Chapter 3

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

Fol. 1, blank,2a: TABVLAE F∀BVLARVM (sic) OVIDII METAMORPHOSEOS.Fol. 6a: Domitius Calderinus Veronensis. [D]E Ouidii uita nihil a nobis inhoc loco scribendumest.Fol. 7a: P. OVIDII NASONIS SVLMONENSIS METAMORPHOSEOS LIBER PRIMVS.Fol. 187b,Colophon: FINIS Impressum Parmæ Opera Et Impensis AndreæPortiliæ.M.CCCC.LXXX. Idibus Maiis Ioanne Galeazio Maria Mediolani Illustrissimo Duce Regnante Fœliciter.Fol. 188, blank.

Folio. Sign. a6, b-q8, r10, s-y8, z6, &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 hystoriamde duobus amantibus præfatio prima ad perquamgenerosum militemCasparem Slik fœliciter incipit.Fol. 2b: Aeneæ siluii in hystoriamde duobus amantibus praefatio secunda ad MartinumSozinum, Senensem, iuris utriusque perspicacissimum interpretem iocunde incipit.Fol. 4a: Aeneæ siluii de duobus amantibus hystoria perquamiocunde incipit!Fol. 44b: Vale. ex Vienna quinto nonas Iulii. anno Millesimo quadringentesimo quadragesimo quarto;Colophon: AeneæSiluii poæte laureati de duobus amantibus eurialoetlucresia, finit fœliciter.Fol. 45, 46, blank.

Quarto. Quires [1-410, 56], 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 theCæsarof 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 Willim 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 73/4× 51/4in.

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

Fol. 1a: Aeneæ Siluii poætæ laureati (cuietpro pontificali dignitate Pio nomen est) in disputationemde curialiummiseria ad perspicacissimumiurisconsultumIohannemEch, serenissimi diuiqueprincipis, Alberti, cæsaris inuictissimi! Alberti quoque austriæ ducies inclyti consiliariumatqueoratorempræfacio fœliciter incipit;Fol. 34a: Vale uir (nisi ex curialibus unus esses) meo iudicio prudens;Colophon: Aeneæ Siluii de curialiummiseria disputatio finem habet fœlicem;Fol. 35, 36, blank.

Quarto. Quires [1-310, 46], 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 theDe duobus amantibus. Other capitals and paragraph-marks in red and blue alternately. Initial-strokes in yellow. At the bottom of fol. 29aa line accidentally dropped by the compositor is supplied in manuscript by a contemporary hand, viz., "non te uolunt. Quidamuero potentes 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 ofueroreadnon, 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. 1a: Ad prudentemetmagnificum uirum Cosmamde medicis florentinum, Leonardi Aretini clarissimi oratoris, in epistolas platonis quas ex græcis latinas fecit! praefatio;Fol. 52a,Colophon: FINIS.

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

Quarto. Quires [1-410, 58, 62, 72], 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 theCatalogue 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 beend] 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 thedescriptions 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. 2a: Sequitur tabula capitulorumSophologij.Fol. 5a: Doctissimi atqueexcellentissimi patris: sacrarumlitterarumdoctoris deuotissimi: fratris Iacobi magni: religionis fratrumheremitarum: sancti Augustini sophologiumincipit. Cuius principalis intentio est inducere legentis animumad sapientie amorem.Fol. 218a: Jacobi Magni sophologium finit feliciter.Fol. 218b: Epigramma ad huius operis conspectorem[five distichs.]Colophon: Anno domini millesimo .cccc.lxxvij. die .i. mensis Iunij. Impressum fuit istud sophologium parisius perMartinumcrantz. Vdalricumgering, et Michaelemfriburger.

Quarto. Sign. a-x10, y8, 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. 5a. 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. 116bwhich had been accidentally moved across to the foot of fol. 115a(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 103/4× 71/4in.

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

Fol. 1a,Title: DIt boeck is ghenomet. dat vader boeck. dat in den latijne is ghehieten Vitas patrum. inhoudende dye historien endelegenden der heyligher vaderen die hare leuenin strengher penitencie ouerghebracht hebbenOuergheset in goeder verstandelre duytscer sprake. [Rest of page occupied by two woodcuts.]Fol. 1b: [H]Ier beghint die tafele vandesen boecke dat ghehieten is dat va (sic) vader boeck.Fol. 4b: Hier eyndet die tafef (sic) van den boecke.....Fol. 5a: [Woodcut of the Annunciation, which is repeated on the verso of the leaf.]Fol. 6a: Hier beghinnet dat eerste deel vandesen boecke dat ghenoemet is Vitaspatrum in latijne.Fol. 165b,Colophon: Hier eyndet dat derde deel vandesen boecke van den wonderlijke wercken endegoede exempelenendegoede leringhen der heigher (sic) vaderenso als die heylige leraer Jeronimusvut dengrieckenin den latine ghetogenheeft Ouergheset in goeder verstandelre duytscer spraken om salicheit alre goeder kersten menscen. Ghedruct bi mi Peter vanOs In deniare ons heren Mccccendexc. den eersten dach vanden April. [Printer's Device, (shields of Zwolle and of the printer combined).]Fol. 166, blank.

