Bod-Inc: L-184
Lucretius Carus, Titus
De rerum natura (ed. Hieronymus Avantius).
Analysis of Content
Subject: literature; philosophy
[*1r] [Title-page.] ‘T. Lucretii Cari, Libri sex nuper emendati.’
[*1v] Manutius, Aldus: [Letter addressed to] Albertus Pio III, Prince of Carpi. ‘Aldus Manutius Romanus Alberto Pio Carporum principi S.P.D.’ Incipit: ‘Titum Lucretium Carum mea cura nuper expressum publicare sub tuo nomine ...’ [*1v] Explicit: ‘... dono ad te mittitur.Vale.’ Aldo Manuzio editore, 33-4; see Ester Pastorello, L'Epistolario Manuziano inventario cronologico-analitico 1483-1597, Biblioteca di bibliografia italiana, 30 (Florence, 1957), 24, no. 50.
[*2r] Avantius, Hieronymus: [Letter addressed to] Valerius Superchius. ‘Hieronymus Avancius Valerio Superchio Pisaurensi bonam fortunam.’ Incipit: ‘Dii tibi dent quod bene amas, Valeri amicorum spectatissime. Etsi non ignoro te diuinis . . .’ [*3r] Explicit: ‘... Vestris igitur studiis Aldo affidente labores nostros bonis non ingratos fore speramus. Diu valeas. Kalendis Martiis. M. ID.’ Dated: 1 March 1499.
[*3v] Avantius, Hieronymus: [Editorial note.] ‘Heronymus Avancius Veronensis, bonarum literarum studiosis ocium optat.’ Incipit: ‘Vt probi uiri intelligant, unde corruptissimum Lucretii poema sine antiquo exemplari . . .’ [*4v] Explicit: ‘... adverbialiter saepissime ponit.’
[*4v] [Table of contents.] ‘Quae singulis libris continentur.’
[*6v] Eusebius [Caesariensis pseudo-; Hieronymus: Interpretatio Chronicae Eusebii (extract).] Incipit: ‘Olympiade 171 Titus Lucretius poeta nascitur...’ PL XXVII 523, 525.
[*6v] Donatus, [Tiberius Claudius: Unidentified work.] Incipit: ‘Virgil 17. annum agens sumpsit uirilem togam quo die Lucretius decessit Cn. Pompeio Magno, Marco Licinio Crasso consulibus.’
[*6v] Ovidius: [Amores (extract).] Incipit: ‘Carmina diuini...’ Ov. Am. 1. 15. 23-4.
[*6v] Quintilianus: [Institutio oratoria (extract).] Incipit: ‘Nam macer...’ Quint. Inst. 10. 1. 87.
[*6v] Quintilianus: [Institutio oratoria (extract).] Incipit: ‘Nec philosophiae...’ Quint. Inst. 1. 4. 4-5.
[*6v] Papinius [Statius: Silvae (extract).] Incipit: ‘Et docti furor arduus Lucretii.’ Stat. Silv. 2. 7. 76.
