Copy number: J-284(1)

Bound with:
2. Bernardus Justinianus, Orationes et epistolae, etc. Venice: Bernardinus Benalius, [1492?] (J‑287).

Wanting the blank leaf A1.

With a title of considerably later date (sixteenth century?) inserted, bearing the imprint ‘Venetiis, M CCCC. XCII.’ On A4r, l. 1: ‘mū laudes . . .’ On p6v is printed part of the text of the introductory letter which appears on a2r of item 2, set up differently; Incipit: ‘[M]aximum et amplissimum munus, illustrissime princeps, hodierno die ad me delatum uideo . . . funeris huius amplitu'. See J‑287.

Binding: Eighteenth-century calf; on both covers are double gold fillets and an acorn stamp at each corner; gold-tooled spine; marbled pastedowns.

Size: 290 × 206 × 32 mm.

Size of leaf: 282 × 189 mm.

Provenance: Richard Heber (1773-1833); stamp ‘Bibliotheca Heberiana' on the recto of the front endleaf; see Catalogue, 2 (1834), lot 3307, sold for £0. 5. 6; purchased for £0. 6. 6; see Books Purchased (1834), 16.

SHELFMARK: Auct. 2Q 3.31(1).

Copy number: J-284(2)

Wanting A1. Variants: A4r: (`mum laudes . . .') is set up differently and printed in a type measuring 112/113 mm, with separate Q and double hyphen. The date found in the other copy at the foot of the page is here omitted. On f5r the last two lines are differently set up, making room for the last three letters of the last word ‘agressus'. The outer sheet of gathering p is set up differently from the other copy and is printed in a type measuring 112 mm, with separate Q, single Qu, and single hyphen (Haebler 23?). On p6r: ‘Impreſſum Venetiis per Bernadinum Benalium.’

Binding: Sixteenth-century (second half) dark brown Italian (Venetian) blind-tooled goatskin over thick wooden boards bevelled inwards. Two clasps hinged on the upper cover lost. On both covers fillets form frames mitred at the corners; within the inner frame is an ornamental roll. Further fillets form an inner rectangle containing a large fleuron at each corner, and, in the centre, a lozenge-shaped compartment is formed by intersecting quadruple fillets containing the fleuron repeated four times; an acorn at each corner; above and below this compartment is a circular floral ornament contained by four quarter-circles. The binding is sewn on three bands, which alternate on the spine with four false bands, the latter decorated with diagonal lines in gilt. Blind-tooling in the compartments of the spine. The title has been added in white paint along the spine from foot to head, ‘HIST VENIT BERN IUSTINIAN'; another title in gilt has been added on the lower cover, ‘BERNARD. IUSTIN. DE GESTIS VENET.' The edges of the boards are decorated with one or more fillets in blind. Mottled edges. Triple multi-coloured headbands. Pastedowns and one free back endleaf (not wrapped round the first or last leaf). Watermarks: front, ecclesiastical hat (cf. Briquet 3418: Padua 1536, Brescia 1579); back, anchor in circle below cross (not in Piccard, Anker). In spite of the convincing title on the lower cover, there are reasons to suspect that the binding did not originally belong with this copy of the book: the copy does not fit the binding, being too wide at the fore-edge and too tight in the spine. Wooden boards are unnecessary and extremely unusual on a book printed on paper by the second half of the sixteenth century. The mottled edges, multi-coloured headbands, and endleaves from different paper stocks, which are not wrapped round the first or last gathering in the normal way, are all suspicious features, suggesting that this copy is a remboîtage. It has certainly been altered, and the pastedowns are laid down over modern paper. The Crevenna catalogue records only ‘v' (veau), which may or may not describe the binding now present. See De Marinis, Legatura, II, no. 2093 bis (as Venetian).

Size: 325 × 215 × 43 mm.

Size of leaf: 315 × 200 mm.

Provenance: Old shelfmark on the front pastedown: ‘K k. 69'. Pietro-Antonio Bolongaro-Crevenna (1735-1792); printed label of the sale (1789), part III, lot 6403, although, in the Crevenna sale catalogue, this item is dated 1534; according to the annotated catalogue bought in by P. den Hengst, along with item 6402, for Fl. 1, the equivalent of £0. 1. 9, according to the exchange rate used by Thomas Payne at this sale. Purchased in 1931; Bodleian stamp dated 11 Dec. on A2v.

SHELFMARK: Inc. c. I4.3.