex græcis latinas fecit! p_rae_fatio; _Fol. 52^a_, COLOPHON: FINIS.

Discite rectores diuinitus, ore platonis!
Quid uos, q_ui_d ciues reddat in urbe bonos;

Quarto. Quires [1-4^{10}, 5^8, 6^2, 7^2], 52 leaves, 23 lines to
the page, roman letter, without signatures, catchwords, pagination,
place, printer's name or date. Three- to five-line spaces left for
capitals. The first initial supplied in blue and red, other
capitals in blue and red alternately. Initial strokes in yellow.
Claudia XIV. Philippe VII. Crevenna 1523. Hain 13066.

Leonardo Bruni, often called Leonardo Aretini from his birthplace Arezzo, translated five of the dialogues of Plato in addition to the letters.

The first notice of this edition is found in the _Catalogue Bolongaro-Crevenna_ (Amst., 1789), where it is described as containing 52 printed leaves. It appears from the price-list printed after the sale in 1790 that it had not been sold, but was "retenu, faute de commissions ou de concurrence," and was still obtainable at the price of 15 florins. No trace of it has since been found and Panzer and Hain were able only to copy the catalogue description. Philippe (1885) described Heynlin's copy, which is preserved in the library of the University of Basel, as consisting of one first blank leaf, forty-nine printed leaves and two blank leaves at the end. Claudin (1898), with a second copy discovered meantime in the Bibliothèque d'Angers at his command, finds one first blank and forty-nine printed leaves, and remarks that the two blank leaves placed by Philippe at the beginning [should be _end_] are only independent fly-leaves. Our copy has fifty-two printed leaves and no blanks and no occasion for them, since the printed leaves, of themselves, form complete quires. Claudin's collation, which gives both the quires and a register of the first words of each quire, shows that both his copies lack the sixth quire of our copy, composed like the seventh of only two leaves and beginning "_sibus interdixistis_." There is moreover still unexplained and not easily explainable in the descriptions of both the Basel and Angers copies the presence of a troublesome first blank leaf and the absence of another leaf of text, in addition to the lacking sixth quire. It follows that, at least until the Crevenna copy, which appears to have been in agreement with ours, comes to light again, this must remain the only complete copy known.

Bound with Nos. 19 and 20, from the same press.

22. MAGNI, JACOBUS [Jacques Le Grand]. Sophologium. Paris, Martin
Crantz, Ulric Gering and Michael Friburger, 1 June, 1477.

_Fol. 1, blank._ _Fol. 2^a_: Sequitur tabula capituloru_m_ Sophologij. _Fol. 5^a_: Doctissimi atq_ue_ excellentissimi patris: sacraru_m_ litteraru_m_ doctoris deuotissimi: fratris Iacobi magni: religionis fratru_m_ heremitaru_m_: sancti Augustini sophologiu_m_ incipit. Cuius p_ri_ncipalis intentio est inducere legentis animu_m_ ad sapientie amorem. _Fol. 218^a_: Jacobi Magni sophologium finit feliciter. _Fol. 218^b_: Epigramma ad huius operis conspectore_m_ [five distichs.] COLOPHON: Anno do_mi_ni millesimo .cccc.lxxvij. die .i. mensis Iunij. Impressum fuit istud sophologium parisius p_er_ Martinu_m_ crantz. Vdalricu_m_ gering, et Michaele_m_ friburger.

Quarto. Sign. a-x^{10}, y^8, 218 leaves, the first blank, 32 lines
to the page, gothic lower-case type, roman capitals. Two- to
six-line spaces with guide-letters left for initials. Hain 10478.

Border ornamentation in color on fol. 5^a. Initials at the head of the first four of the ten books in dull gold and color; those of the remaining books in color only. Chapter initials and paragraph-marks in alternate red and blue. Blank first leaf wanting. The bottom line of fol. 116^b which had been accidentally moved across to the foot of fol. 115^a (the companion page on the imposing stone) is supplied in manuscript where it was lacking and the misplaced line of print is canceled.

On the discontinuance of the Sorbonne press in 1473, the printers, Crantz, Gering, and Friburger, moved into the neighboring Rue Saint-Jacques and set up a press, with new type, on their own account. An edition of the Sophologium had been one of the last books printed at the old press. A second edition was issued from the new press in 1475, of which the present edition is, in type, number of pages and lines, an exact reprint, but has printed signatures and is a quarto while that was a folio. Caxton's "Book of Good Manners," printed in 1487, was a translation of "Le livre des bonnes meurs," another work by the same author.

The present copy, bound in green morocco with gold borders and gilt edges, is from the Syston Park library, sold in December, 1884. Leaf 10-3/4 × 7-1/4 in.