Folio. Sign. A4, a8, b-z6, A4, B-D6, 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. 6asupplied 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 101/2× 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 bentranslated 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. 2a: Prohemye. [G]Rete thankynges lawde & honoure we merytoryously ben bounde to yeldeand 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. 26a: Prolicionycion. Prefacio prima ad historiam. [A]Fter solempne and wyse wryters of Arte and of scyence....Fol. 389b: 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. [390a, Caxton's epilogue to Trevisa; 390b, blank.]Fol. 391a: Jncipit Liber vltimus.Fol. 449a: 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. 449b, 450, blank.

Folio. Sign. a-b8, C4, 1-288, [28*2], 29-488, 494, 508, 52-558, 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.) whichare 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. 4,1in 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. 389b. (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 101/4× 71/2in. 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. 1a.Title: Thordinary of Crysten men [woodcut below.]Fol. 1b-4b, table of contents.Fol. 5a[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. 217b: 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 yesonne by Wnykyn de worde. yeyere of our lorde .M.CCCCC.vi.Fol. 218a, title repeated over woodcut.Fol. 218b, [Printer's Device]

Quarto. Sign. Aa4, A6, B4, C-X, AA-NN8, 4 (altern.), OO6, PP5+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 andthe woodcut accompanying it are repeated elsewhere in the volume, the title on fol. 218a, the woodcut on fol. 87a.

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 ofconsummareandconsumererelieves 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. 73b) and "Soul leaving the Body" (fol. 218a), are copied from the early block-bookArs moriendi.

Bound by Alfred Matthews in blind-tooled crimson morocco, with inside gold borders and gilt edges. Leaf 81/4× 53/4in.

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 hasbeen 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. 1a,Title: INtrationumexcellentissimus liber perquamnecessarius omnibus legishominibus: fere in se continens omnem medullam diversarummateriarumac placitorumtam realium, personalium, quammixtorum. Necnonmultorum breuium tam executionumquamaliorum valde vtilium illis hunc librum inspecturis aut inscrutandis. Que quidemsupradicta faciliterpossunt inveniri perindicemalphabeticumperuigilanti studio confectum& perordinemlitterarumredactum...Fol. 1b, [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. 2a: Intrationumlibri Index Alphabeticus.Fol. 10b: Finis tabule Intrationum.Fol. 193a,Colophon: Explicit opus excellentissimum& perutile in se continens multas materias omnibus legishominibusperquamnecessarias nouiter Impressum, correctum, emendatum, & nonminimo labore reuisum Londoniin vico vulgariter nuncupato Fletstrete in officina ere ac impensis honesti viri Ricardi Pynson Regis Impressoris moram suam trahentis sub signo diui Georgii Anno nostre redemptionis .M.CCCCC.x. Die vero vltima Mensis Februarii.Fol. 193b, [Printer's Device.]Fol. 194, blank.

Folio. Sign. Aa6, Bb4, a-z, &, 9, A-E6, F4. 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. TheIndex Alphabeticusis introduced by a ten-line initial A with a rose above and a portcullis below the middle bar, found also in the same printer'sSarum 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'sVulgaria, 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 ofJohēs Coningesbywritten 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 theLiber Intrationumis one of his finest books.

Bound in red velvet, with silk linings and gilt edges. Leaf 123/4× 91/4in.

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 Arithmeticusremittit lectorem ad semipaginam, 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-sss8, ttt6. 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. Thesemipagina(the equivalent of ourpage) to which the index directs the reader, shows thatpaginastill had its older meaningleaf, and incidentally that the numbering of the page instead of the leaf was an innovation. The anchor and dolphin device, the symbol of the mottoFestina 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'sMoraliabelongs 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 theGreek 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 beenapud Aldumorin aedibus Aldinow becamein 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 103/4× 7 in. On p. 1050 is writtenCollegii 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 hisMusaeusof 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 factumfuerit: ostenditur in epistola ad lectorem. PALLADII LIB. XIIII. De duobus dierum generibus: simulquede 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. 308a:Colophon: VENETIIS IN AEDIBVS ALDI ET ANDREAE SOCERI MENSE MAIO M.D.XIIII. [Aldine anchor on verso].

Quarto. Sign.*, aa, bb8, cc10, a-h8, i4, k-z, A-Q8. 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 theDe arboribusof Columella, an independent treatise, in previous editions inserted in hisDe re rusticaas 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. 308aand 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 Petrarcha 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, inLe cose volgariof 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 smallcapitals 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 81/2× 51/4in. 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, quidicitur 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, nequis alius usquam locorum impune imprimat, cautum est.Fol. 245a,Colophon: VENETIIS IN AEDIBVS ALDI, ET ANDREAE SOCERI MENSE OCTOBRI M.D.XXI. [Blank leaf with anchor on verso].

Quarto. Sign.*,**, a-k8, l4, m-z, A-G8, H10. 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 imprintin ædibus haeredum Aldi Manutii Romani & Andreae Asulani Soceriand 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 81/2× 51/4in.

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