Bod-Inc: J-115
Johannes de Capua
Directorium humanae vitae.
Analysis of Content
a1r [Title-page.] ‘Directorium humane vite alias Parbole antiquorum sapientium'.
a2r Johannes de Capua: Directorium humanae vitae. ‘Prologus.’ Incipit: ‘[V]erbum Iohannis de Capua post tenebrarum olim palpationem ritus iudaici . . .’
a4v Johannes de Capua: Directorium humanae vitae. Incipit: ‘[D]icitur quod in temporibus regum Edom, habuit rex Anastres Tasri Virum nomine Beroziam . . .’ Friedmar Geissler, Beispiele der alten Weisen des Johann von Capua, Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Institut für Orientforschung, Veröffentlichung 52 (Berlin, 1960), 2-394.
Imprint
Imprint: [Strasbourg: Johann Prüss, c.1489]. Folio.
Remarks: On the four issues of this edition (i.e. the two states of H *4411 (A and B), H 4411a (C) and its later reissue (D)), see Friedmar Geissler, ‘Die Inkunabeln des Directorium vitae humanae', Beiträge zur Inkunabelkunde, dritte Folge, 1 (1965), 7-47, at 26 no. 118-19. According to Paul Needham (sale catalogue, New York: Sotheby's, 17 Dec. 1992, lot 13), H 4411a is a separate, later edition while Geissler's second state of H 4411 has ‘only scattered in-press forme corrections. They do not distinguish a separate issue.’
Collation
Collation: a–m6 n10.
Remarks: Leaf a2 signed a1, etc.
Illustrations: One full-page woodcut (191 ×118 mm.), 118 smaller cuts (c.93 ×121 mm).
References
ISTC: ij00268000
GW: GW Nachträge, 1084 (C);
Hain: H (+ Addenda) C 4411* (A & B); H 4411a (C);
Goff: Goff J‑268;
BMC: BMC I 125 (C);
Proctor: Pr 558;
Others: BSB‑Ink I‑375 (B); CIBN J‑171 (B), J‑172 (C); Hillard 1133; Oates 213 (C); Sack, Freiburg, 2041 (B), 2042 (D); Schramm XX pp. 26 and IX, pl. 280-406; Schreiber V 3489 (A & B), V 3489a (C); Sheppard 423, 424 (B). Facsimile: Klagenfurt, Verlag Armarium, 1981.
LCN: 13907984, 13908043
Copies
Copy number: J-115(1)
Headline, b1r, b3r, n8r-v: ‘Capitulū'. b6v: ‘Capitulum II'. e5r: ‘¶ Explicit Capitulum Primum || ¶ Sequitur Capitulum Secundum' (in error for secundum, tertium, respectively).
Binding: Eighteenth-century English gold-tooled russia, with marbled pastedowns; for Francis Douce, after 1789.
Size: 287 × 205 × 18 mm.
Size of leaf: 279 × 196 mm.
On the title-page, in an early hand: ‘Vide librum sapientiam antiquorum intitulatum'. Marginal notes, mainly extracting key words, in an early hand. Bibliographical notes in Douce's hand.
Some nine-line initials are supplied in interlocked red and blue. Other initials, paragraph marks, underlining of chapter headings, and capital strokes are supplied in red.
Provenance: Maffeo Pinelli (1735-1785); see Morelli (1787), 7871; sale (1789) lot 12777. Purchased for £5. 5. 0. by Francis Douce (1757-1834); see the annotated copy of the sale catalogue. On the verso of front endleaf a pencil note says: ‘At Hibbert sale n.(?) 2605 = £8.15 to Payne', the price fetched by another copy; armorial book-plate. Bequeathed in 1834.
SHELFMARK: Douce 193.
Copy number: J-115(2)
Wanting a1,2,5 and the upper halves of g6 and k3, which are all supplied in photographic facsimile.
A variant: headline, b1r, b3r, n8r-v: ‘Capitulum'. b6v: ‘Capitulū'. e5r: ‘¶ Explicit Capitulum secūdum || ¶ Sequitur Capitulum tertium'.
Binding: Nineteenth-century calf; the gold stamp of the Bodleian Library on both covers.
Size: 262 × 180 × 15 mm.
Size of leaf: 255 × 173 mm.
Provenance and date of acquisition unknown. The book was transferred to its present shelfmark after c.1839: not in ‘Catalogus Bibliothecae Novae'.
Former Bodleian shelfmark: 4o U 50 Th.
SHELFMARK: Auct. N 4.15.
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