23. HIERONYMUS. Vaderboeck. [Zwolle], Peter van Os, 1 April, 1490.

_Fol. 1^a_, TITLE: DIt boeck is ghenomet. dat vader boeck. dat in den latijne is ghehieten Vitas patru_m_. inhoudende dye historien en_de_ legenden der heyligher vaderen die hare leue_n_ in stre_n_gher penitencie ouerghebracht hebbe_n_ Ouergheset in goeder versta_n_delre duytscer sprake. [Rest of page occupied by two woodcuts.] _Fol. 1^b_: [H]Ier beghint die tafele va_n_ desen boecke dat ghehieten is dat va (_sic_) vader boeck. _Fol. 4^b_: Hier eyndet die tafef (_sic_) van den boecke..... _Fol. 5^a_: [Woodcut of the Annunciation, which is repeated on the verso of the leaf.] _Fol. 6^a_: Hier beghinnet dat eerste deel va_n_ desen boecke dat ghenoemet is Vitaspatrum in latijne. _Fol. 165^b_, COLOPHON: Hier eyndet dat derde deel va_n_ desen boecke van den wo_n_derlijke wercken en_de_ goede exempele_n_ en_de_ goede leri_n_ghen der heigher (_sic_) vadere_n_ so als die heylige leraer Jeronim_us_ vut de_n_ griecke_n_ in den latine ghetoge_n_ heeft Ouergheset in goeder v_er_standelre duytscer spraken om salicheit alre goeder kersten me_n_scen. Ghedruct bi mi Peter va_n_ Os In de_n_ iare ons heren Mcccc en_de_ xc. den eersten dach va_n_ den April. [PRINTER'S DEVICE, (shields of Zwolle and of the printer combined).] _Fol. 166, blank._

Folio. Sign. A^4, a^8, b-z^6, A^4, B-D^6, 166 leaves, the last
blank, 6-165 numbered i-clx. 2 columns, 36 lines to the column,
gothic letter. Two- to six-line spaces left for capitals. The first
initial of the title is a ten-line ornamental woodcut D. The two
woodcuts on the title-page are printed from sections cut from the
blocks of the Latin Biblia Pauperum, that on the left (Descent of
the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost) from the central panel of
sign. p., that on the right (Jacob's dream), from the right-hand
panel of the sign. t. Other sections of these blocks were used in
like manner in other books of van Os. In place of blank fol. 5 cut
away, is inserted a full page woodcut of the Annunciation, printed
on both sides of the leaf, on paper unlike any other used in the
book. Campbell 938. Proctor 9135.

Prologue initial on fol. 6^a supplied in blue with pen ornamentation in red. Chapter initials and paragraph-marks in alternate red and blue. Initial-strokes in red. Blank last leaf wanting.

Bound by Alfred Matthews in three-quarter levant morocco with blind tooling, gilt edges. Leaf 10-1/2 × 8 in.

Peter van Os, of Breda, was actively engaged in printing at Zwolle from 1479 till the end of the century, except for the three years 1481-1484.

The English translation of the "Vitas Patrum," which was the closing labor of Caxton's life, was printed in 1495 by Wynken de Worde with this colophon: "Thus endyth the moost vertuouse hystorye of the deuoute and right renowned lyues of holy faders lyuynge in deserte, worthy of remembraunce to all wel dysposed persons which hath be_n_ translated oute of Frenche into Englisshe by William Caxton of Westmynstre late deed and fynysshed at the laste daye of hys lyff."

24. HIGDEN, RANULPH. Polychronicon, translated into English by Trevisa
and continued by Caxton. [Westminster]. William Caxton, [1482].

_Fol. 1, blank._ _Fol. 2^a_: Prohemye. [G]Rete thankynges lawde & honoure we merytoryously ben bounde to yelde and offre vnto wryters of hystoryes, whiche gretely haue prouffyted oure mortal lyf, that shewe vnto the reders and herers by the ensamples of thynges passyd, what thynge is to be desyred. [Fol. 4-20, alphabetical table; 21, blank; 22-24, dialogue between the Clerke and the Lorde on translation, Trevisa's epistle to Lord Berkeley; 25, blank.] _Fol. 26^a_: Prolicionycion. Prefacio prima ad historiam. [A]Fter solempne and wyse wryters of Arte and of scyence.... _Fol. 389^b_: God be thanked of al his dedes. This translacion is ended on a thursdaye the eyghtenth daye of Apryll the yere of our lord a thousand thre hondred and .lvij. The xxxj yere of Kyng Edward the thyrd after the Conquest of Englond, the yere of my lordes age Syr thomas lord of berkley that made me make this translacion fyue and thyrtty. [390^a, Caxton's epilogue to Trevisa; 390^b, blank.] _Fol. 391^a_: Jncipit Liber vltimus. _Fol. 449^a_: Ended the second day of Juyll the xxij yere of the regne of kynge Edward the fourth & of the Incarnacion of oure lord a thousand foure score and tweyne. Fynysshed per Caxton. _Fol. 449^b, 450, blank._

Folio. Sign. a-b^8, C^4, 1-28^8, [28*^2], 29-48^8, 49^4, 50^8,
52-55^8, 450 leaves, of which five (a, 1; 1, 1; 1, 5; 28*,2; 55, 8)
are blank. The folios of sign. 1,2-55,7 are numbered 1-ccccxxviii
(blanks 1, 5 and 28*,2 counted as iv and ccxxvi), with many errors
which are mostly corrected on the following leaves, but in the case
of fol. ccxli on the verso of the same leaf. There is, however, no
clx, and ccccxiii is duplicated, errors which balance each other
and do not disturb the final numeration. The omission of a
signature 51 is accidental, the text continuing without a break.
The purpose of the unsigned single sheet following sign. 28,
consisting of one printed and one blank leaf, was evidently to
carry the last remaining leaf of the fourth book and thereby make
possible a division of the volume at this point into two nearly
equal parts. Advantage has apparently been taken of this division
to bind the Grenville copy (Brit. Mus. IB. 55060) in two volumes.
Wynkyn de Worde, who reprinted the Polychronicon in 1495, followed
in this particular Caxton's example and in order to begin the fifth
book with a new signature left at the end of the fourth book nearly
a whole leaf blank, though he separated the other books by a blank
space of no more than three or four lines. Caxton's use of arabic
figures for signatures was confined to the years 1481-1483; after
that date he used letters only. The first few chapter-headings of
each book have Latin ordinals (Capitulum primum, secundum, etc.)
which are soon dropped for arabic figures. Gothic letter, Caxton's
fourth font, forty lines to the page, with headline. Two- to
seven-line spaces left for chapter and book initials, which are
supplied in red. Chapter-headings underlined in red. Blades ii,
172. Ames-Dibdin i, 138. Seymour de Ricci p. 60.