a1r Lucretius Carus, Titus: De rerum natura. Edited by Hieronymus Avantius. ‘T. Lucretii Cari De rerum natura, liber primus.’ Incipit: ‘[A]eneadum genitrix hominum divumque voluptas ...’ [n5v] Explicit: ‘... quam corpora deferrerunt.’ [Editorial close]. ‘Finis. Hieronymi Avancii Veronensis ingenio et labore.’ Lucr., with the following variations: without text provided in lacuna 1.44-9, and with variant reading on 1.50; 1.154, 158, 155-7, 159; 1.434-5 inverted; 1.873-4 inverted; 1.983, 988-1001, 984-7, 1002; 1.1085-6 inverted; 2.658, 659 (variant reading), 661-80, 660; 2.914, 916-23, 915, 924; 2.1020 supplied; 3.43, 45-6, 44, 47; line of text provided in lacuna between 3.97 and 3.98; two lines of text supplied between 3.473 and 476; 3.857, 859-65, 858, 866; 3.951, 953-5, 952, 956; 4.25, 30-47, 53, 26-9, 33-5 (35 with variations), 51-2, 54; three lines of text supplied between 4.101 and 4.104; two lines of text inserted between 4.128 and 129; 4.132, 136-7, 133, 138-42, 134-5, 143, 4.323, 348, 338, 350; 4.541, 544-7 (546-7 with variations), 548-52, 542-3, 553; 4.1047 supplied; 4.1203, 1205-10, 1204, 1211; 5.29-30 inverted; 5.436, 443-5, 437-42, 446; 5.771 supplied; line inserted between 5.591 and 592; 5.967, 969; line of text provided for lacuna between 5.1012 and 1013; 5.1126, 1129-32, 1127-8, 1133; 5.1342-3 inverted; two lines of text supplied as 5.1388-9; two lines of text supplied between 6.55 and 6.58; 6.989, 995-7, 990-4, 995-6 [repeated], 998; 6.1173, 1175-8, 1174, 1179; 6.1236, 1239-42, 1244-5, 1237, 1243, 1247-9, 1246, 1250; there are also individual textual corruptions, which have not been indicated specifically above; see M. D. Reeve, 'The Italian Tradition of Lucretius', Italia medioevale e umanistica, 23 (1980), 27-48, at 46-7. For the manuscript tradition, and recent bibliography see now David Butterfield, The Early Textual History of Lucretius' 'De rerum natura' (Cambridge, 2013). On Avantius see S. Bertelli, 'Notarelli machiavelliani: Ancora su Lucrezio e Machiavelli', Rivista storica italiana, 86 (1964), 774-90, at 789-90; and Carlo Dionisotti, Gli umanisti e il volgare fra Quattro e Cinquecento (Florence, 1968), 179.
[n6r] Colophon: ‘Venetiis, accuratiss[ime]. Apud Aldum, mensem Decembris M.D. Non licet sic alteri cuiquam sine multa, in Oris Venetis.’ [Registrum].
Imprint
Imprint: Venice: Aldus Manutius, Romanus, Dec. 1500. 4°.
Secundo folio: Hieronymus Avancius Valerio Superchio ...
Collation
Collation: [*6] a–m8 n6.
Remarks: Gathering [*] numbered, but not signed.
Leaves: 108 ll.
Illustrations: Woodcut capitals.
References
ISTC: il00335000
Hain: HC *10285;
Goff: Goff L‑335;
BMC: BMC V 562;
Proctor: Pr 5576;
Others: BSB‑Ink L‑254; CIBN L‑258; Hillard 1246; Rhodes 1116; Scapecchi, ‘Annali' 38; Sheppard 4671-2.
LCN: 14502634
Copies
Copy number: L-184(1)
Binding: Eighteenth-century gold-tooled red morocco, with gilt-edged leaves and marbled pastedowns; the gold stamp of the Bodleian Library on both covers.
Size: 212 × 155 × 21 mm.
Size of leaf: 207 × 145 mm.
Some ‘nota' marks, also washed early marginal notes.
Provenance: Heavily erased name(?) on the recto of the front endleaf (no details visible under ultraviolet light). Purchased for £5. 5. 0; see Books Purchased (1791), 2.
SHELFMARK: Auct. 2R 4.6.
Copy number: L-184(2)
Binding: Mid sixteenth-century Italian parchment; remains of two leather ties; original sprinkling on edges.
Size: 223 × 165 × 25 mm.
Size of leaf: 217 × 158 mm.
Marginal and interlinear notes, including corrections to and comments on the text, in one sixteenth-century humanist hand. In the Bearzi catalogue these notes are stated to be the work of Donatus Fanndelius; evidence for this is, however, not found in the book.
Provenance: Heavily cancelled inscription on [*1r]. Jean Baptiste, chevalier de Bearzi (nineteenth century); sale, lot 2320. Purchased for £3. 3. 0; see Books Purchased (1855), 39.
SHELFMARK: Auct. 2R 4.50.
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