Copy number: C-251(1)

Binding: Eighteenth-century calf; marbled pastedowns. A slip in the front of the book carries an instruction that the book is to be rebound by Lewis, in morocco, with gilt-edged leaves, at a cost of £10. 0. 0, an instruction that was evidently not carried out.

Size: 290 × 208 × 28 mm.

Size of leaf: 281 × 198 mm.

On [a2r] an Italian (Roman) seven-line epigraphic initial ‘A' is supplied in gold surrounded by white vine-stems defined in red, blue, green, and gold. In the lower margin, within a red wreath edged in gold, the coat of arms of Cardinal Micheli: barry of six azure and argent, charged with twenty-one roundels (6,5,4,3,2,1) of or on the azure bars, and azure on those of argent; surmounted by a cardinal's hat; for the blazon see John Woodward, A Treatise on Heraldry British and Foreign, new edn (Edinburgh, 1896), I 405. Other epigraphic initials are supplied in gold surrounded by white vine-stem decoration, as above. See Pächt and Alexander II, 106 no. pr. 11.

Provenance: Cardinal Giovanni Micheli (†1503); coat of arms on [a2r]. Luigi Serra, 4th Duca di Cassano (1747-1825); see Catalogo, 13. George John, 2nd Earl Spencer (1758-1834); sale (1821), lot 82, purchased by Thomas Thorpe (1791-1851) for £0. 14. 0; note by Heber on recto of front endleaf: ‘82 Spencer's Cassano Dupl. Mar. 1821 (14 sh.) Thorpe Apr. 1821 £1-1-0'; the former price is confirmed by the annotated sale catalogue. Richard Heber (1773-1833); Catalogue, 6 (1835), lot 1090, sold for £0. 11. 0. Purchased for £1. 1. 0, according to Books Purchased (1835), 9.

SHELFMARK: Auct. Q 2.27.