Seventy-two leaves, including the five blanks, are wanting in this copy, viz.: sign. a-C; 1, 1, 4, 5, 8; 2, 1, 4, 5; 3, 2; 4, 1; 27, 3; [28*,2]; 44, 7; 50-55. The lacking parts comprise the first twenty leaves (Prohemye and alphabetical index), the last forty leaves (Caxton's eighth book), and twelve intermediate leaves. Of these the Proheyme is supplied in facsimile and sign. 4, 1 in manuscript. What is possibly an original impression of Caxton's large device is placed at the end of the volume. This was used by Caxton only during his last years, 1487-91, and by Wynkyn de Worde, into whose hands the original block passed, in his folios for thirty years longer. From one of the latter this may have been taken, possibly from the Polychronicon of 1495, where the other side of the leaf it occupied was blank, as is the case here also.

Trevisa's translation of Higden was completed, according to the best MSS., in 1387, not in 1357 as stated on fol. 389^b. (In 1357 the 18th of April fell on Tuesday, not Thursday, and Thomas Lord Berkeley was then in the fifth, not the thirty-fifth year of his age.) Caxton was himself the translator of twenty-two of the one hundred books which he printed and it was therefore not strange that Trevisa's English should have been in his hands, as the proem states, "a lytel embelysshed fro tholde makyng." In what these embellishments consisted is partially explained in the epilogue: "Therfore I William Caxton a symple persone haue endeuoyred me to wryte fyrst ouer all the sayd book of proloconycon, and somewhat haue chaunged the rude and old Englyssh, that is to wete certayn wordes, which in these dayes [1482] be neyther usyd ne understanden". He went however further than this and so changed the inflections and orthography that the language is no longer of the fourteenth but rather of the fifteenth century. But in no other way could it have been made to harmonize with his proposed continuation, concerning which he proceeds to say: "and also am auysed to make another booke after this sayd werke whiche shal be sett here after the same, And shal haue his chapytres and his table a parte. For I dar not presume to sette my book ne ioyne hit to his, for dyuerse causes". Accordingly he begins his "Liber ultimus" with a new signature, preceded by a blank page. His "table" nevertheless is combined with that of the preceding seven books in one alphabet. Wynkyn de Worde's edition has a more elaborate index of ninety pages in which each of the eight books is indexed in a separate alphabet.

Apart from the interest attaching to this "Liber ultimus" as the only original work of any length from Caxton's pen, the Polychronicon is next to the Golden Legend his largest book, and in the Prohemye they are grouped together as the "twoo bookes notable" which treat of history. It happens also, probably because of larger editions printed, that of these two books many more copies have survived than of any of his other books, about one-fourth of which are now represented only by single copies. Of the Polychronicon, Seymour de Ricci's "Census of Caxtons" (1909) enumerates forty known copies (very few of them entirely complete), evenly divided between public and private libraries. To this list he adds, under the heading "Present owners untraced," forty-eight copies (nos. 41-88) which appeared at sales between 1698 and 1901, some of them possibly identical with copies already described as "known." In this second division is found the present copy (no. 79), purchased by the donor of this collection at the Smets sale, New York, May, 1868, in calf binding, with the name of the owner "A.A. Smets, Savannah, May 28, 1836" on the fly-leaf. It was at once sent to Francis Bedford for binding, with instructions to have the "inlaying, repairing etc. done over in the very best manner, by the best restorer in France or England." Bound in brown morocco, richly blind-tooled, with Tudor rose, fleur-de-lis and acorn emblems. Leaf 10-1/4 × 7-1/2 in. The Smets fly-leaf and the original instructions sent to Mr. Bedford with the volume and returned by him with an added note over his own signature, laid in.

Other copies of the Polychronicon which have passed through Mr. Bedford's hands have been bound in the same style, among them the Menzies copy, sold New York, November, 1876, which de Ricci wrongly conjectured might be identical with the Smets.

25. ORDINARY OF CHRISTIAN MEN. London, Wynkyn de Worde, 1506.

_Fol. 1^a._ TITLE: Thordinary of Crysten men [woodcut below.] _Fol. 1^b-4^b, table of contents._ _Fol. 5^a_ [woodcut above]: Here begynneth a notable treatyse and ful necessarye to all crysten men for to knowe & it is named the Ordynary of Crystyens or of crysten men. _Fol. 217^b_: Here endeth the book named the ordynarye of crysten men newely hystoryed and translated out of Frensshe in to Englysshe. Enprynted in the cyte of London in the Fletestrete in the sygne of y^e sonne by Wnykyn de worde. y^e yere of our lorde .M.CCCCC.vi. _Fol. 218^a, title repeated over woodcut._ _Fol. 218^b_, [PRINTER'S DEVICE]

Quarto. Sign. Aa^4, A^6, B^4, C-X, AA-NN^{8, 4 (altern.)}, OO^6,
PP^{5}+{1}. 218 leaves, gothic letter, 34 lines (marginal citations
60 lines) to the page, without foliation. Title cut in large
lower-case letters on block 2 × 4 in. Five- and six-line initials
at the head of the larger divisions of the text. Ten woodcuts, one
repeated. The final blank PP. 6 has been replaced by an independent
leaf having on the one side the title repeated with woodcut, and on
the other the printer's device, either of which may in the binding
be made the recto. The device is the first of his so-called
"Sagittarius" forms, and the one most commonly used from 1506 to
1518. Ames-Dibdin, ii, p. 103. Morgan Cat. iii, p. 214, n. 743.

