Copy number: N-104(1)

Gatherings [con] and & have been transposed in binding. Variants (see BMC): e4r, l. 2: as BL, IA.20923; l. 22 ends: ‘propior: fac[upside down i]t.', not exactly as either BL copy; the last line as BL, IA.20923. The last word on q3r is as BL, IA.20923, except that BMC refers to the leaf as ‘q2^a’ (which is how it is mistakenly signed). The last words on dd4r read: ‘ . . . pn̄s facile a', as BMC (BL, IA.20924).

Binding: Paduan half goatskin over wooden boards, c.1490 (`The Scholastic Binder'), with a brown goatskin clasp, hinging on the upper cover and secured by three nails (an inverted triangle), decorated with a row of impressions of a pomegranate stamp between three-line borders; the catch is in inverted, truncated triangle form, with three nails, a domed boss, and engraved line ornament. Formerly chained: hasp-marks at the tail of the fore-edge on the lower cover, as on Auct. 3Q 1.23 (J‑240). On both covers triple fillets form a rectangle which is divided by further triple fillets into lozenge-shaped and triangular compartments decorated with the pomegranate stamp; the edge of the binding is secured by a strip of leather nailed down. The compartments of the spine are divided by triple fillets into triangular compartments, and are decorated with the pomegranate stamp, as on Auct. 3Q 1.18 (J‑257) and 23 (J‑240). At the head of the spine are the remains of a manuscript paper label giving the name of the author and title; there is also an early manuscript label at the head of the upper cover giving the same information. Yellow-edged leaves; single plain headbands; sewn on two split thongs; no endleaves or pastedowns. See Anthony Hobson, ‘A German Student in Italy: his Books and Bindings', in Mélanges d'histoire de la reliure offerts à Georges Colin, ed. Claude Sorgeloos (Brussels, 1998), 87-99, at 93 and 96, no. 45, with the pomegranate stamp illustrated at 97, pl. I no. 1, and with the upper cover of this item illustrated at 98, pl. II.

Size: 229 × 147 × 62 mm.

Size of leaf: 211 × 143 mm.

Provenance: Johannes Protzer (†1528). Nördlingen, Hospital of the Holy Ghost. Nördlingen, church of S. Georgius; see Hobson, ‘German Student', 88 and 98, no. 92 in the list prepared by the church for the sale of its books in 1859. Purchased in 1861 via Parker, from Edwin Tross; ‘Tross VIII 1337' for £1. 17. 6; see Library Bills (1862-4), bill dated 24 Oct. 1861.

SHELFMARK: Auct. 2Q inf. 2.56.

Copy number: N-104(2)

Variants (see BMC): e4r, l. 2: as BL, IA.20923; l. 22 ends: ‘propior: fac[upside down i]t.', not exactly as either BL copy; the last line as BL, IA.20923. The last word on q3r is as BL, IA.20923, except that BMC refers to the leaf as ‘q2^a’ (which is how it is mistakenly signed). The last words on dd4r read: ‘ . . . pn̄s facile a', as BMC (BL, IA.20924).

Binding: Nineteenth-century half calf with dark brown cloth; bound for the Bodleian Library.

Size: 210 × 156 × 41 mm.

Size of leaf: 205 × 147 mm.

A ‘nota' reference on g5r.

On a1r a four-line initial ‘A' is supplied in blue with red pen-work decoration and extensions into the margins; other two- and three-line initials are supplied in red or in blue.

Provenance: Diessen, Bavaria, Augustinian Canons, BVM; inscription on a1r in a seventeenth-century hand(?): ‘Monasterii Diessen'; engraved armorial book-plate on the recto of the front endleaf, inscribed: ‘Ad Bibliothecam Canoniae Regularis in Diessen. B[erthold Wolff]. P[robst]. I[n]. D[iessen]. 1755'; see Warnecke 388. Duplicate from the Royal Library, Munich; ‘Duplum' in black ink on the recto of the front endleaf; pencil number ‘254' on dd6v. Acquired between 1847 and c.1892, probably in 1850; not in Catalogus (1843) with Appendix.

SHELFMARK: Auct. 5Q 6.77.