Copy number: H-201(1)

Binding: Eighteenth-century English gold-tooled red morocco; marbled pastedowns; bound for Lord Harley by Christopher Chapman. On both covers triple gold fillets form concentric frames: within the outer frame is a foliate and floral ornamental roll (Nixon, ‘Harleian Bindings', pl. 14, Chapman roll 2), within the middle frame is a floral roll (cf. Nixon, ‘Harleian Bindings', pl. 13), and within the inner frame is an ornamental roll (Nixon, ‘Harleian Bindings', pl. 14, Chapman roll 1); the inner rectangle on each cover contains an ornamental centre-piece, made up of numerous individual tools, including Nixon, ‘Harleian Bindings', pl. 15, nos Chapman 5, 10, 14a, and 14b, but now mostly obscured by the gold stamp of the Bodleian Library. The spine is decorated with Chapman rolls 1 and 2, and Nixon, ‘Harleian Bindings', pl. 15, nos 1a, 1b, 10, and 13; the turn-ins are decorated with Chapman roll 2.

Size: 302 × 214 × 35 mm.

Size of leaf: 295 × 194 mm.

Early marginal annotations, pointing hands, and ‘nota' marks in black ink.

One- to five-line initials and paragraph marks are supplied in red or blue. On A2r a coat of arms in brown ink: a bar, in chief two roses and in base a fleur-de-lis inverted; helmet, crest of a fleur-de-lis, and mantling.

Provenance: Unidentified coat of arms, probably Italian (see above). Edward, Lord Harley, later 2nd Earl of Oxford (1689-1741); evidence of binding; also Webber's inscription (see below); upper corner of the front endleaf cut off; bought by Thomas Osborne; probably the copy described in Catalogus Bibliothecae Harleianae, I no. 3745. George Webber (fl. 1747); inscription on the recto of the front endleaf: ‘Geo. Webber, June 1747. This Horace was bought out of L. Oxford's Library'. J. Clarke (nineteenth century); signature in pencil on the recto of the front endleaf. Purchased for £12. 12. 0; see Books Purchased (1825), 14, and inscription ‘purchased 1825' on the recto of the front endleaf.

SHELFMARK: Auct. N inf. 2.12.

Copy number: H-201(2)

Wanting the blank leaf A1.

On l. 2 of the colophon ‘dicante' for ‘ducāte', also the last ‘i' omitted from the year date (variant as Pr 4265; see above).

Binding: Eighteenth-century English red morocco. On both covers double gold fillets form a frame; further triple gold fillets form the inner rectangle, at each corner of which is a gold fleuron; inside this last frame is a gold floral roll; marbled pastedowns, gilt-edged leaves; the gold stamp of the Bodleian Library on both covers. Upper cover detached.

Size: 300 × 214 × 28 mm.

Size of leaf: 292 × 200 mm.

Provenance: John Bohn (1758-1843); see A Catalogue of an Extensive Collection of English Books . . . (London, 1829), ‘Fifteeners', p. 18; purchased by Heber for £15. 15. 0, see inscription on the verso of the front endleaf: ‘15£ 15s. from Bohn's cat. 1829'. Richard Heber (1773-1833); see Catalogue, 6 (1835), lot 2152. Purchased for £6. 6. 0; see Books Purchased (1835), 14.

SHELFMARK: Auct. P 2.20.