The present copy lacks the first four leaves, containing the title and the table of contents; but both the title and the woodcut accompanying it are repeated elsewhere in the volume, the title on fol. 218^a, the woodcut on fol. 87^a.

Of the French original, _L'ordinaire des chrestiens_, at least six editions were printed before 1500, the earliest apparently at Rouen, c. 1487. In them it is stated that the writing was commenced 22 May, 1467 and finished (_consommé_) 22 May, 1469. The corresponding dates in the prologue and epilogue of the translation are "fyrst begonne to be wryten" 14 Jan., 1467, "fyrst consumed" 14 Jan., 1500. The confusion, common to both the French and the English of the 15th century, in the derivatives of _consummare_ and _consumere_ relieves the translator, Andrew Chertsey, from the appearance of an over-literal translation, but the change in the date of the completed work can hardly be in the direction of accuracy.

The woodcuts which appeared in the first edition of the "Ordinary" printed in 1502 are in this second edition replaced by others of different design and better execution, borrowed mainly from "The crafte to lyve well and to dye well", printed by de Worde in 1505 and like the present work translated by Chertsey from a French original, _L'art de bien vivre et de bien mourir_. Two of these illustrations, "Temptation to Impatience" (fol. 73^b) and "Soul leaving the Body" (fol. 218^a), are copied from the early block-book _Ars moriendi_.

Bound by Alfred Matthews in blind-tooled crimson morocco, with inside gold borders and gilt edges. Leaf 8-1/4 × 5-3/4 in.

Wynkyn de Worde, Caxton's assistant, was a native of Wörth, Alsace. He came into possession of his master's printing materials on his death in 1491 and continued to occupy his house in Westminster until 1500 when he moved to Fleet Street within the city. In the number of his books, almost eight hundred, he surpassed all the early printers, but many of them were works of small size and consequence. Some of his largest and finest books were reprints of Caxton's folios. Mention has been made of his use of Caxton's original device without addition. In all of his own various devices also, the place of honor in the center is given to Caxton's initials and cipher, plainly as a mark of loyalty to the master, not an advertisement of himself as the successor.

26. INTRATIONES. London, Richard Pynson, 28 Feb. 1510.

_Fol. 1^a_, TITLE: INtrationu_m_ excellentissimus liber perq_uam_ necessarius o_mn_ibus leg_is_ hominib_us_: fere in se continens o_mn_em medullam diversa_rum_ materia_rum_ ac pl_ac_ito_rum_ tam realiu_m_, personalium, q_uam_ mixt_orum_. Necno_n_ multorum breuium tam executionu_m_ q_uam_ aliorum valde vtilium illis hunc librum inspecturis aut inscrutandis. Que quide_m_ supradicta facilit_er_ possunt inveniri p_er_ indice_m_ alphabeticu_m_ p_er_uigila_n_ti studio co_n_fectu_m_ & p_er_ ordine_m_ l_itte_raru_m_ redactu_m_... _Fol. 1^b_, [Full page woodcut of the king's arms crowned, supported by a dragon and a greyhound, with a portcullis on either side and a rose and two angels above.] _Fol. 2^a_: Intrationu_m_ libri Index Alphabetic_us_. _Fol. 10^b_: Finis tabule Intrationum. _Fol. 193^a_, COLOPHON: Explicit opus excellentissimu_m_ & perutile in se continens multas materias o_mn_ibus leg_is_ ho_min_ib_us_ p_er_q_uam_ necessarias nouiter Impressum, correctum, emendatum, & no_n_ minimo labore reuisum London_i_ in vico vulgariter nu_n_cupato Fletstrete in officina ere ac impensis honesti viri Ricardi Pynson Regis Impressoris moram suam trahentis sub signo diui Georgii Anno n_ost_re redemptionis .M.CCCCC.x. Die vero vltima Mensis Februarii. _Fol. 193^b_, [PRINTER'S DEVICE.] _Fol. 194, blank._

Folio. Sign. Aa^6, Bb^4, a-z, &, 9, A-E^6, F^4. 194 leaves, the
last blank, 11-193 numbered i-clxxxv, but with the omission of li
and liv and other irregularities. Gothic letter, 54 lines to the
page, with marginal side-headings. The title, occupying seventeen
lines of bold heavy-faced type, is printed in red and black and in
the form of an inverted triangle. The _Index Alphabeticus_ is
introduced by a ten-line initial A with a rose above and a
portcullis below the middle bar, found also in the same printer's
Sarum missal of 1520. The other divisions of the index have mostly
four-line woodcut initials, some of grotesque pattern. Five-line
space with guide-letter for the first initial of the text.
Ornaments of four patterns, repeated singly or in combination, are
used to lengthen out the frequent short end lines of paragraphs in
order to give more solidity to the appearance of the page. Three of
the same ornaments are found also on the title-page of Whitinton's
_Vulgaria_, printed by W. de Worde in 1521. Ames-Dibdin ii, 441.

