Copy number: J-329(1)

Binding: Nineteenth-century half calf with marbled paper boards; bound for Kloß; the gold stamp of the Bodleian Library on both covers

Size: 287 × 217 × 27 mm.

Size of leaf: 277 × 201 mm.

Copious early marginal and interlinear notes, mainly synonyms, but including comments on the text, ‘nota' marks, and pointing hands.

One- to seven-line initials are supplied in red or blue.

Provenance: Georg Franz Burkhard Kloß (1787-1854); book-label; sale (1835), lot 2462; purchased for £6. 0. 0; see Books Purchased (1835), 16.

SHELFMARK: Auct. P 4.5.

Copy number: J-329(2)

Wanting [a8], and the blank leaves [a1] and [k6].

Binding: Half sheep over wooden boards; the gold stamp of the Bodleian Library on both covers.

Size: 282 × 191 × 31 mm.

Size of leaf: 271 × 179 mm.

Early marginal annotations in the Juvenal in red ink in one humanist hand (perhaps that of Vespucius, see below), including extraction of key words, occasional corrections to the text in black ink, and pointing hands. On [k5v] a proverb in a fifteenth-century hand: ‘Nullum numen abest si sit prudentia sed nos | Te facimus fortuna deam celoque locamus' (Walther, Proverbia, 19039).

On [a2r] a seven-line initial ‘S' is supplied in blue within a red pen-work frame, and with red and blue pen-work forming reserved white decoration within the body of the letter; other one- to three-line initials supplied in red or blue; capitals touched with yellow wash.

Provenance: Italy (fifteenth century); ascribed to Georgius Antonius Vespucius (c.1434-1514) in a later inscription on [a1v], suggesting that the notes are in the same hand as one seen in the Laurenziana: ‘Le postille sono di mano del Vespucci uomo illustre che poi si fece religioso domenicano. Il carattere è confrontato con quello del medesimo esistente nella Biblioteca Laurenziana di Firenze'; this attribution is rejected by Albinia de la Mare. Bernardus de Medicis (fifteenth/sixteenth century). Bibbiena, Dominicans; fifteenth/sixteenth century inscription on [a2r]: ‘Conuentus sancte Marie de Saxo ex ereditate Bernardi de Medicis'. Purchased for £6. 6. 0; see Books Purchased (1834), 16.

SHELFMARK: Auct. P 4.6.

Copy number: J-329(3)

Wanting the blank leaves [a1] and [k6].

Binding: Eighteenth-century half calf, the boards covered with Buntpapier; the gold stamp of the Bodleian Library on both covers.

Size: 282 × 204 × 22 mm.

Size of leaf: 271 × 193 mm.

Early corrections to the text, some over erasures, in black ink, also pointing hands. Extensive bibliographical notes by Heber on the front pastedown and the recto of the front endleaf.

Provenance: George John, 2nd Earl Spencer (1758-1834); sale (1821), lot 169, for £0. 16. 0; Heber's note on the recto of the front endleaf: ‘March 1821 Spencer dupl. sale by Evans -16-0'. Richard Heber (1773-1833); notes (see above); see Catalogue, 6 (1835), lot 2171. Purchased for £7. 0. 0; see Books Purchased (1835), 16.

SHELFMARK: Auct. P 4.7.