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PROPERTY FROM THE DESCENDANTS OF JOHN GRESHAM MACHEN
PLINY THE ELDER (23-79 CE). Historiae naturalis. Edited by Philippus Beroaldus. Treviso: Michael Manzolus, 1479.
Details
PLINY THE ELDER (23-79 CE). Historiae naturalis. Edited by Philippus Beroaldus. Treviso: Michael Manzolus, 1479.
An incunable edition of Pliny’s “encyclopedia of all the knowledge of the ancient world” (PMM), with copious early scientific marginalia and illuminated white-vine initial. When it was published in Venice in 1469, this work marked the first appearance of any scientific text in print. This sixth Latin edition is one of the finest specimens from the press of Michael Manzolus, and the second edition of Beroaldo’s recension of the text. This copy is extensively annotated by an early learned owner with a particular interest in plants and animals. Pliny, an enthusiastic student of nature unto death, ultimately perished while observing the eruption of Vesuvius. BSB-Ink P-603; Goff P-791; HC 13092*; ip00791000. See PMM 5 (1469 ed).
Folio (290 x 190mm). 356 leaves (of 360; lacking bifolium [rum]4-6 and first and last blanks). Illuminated white-vine initial M, other large and small red and blue initials (with 19th-century manuscript facsimile of lacking pages bound in; first few leaves worn, some leaves of first gathering repaired at inner margin; occasional worming and dampstaining). Modern auburn morocco. Provenance: extensive early marginalia in several hands – Maffeo Pinelli (1736-1785, important Venetian collector, his catalogue no. 1756) – George Kloss (1787-1854, bibliographer; his sale, Sotheby’s, 7 May 1835, lot 3151 [erroneously identified as Melanchthon's copy]) – Lewis H. Machen (1790-1863, clerk of the United States Senate and Virginia farmer; pencil note).
An incunable edition of Pliny’s “encyclopedia of all the knowledge of the ancient world” (PMM), with copious early scientific marginalia and illuminated white-vine initial. When it was published in Venice in 1469, this work marked the first appearance of any scientific text in print. This sixth Latin edition is one of the finest specimens from the press of Michael Manzolus, and the second edition of Beroaldo’s recension of the text. This copy is extensively annotated by an early learned owner with a particular interest in plants and animals. Pliny, an enthusiastic student of nature unto death, ultimately perished while observing the eruption of Vesuvius. BSB-Ink P-603; Goff P-791; HC 13092*; ip00791000. See PMM 5 (1469 ed).
Folio (290 x 190mm). 356 leaves (of 360; lacking bifolium [rum]4-6 and first and last blanks). Illuminated white-vine initial M, other large and small red and blue initials (with 19th-century manuscript facsimile of lacking pages bound in; first few leaves worn, some leaves of first gathering repaired at inner margin; occasional worming and dampstaining). Modern auburn morocco. Provenance: extensive early marginalia in several hands – Maffeo Pinelli (1736-1785, important Venetian collector, his catalogue no. 1756) – George Kloss (1787-1854, bibliographer; his sale, Sotheby’s, 7 May 1835, lot 3151 [erroneously identified as Melanchthon's copy]) – Lewis H. Machen (1790-1863, clerk of the United States Senate and Virginia farmer; pencil note).