In the present copy the index (sign. Aa. 2-6, Bb. 1-4) is separated from the title (Aa. 1) and placed at the end of the volume. Name of _Johēs Coningesby_ written in a sixteenth century hand on the first page of both text and index. The device is the fourth of Pynson's seven devices and was in use 1496-1513. Allusion is made in the colophon to an earlier edition, no copy of which appears to be known. The work was reprinted by Henry Smythe, London, 1546.

Richard Pynson, a Norman by birth, established himself in London about 1490, taking over, as there is good reason to believe, the business of Machlinia, a printer of law books, for which his knowledge of Norman-French especially fitted him. In 1508 he was made Printer to the King and in that year also he printed two books in roman type, the first use of that character in England. He is known to have printed at least 371 books, a much smaller number than de Worde, but as a rule larger and more important books. He is regarded as the best English printer of his time and the _Liber Intrationum_ is one of his finest books.

Bound in red velvet, with silk linings and gilt edges. Leaf 12-3/4 × 9-1/4 in.

From the Syston Park library, with the book-plate and monogram of Sir John Henry Thorold.

27. PLUTARCHUS. Moralia Graece. Venetiis, in ædibus Aldi et Andreæ
soceri, 1509.

TITLE: PLVTARCHI OPVSCVLA. LXXXXII. Index Moralium omnium, & eorum quæ in ipsis tractantur, habetur in hoc quaternione. Numerus autem Arithmeticus remittit lectorem ad semipagina_m_, ubi tractantur singula. [Aldine anchor]. _P. 1050_, COLOPHON: Venetiis, in ædibus Aldi & Andreæ Asulani Soceri. mense Martio. M. D. IX. [Blank leaf with anchor on verso.]

Quarto. Sign. *, a-z, &, aa-zz, aaa-sss^8, ttt^6. 8 unnumbered
preliminary leaves (sign * not included in register on p. 1050)
containing title, dedicatory epistle of Aldus to Jacopo Antiquario,
index, four couplets of Jerome Aleander, preface of the editor
Demetrius Doukas (all except title and dedication in Greek); 1050
numbered pages of Greek text, final blank leaf with anchor on
verso. The type is Aldus's fourth Greek font, 46 lines to the page,
five- to eight-line spaces left for initials. The _semipagina_ (the
equivalent of our _page_) to which the index directs the reader,
shows that _pagina_ still had its older meaning _leaf_, and
incidentally that the numbering of the page instead of the leaf was
an innovation. The anchor and dolphin device, the symbol of the
motto _Festina lente_, which first appeared in the Dante of 1502,
is here in its first form, but of the larger size suitable for
folios and enclosed in double lines, on the title-page without
name, but on the last leaf with the addition ALDVS.MA.RO. Although
on the evidence of the chain-lines and the water-mark technically a
quarto, the volume on account of its unusual size was doubtless
printed like a folio on half sheets. Renouard, p. 55. Firmin-Didot,
p. 317.

Plutarch's _Moralia_ belongs to that imposing series of first editions of the Greek classics which among all the services of Aldus Manutius to the revival of learning are perhaps his best title to enduring fame. When he set up his press in 1495 five in all, and but one, Homer, of the first rank, had been printed. When he died twenty years later his first editions outnumbered those of all his contemporaries put together, and the rank was even more significant than the number, for among them were included Aristotle, Plato, Thucydides, Herodotus, Aristophanes, Sophocles, Euripides, Pindar and Demosthenes. The Plutarch was printed from MSS. still preserved in the library of St. Mark.

The Greek type of Aldus was a new departure, based on the cursive or business handwriting of his day in distinction from the older book-hand which had served as the model for the first Greek fonts. It gained immediate popularity and for more than two hundred years, either directly or through fonts based upon it, dominated the Greek printing of Europe. At length, mainly because of the ligatures and contractions, it was supplanted by type of more open and regular forms.

In 1508 Aldus took as partner his father-in-law, Andrea Torresano d'Asola, a Venetian printer who in 1480 had taken over the business of Nicolas Jenson. The imprint which had hitherto been _apud Aldum_ or _in aedibus Aldi_ now became _in aedibus Aldi et Andreae soceri_. After the death of Aldus in 1515 the press was conducted without change of name by the surviving partner until his own death in 1529.

Thick paper copy. Leaf 10-3/4 × 7 in. On p. 1050 is written _Collegii Societatis Jesu Embricae 1605_.

From the library of Sir J.H. Thorold of Syston Park, with book-plate. Bound by R. Storr, Grantham, in red morocco, gilt edges, with anchor on sides. The "Dictionary of English Book-collectors," pt. 2, calls attention to the Aldine anchor (made more realistic by an end of rope cable twisted about it) stamped by the Grantham bookbinders Messrs. Storr & Ridge upon many of the Thorold books, "not only those bound by themselves, but also those bound by far better men." Examples of both kinds are found in the present collection.

As an illustration of the first Greek type of Aldus there is joined to this collection a finely executed manuscript facsimile on vellum of his _Musaeus_ of 1495, his second book (preceded by the Grammar of Lascaris), but the first in which the font appeared in its completed state. From the Syston Park library. Bound by Bozérian Jeune, in blue morocco extra.

