Details
PLUTARCHUS (ca.45-ca.120). Vitae illustrium virorum. Edited by Johannes Antonius Campanus. [Strassburg: R-Press type 1 (Johann Mentelin and/or Adolf Rusch), after 1470-71].
Royal 2° (398 x 281mm). Collation: [112 210 38 4-1310 148 15-2610 278 2810 2910 3012 31-4010 416 42-5210] (1/1 blank, 1/2r editor's prefatory letter to Cardinal F. Piccolomini, tabula, 1/3r lives of Theseus-Marcellus, 13/1r Hannibal-Lucullus, 28/10 blank, 29/1r Nicias-Cato the younger, 39/1r Dion-Cicero, 43/1r Demetrius-Carolus Magnus, 52/10v blank). 514 leaves, quires 3 and 4 reversed in binding. 49 lines. Type: 1:103R. 3-line initial in red opening preface, first 8-line initial in blue with red penwork decoration, 8-line initials in first 7 quires in interlocking red and blue, other 5-8-line initial spaces blank, some with printed guide-letter, spaces for Greek, contemporary foliation in red to fo.231, therafter in a later hand. (Some dampstaining, mostly marginal, small wormholes in first and final quires touching a few letters, last two leaves browned and discreetly repaired at lower margin, final leaf rehinged, neat tear just into text on fo.207.) Contemporary German pigskin over wooden boards bound by an unlocated shop active ca. 1470-1488 (Kyriss, shop 185, Meerweib II), blindstamped double fillet-lozenges filled with fleur-de-lis and cinquefoil roundels, two brass fore-edge clasps (one clasp partially missing, rubbed, upper joint repaired, minor repairs at extremities, endpapers renewed). Provenance: some contemporary marginalia; Simon Pistorius Guttenberg (18th-century inscription, "Fiducia fidelis conscientia fortitudo mea"; Paul Schmidt (bookplate, sale Paris, 11 April 1910, lot 50).
SECOND EDITION. The translations into Latin of the Vitae are largely the work of 15th-century humanists, including Donatus Acciaiolus, Guarinus Veronensis, Leonardus Brunus Aretinus, Antonius Tudertinus, and Lapus Florentinus; they were commissioned by the Florentine stationer Vespaniano da Bisticci in the 1450s and 1460s. This type 1 of the R-printer, so called because of the unusual R in the fount, was previously considered the first roman type, but since its earliest date of appearance has been revised to 1473, other roman founts in Italy and German take precedence.
Copies of this edition are also found divided into two volumes after quire 28. The present copy has one line of text added in a contemporary hand to the bottom of fo.20v (3/8v) beginning "bonos filios saturus atque facturus bonorum ..." which has not been added in the British Library copy. BMC I, 62 (IC. 647-8); HC *13124; IGI 7921; Goff P-831.
Royal 2° (398 x 281mm). Collation: [112 210 38 4-1310 148 15-2610 278 2810 2910 3012 31-4010 416 42-5210] (1/1 blank, 1/2r editor's prefatory letter to Cardinal F. Piccolomini, tabula, 1/3r lives of Theseus-Marcellus, 13/1r Hannibal-Lucullus, 28/10 blank, 29/1r Nicias-Cato the younger, 39/1r Dion-Cicero, 43/1r Demetrius-Carolus Magnus, 52/10v blank). 514 leaves, quires 3 and 4 reversed in binding. 49 lines. Type: 1:103R. 3-line initial in red opening preface, first 8-line initial in blue with red penwork decoration, 8-line initials in first 7 quires in interlocking red and blue, other 5-8-line initial spaces blank, some with printed guide-letter, spaces for Greek, contemporary foliation in red to fo.231, therafter in a later hand. (Some dampstaining, mostly marginal, small wormholes in first and final quires touching a few letters, last two leaves browned and discreetly repaired at lower margin, final leaf rehinged, neat tear just into text on fo.207.) Contemporary German pigskin over wooden boards bound by an unlocated shop active ca. 1470-1488 (Kyriss, shop 185, Meerweib II), blindstamped double fillet-lozenges filled with fleur-de-lis and cinquefoil roundels, two brass fore-edge clasps (one clasp partially missing, rubbed, upper joint repaired, minor repairs at extremities, endpapers renewed). Provenance: some contemporary marginalia; Simon Pistorius Guttenberg (18th-century inscription, "Fiducia fidelis conscientia fortitudo mea"; Paul Schmidt (bookplate, sale Paris, 11 April 1910, lot 50).
SECOND EDITION. The translations into Latin of the Vitae are largely the work of 15th-century humanists, including Donatus Acciaiolus, Guarinus Veronensis, Leonardus Brunus Aretinus, Antonius Tudertinus, and Lapus Florentinus; they were commissioned by the Florentine stationer Vespaniano da Bisticci in the 1450s and 1460s. This type 1 of the R-printer, so called because of the unusual R in the fount, was previously considered the first roman type, but since its earliest date of appearance has been revised to 1473, other roman founts in Italy and German take precedence.
Copies of this edition are also found divided into two volumes after quire 28. The present copy has one line of text added in a contemporary hand to the bottom of fo.20v (3/8v) beginning "bonos filios saturus atque facturus bonorum ..." which has not been added in the British Library copy. BMC I, 62 (IC. 647-8); HC *13124; IGI 7921; Goff P-831.