28. SCRIPTORES REI RUSTICAE. Venetiis, in ædibus Aldi et Andreae soceri,
1514.

TITLE: LIBRI DE RE RVSTICA. M. CATONIS LIB. I. M. TERENTII VARRONIS LIB. III. L. IVNII MODERATI COLVMELLAE LIB. XII. Eiusdem de arboribus liber separatus ab alijs, quare autem id factum fuerit: ostenditur in epistola ad lectorem. PALLADII LIB. XIIII. De duobus dierum generibus: simulq_ue_ de umbris, et horis, quæ apud Palladium, in alia epistola ad lectorem. Georgij Alexandrini enarrationes priscarum dictionum, quæ in his libris Catonis: Varronis: Columellæ. [Aldine anchor]. Hos libros Pontificis etiam Leonis decreto, nequis alius usquam locorum impune imprimat, cautum est. _Fol. 308^a_: COLOPHON: VENETIIS IN AEDIBVS ALDI ET ANDREAE SOCERI MENSE MAIO M.D.XIIII. [Aldine anchor on verso].

Quarto. Sign. *, aa, bb^8, cc^{10}, a-h^8, i^4, k-z, A-Q^8. 8
unnumbered preliminary leaves containing title, privilege of Leo X.
countersigned by P. Bembo, papal secretary, preface of the editor,
Fra Giocondo, addressed to Leo X., _Aldus lectori_ (two epistles,
the first relating to the position of the _De arboribus_ of
Columella, an independent treatise, in previous editions inserted
in his _De re rustica_ as liber lii, but here correctly placed
after that work, the second, to the hours of Palladius, varying in
length with the seasons, and the use of the gnomon in determining
them), _errata_; 26 unnumbered leaves (preceded by a second title
with anchor and mention of the privileges of Alexander VI., Julius
II. and Leo. X.) containing explanations of unfamiliar words and
table of contents, last leaf blank; 308 numbered leaves of text,
Sign. * is not included in the register on fol. 308^a and being
followed by a second title-page its absence, if accidentally
omitted, might pass unnoticed. Italic letter, 39 lines to the page,
six- to seven-line spaces with guide-letters left for the initials
of the thirty books, which in the present copy are supplied in gold
and colors. Numerous paragraph-marks in alternate red and blue.
Ruled in red. Renouard, p. 66. Firmin-Didot, p. 370.

The italic type of Aldus, a cursive or semi-cursive roman, the counterpart of his cursive Greek, was modeled as he himself informs us on the handwriting of Petrarch _a lettra per lettra_. It first appeared in the Vergil of 1501, the first of his octavo series of classics and only three months later, as was but just, in _Le cose volgari_ of Petrarch. It had at the outset, corresponding to the Greek ligatures, many double letters and even groups of three cast on the same body, which were for the most part eliminated later by Paulus Manutius. Originally it consisted only of lower-case letters and borrowed the capitals of the roman font, using for economy of space small capitals which DeVinne points out as the useful invention of Aldus. Aldus was sensible of the deficiency and the last clause of his will was a request to his partner, Andrea, to have suitable capitals made by the celebrated engraver, Giulio Campagnola. It was, however, not until 1558 that they were finally supplied by Paulus, in connection with a new italic font. What has now ceased to be anything more than a useful auxiliary type was by Aldus employed as a text type, a chief recommendation being that it was more condensed than the roman and enabled him to greatly reduce the price of his books by making an octavo do the work of a quarto or folio. In 1501 he printed six, and in 1502 eleven octavos, whereas all his earlier books, with one unimportant exception, had been of the larger forms.

In 1496 the Venetian Senate granted to Aldus protection for his Greek type and the books printed with it for the period of twenty years, and in 1502 a like privilege covering both his italic and Greek type for ten years. A similar grant made by Alexander VI. in 1502 was renewed by Julius II. in January, 1513, for fifteen years and confirmed by his successor, Leo X., in December of the same year.

From the library of Robert Samuel Turner, sold in 1888.

Bound in red morocco extra, with gold tooling in the Grolier style, edges gilt over red. Leaf 8-1/2 × 5-1/4 in. Book-stamp on verso of last leaf: "Ex libris J.B.P.H. Caqué, D.M. Rem. 1775".

29. CICERO, MARCUS TULLIUS. Rhetorica. Venetiis, in ædibus Aldi et
Andreae soceri, 1521.

TITLE: IN HOC VOLVMINE HAEC CONTINENTVR. Rhetoricorum ad C. Herennium lib. IIII. M.T. Ciceronis de inuentione lib. II. Eiusdem de oratore ad Quintum fratrem lib. III. Eiusdem de claris oratoribus, q_ui_ dicitur Brutus lib. I. Eiusdem Orator ad Brutum lib. I. Eiusdem Topica ad Trebatium lib. I. Eiusdem oratoriæ partitiones lib. I. Eiusdem de optimo genere oratorum præfatio quædam. Index rerum notabilium, quæ toto opere continentur, per ordinem alphabeti. [Aldine anchor] Hos libros etiam Pontificum Alexandri, Iulij, ac Leonis demum decretis, neq_u_is alius usquam locorum impune imprimat, cautum est. _Fol. 245^a_, COLOPHON: VENETIIS IN AEDIBVS ALDI, ET ANDREAE SOCERI MENSE OCTOBRI M.D.XXI. [Blank leaf with anchor on verso].

Quarto. Sign. *, **, a-k^8, l^4, m-z, A-G^8, H^{10}. 16 unnumbered
preliminary leaves, containing preface by Aldus addressed to Andrea
Navagero and alphabetical index (the blank last leaf wanting in
this copy); 245 numbered leaves of text and final blank leaf with
anchor. Sign. * and ** have eight leaves each, not ten as stated in
the register on p. 245. Italic letter, 39 lines to the page, three-
to seven-line spaces with guide-letters left for initials. The
anchor is of the second, somewhat ungraceful, pattern in use
1519-1524, after which there was for some years a return to the
first form. Renouard, p. 93.

Reprinted, with only the addition of the index, from the 1514 edition of Aldus. In the preface is found the often quoted inscription placed over the door of Aldus to discourage the idle visitor: _Quisquis es: rogat te Aldus etiam: atque etiam: ut, si quid est, quod a se velis: perpaucis agas_, etc. The edition of 1533, with the imprint _in ædibus haeredum Aldi Manutii Romani & Andreae Asulani Soceri_ and a short preface by Paulus Manutius (it was his first book as director of the press) is also essentially unchanged, but his edition of 1546, in octavo, was thoroughly revised in text and accompanied by a folio volume of variorum commentaries.

Bound by Roger Payne, in blue morocco, gilt edges, with cipher of Sir Mark Masterman Sykes on back, at whose sale in 1824 it brought £1.11s.6d. The Syston Park copy with book-plate, and monogram of Sir John Hayford Thorold. Leaf 8-1/2 × 5-1/4 in.

30. CELSUS, AURELIUS CORNELIUS. De medicina. SERENUS, QUINTUS. De
medicina. Venetiis, in ædibus Aldi et Andreæ soceri, 1528.

TITLE: IN HOC VOLVMINE HAEC CONTINENTVR. AVRELII CORNELII CELSI MEDICINAE LIBRI .VIII. QVAM EMENDATISSIMI, GRAECIS ETIAM OMNIBVS DICTIONIBVS RESTITVTIS. QVINTI SERENI LIBER DE MEDICINA ET IPSE CASTIGATISS. ACCEDIT INDEX IN CELSVM ET SERENVM SANE QVAM COPIOSVS. [Aldine anchor] Venetorum decreto, ne quis aliquo in loco Venetæ ditionis hos libros imprimat, impressosue alibi uendat, cautum est. _Fol. 1^a_: AVRELII CORNELII CELSI ARTIVM LIBER SEXTVS, IDEM MEDICINAE LIBER PRIMVS. _Fol. 164^a_: COLOPHON: VENETIIS IN AEDIBVS ALDI, ET ANDREAE ASVLANI SOCERI MENSE MARTIO. M.D.XXVIII. [Aldine anchor on verso].

Quarto. 8 preliminary unnumbered leaves containing title,
dedicatory epistle of the editor, Giovanni Baptista Egnazio, to
Cardinal Hercules Gonzaga and index; 164 numbered leaves of text
(fol. 148 blank). Italic letter, three- to seven-line spaces with
guide-letter left for initials. Renouard, p. 105.

The _De Medicina_ of Celsus is the second and only surviving part of his Encyclopædia entitled _Artes_, in five divisions. The first division, _De Agricultura_, consisted of five books, so that the sixth book of _Artes_ was at the same time the first of _De Medicina_.

The Syston Park copy, uncut. Bound by Roger Payne in red morocco. Leaf 9 × 5-1/2 in.

31. CICERO, MARCUS TULLIUS. Epistolæ ad Atticum, ad M. Brutum, ad
Quintum fratrem. Venetiis, apud Aldi filios, 1540.

TITLE: M.TVLLII CICERONIS EPISTOLAE ad Atticum, ad M. Brutum, ad Quintu_m_ fratrem, summa diligentia castigatæ, ut in ijs menda, quæ plurima erant, paucissima jam supersint. PAVLI MANVTII IN EASDEM EPISTOLAS Scholia, quibus abditi locorum sensus ostenduntur, cum explicatione castigationum, quæ in his epistolis pene innumerabilis factæ sunt. [Aldine anchor] PAVLVS MANVTIVS ALDI F. VENETIIS, M.D.XL. _Fol. 344^a_, COLOPHON: APVD ALDI FILIOS. VENETIIS, M.D.XL. MENSE AVGVSTO. [Aldine anchor on verso]

Octavo. 2 preliminary leaves containing title and dedication by
Paulus Manutius to Guillaume Pellicier, Bishop of Montpellier, 331
numbered leaves of text, 10 unnumbered leaves of translations of
the Greek passages, conjectural emendations which the editor "would
not hesitate to adopt it he should ever find an ancient MS. to
confirm them" and a final leaf with colophon and anchor. The
Scholia, 24 unnumbered leaves, have a separate title, with notice
of copyright granted by Paul III. (the fourth pope to grant this
privilege) and the Venetian senate; colophon and anchor repeated on
last leaf. Italic letter, 30 lines to the page, five-line spaces
with guide-letters left for initials. Renouard, p. 120.

Except for the interval 1533-6 the press was inactive from 1529 to 1540, on account of dissensions between the heirs of Andrea and Aldus. The partnership having been dissolved the press was reopened in 1540 by the sons of Aldus (_apud Aldi filios_) under the direction of the youngest, Paulus Manutius (1512-74), who restored and added to its lustre. Of Cicero, his favorite author, he revised the entire text and printed repeated editions of some of the works: e.g. of the _Epistolae ad Atticum, ad M. Brutum, ad Quintum fratrem_ not less than ten, of which this is the first. The brief scholia he expanded later into full and valuable commentaries, on the Letters to Atticus in 1547, on the Letters to Brutus and Quintus in 1557.

It was Petrarch who in 1345 discovered in a Verona MS. the long lost Letters to Atticus, Brutus and Quintus and copied them with his own hand. Both the MS. and Petrarch's copy are lost. But of the MS. another transcript, procured by Petrarch's friend Salutati in 1389, is preserved in the Laurentian Library, and of the Petrarch copy we have here a replica in the type which Aldus characterized as _manum mentiens_.

From the Syston Park library, with book-plate. Bound by Roger Payne, in blue morocco, gilt edges. Leaf 6-1/2 × 4 in.

32. CICERO, MARCUS TULLIUS. Orationes. Venetiis, apud Aldi filios, 1546.

TITLE: M. TVLLII CICERONIS ORATIONVM PARS I. [Aldine anchor] CORRIGENTE PAVLO MANVTIO, ALDI FILIO. VENETIIS, M.D.XLVI. _Fol. 308^a_, COLOPHON: VENETIIS, APVD ALDI FILIOS, M.D.XXXXVI.

Octavo. 4 unnumbered preliminary leaves, containing title and
preface of Paulus Manutius addressed to Cardinal Benedetto Accolto,
303 numbered leaves of text and a final leaf with register and
colophon on the recto and anchor on the verso. Italic letter, 30
lines to the page, five-line spaces with guide-letters left for
initials. Renouard, p. 136.

The second edition of the Orations printed by Paulus, vol. I only (II, III wanting), on large paper. Renouard (who knew of no complete copy of the three volumes l.p.) remarks, p. 141, on the too elongated form of most of the Aldine large paper octavos, in which all the increased space is at the bottom. In the present copy it is divided between the bottom and the outer margin, the inner margin and the top having no increase of width--an arrangement well adapted for marginal annotations and perhaps designed for that use. An early owner of this copy has in fact added to the printed title (_Orationum Pars I_) with a pen the word _Commentata_, but proceeded no further with his plan than simply to underscore a number of words on the first three pages, leaving the margins untouched.

The most important of the commentaries of Paulus was that on the Orations, completed not long before his death and printed by his son Aldus in 1578-9 in three folio volumes.

From the Syston Park library, with book-plate and the monogram of Sir J.H. Thorold. Bound in red morocco, gilt edges, with Aldine anchor in gold on sides. Leaf 8 × 5-1/4 in.

33. PTOLEMAEUS, CLAUDIUS. Planisphærium. JORDANUS NEMORANUS. Planisphærium.
Venetiis, [apud Paulum Manutium], 1558.

TITLE: PTOLEMAEI PLANISPHAERIVM. IORDANI PLANISPHAERIVM. FEDERICI COMMANDINI VRBINATIS IN PTOLEMAEI PLANISPHAERIVM COMMENTARIVS. In quo uniuersa Scenographices ratio quam breuissime traditur, ac demonstrationibus confirmatur. [Aldine anchor] VENETIIS, M.D.LVIII.

Quarto (not octavo, as described by Renouard). _Part 1._ 4
unnumbered preliminary leaves containing title and dedicatory
preface of Commandino to Cardinal Rainuccio Farnese, 37 numbered
leaves of text (1-25 Ptolemy, 26-37 Jordanus), final blank leaf
with anchor on verso. _Part 2._ 28 numbered leaves of commentary,
with separate title, anchor both on title and on verso of last
leaf. Text in roman, 25 lines to the page; commentary in italic, 34
lines to the page. Many woodcut diagrams. Both text and commentary
are introduced by a seven-line woodcut initial belonging to a
mythological series found in other books of Paulus of this period,
C picturing Calypso bidding adieu to Ulysses, I, Juno seated on a
car drawn by peacocks. The original italic font of Aldus, the
so-called _Aldino_ type, which appears to have passed into the
possession of the Torresani relatives at about this date, is here
replaced by a new font having a perceptibly larger face, though
only a slightly larger body (20 lines of the new equalling 21 of
the old) and consequently showing less white between the lines.
Renouard, p. 173.

In 1554 the subscription assumed the new form _apud Paulum Manutium Aldi F._, showing that Paulus had acquired his brothers' rights in the press. At the same time he returned to the earlier and simpler form of the anchor with the name _Aldus_, instead of the _Aldi filii_ and the ornamental border in use since 1546. Sometimes, as in the present volume, the subscription is omitted altogether and the anchor with the name Aldus alone used. Here moreover the place and date appear only on the title-page and the colophon is dropped as no longer useful.

The original Greek text of Ptolemy's Planisphere is lost. To the present Latin translation, made by an unknown hand from the Arabic, is appended (fol. 25) this subscription: _Facta est translatio haec Tolosae Cal. Iunii Anno Domini MCXLIIII_. The revival of the study of the Greek mathematicians in the sixteenth century was largely due to the admirable translations and commentaries of Federigo Commandino of Urbino (1509-75). This edition of Ptolemy's Planisphere still remains the best. In the same year Paulus printed _Archimedis Opera nonnulla a Federico Commandino Vrbinate nuper in latinum conversa et commentariis illustrata_.

Uncut copy, bound in blue morocco, with vellum fly-leaves. Leaf 8-3/4 × 6-1/2 in. From the Syston Park library with book-plate and monogram of Sir John Hayford Thorold.