Bod-Inc: P-358
Plinius Secundus, Gaius (Pliny the elder)
Historia naturalis.
Analysis of Content
[a1r] Suetonius Tranquillus, Gaius: De viris illustribus [extract]. ‘Svetonii Tranquilli in libro de viris illustribus'. ed. A. Reifferscheid (Leipzig, 1860), 92-3; C. L. Roth (Leipzig, 1886), 300-1.
[a1r] Plinius Secundus, Gaius: Historia naturalis. Plin. Nat. Book 37 ends with ‘desinens nitor' (37,13,76,199); see Remigio Sabbadini, ‘Le edizioni quattrocentistiche della Storia Naturale di Plino', Studi italiani di filologia classica, 8 (1900), 439-48, at 440 and 442. On this edition see also A. Labarre, ‘Diffusion de l'Historia Naturalis de Pline au temps de la Renaissance', in Festschrift für Claus Nissen, zum siebzigsten Geburtstag 2 September 1971, ed. E. Geck and G. Pressler (Wiesbaden 1973), 451-70, no. 1; for the manuscript used for this edition, Paris, BnF, MS. lat. 6805, see Ford, ‘Author's Autographs', no. 5, with further reference given there; C. G. Nauert, ‘Caius Plinius Secundus', CTC IV, 297-422.
[N9v] [Verse colophon.] Incipit: ‘Quem modo tam rarum cupiens uix lector haberet | Quique etiam fractus pene legendus eram'; 3 elegiac distichs.
Imprint
Imprint: Venice: Johannes de Spira, [before 18 Sept.] 1469. Folio.
Remarks: For three variant settings of leaves 1-5 see BMC reprint.
Collation
Collation: [a10 b8 c–i10 k12 l–s10 t u8 x–z A–E10 F12 G–I10 K8 L–N10].
References
ISTC: ip00786000
Hain: HC (+ Addenda) R 13087;
Goff: Goff P‑786;
BMC: BMC V 153;
Proctor: Pr 4018;
Others: CIBN P‑457; Essling 2; Hillard 1655; F. R. Goff, ‘Illuminated Woodcut Borders and Initials in Early Venetian Books (1469-1475)', Gb Jb (1962), 380-9, at 386; Osler, IM, 3; Rhodes 1436; Sheppard 3188.
LCN: 14016995
Copies
Copy number: P-358(1)
For this copy see Continental Shelf, no. 13.
Wanting leaves [a1], [N9], and the blank [N10].
The place of [a1] is taken by a parchment leaf bearing the text in manuscript, red and black.
Binding: Eighteenth-century gold-tooled red morocco in ‘Harleian style', apparently bound for Lord Harley by Christopher Chapman (Sheppard suggests by Thomas Elliott, with reference to Oldham, Shrewsbury School Bindings, pl. xxxiii, I.v.12). For the stamps see Nixon, ‘Harleian Bindings', pl. 15, including Chapman nos 1a, 1b, 5, 7, 10, and 16 (others not identified), also rolls, pl. 14, Chapman rolls 2 and 4, and roll on pl. 13. Rebacked. Red leather index tabs.
Size: 420 × 305 × 98 mm.
Size of leaf: 406 × 268 mm.
Marginal notes, mainly extracting key words and concepts, also book numbering, in a contemporary German hand.
On [a1] a two-line initial ‘P' is supplied in blue with white pen-work decoration within a square gold ground edged in black; also a south German 17-line initial ‘L' is supplied in blue with white pen-work decoration within a square gold and red ground within a green and yellow segmented frame. In the lower margin a floral and foliate border is supplied in pink, blue, green, and gold, with a shield supported by a wodehouse bearing the letter T, the arms of Upfkofer; see J. Siebmacher Wappenbuch, Abgestorbener Bayerische Adel (Nuremberg, 1884-1911), III 117 pl. 77. On [c1r] a 12-line initial ‘M' is supplied in green with acanthus-leaf decoration within a square gold ground edged in blue. On the same leaf a floral and foliate border is supplied as above. Principal initials are supplied in blue with red pen-work decoration; other initials are supplied in red or blue.
Provenance: Upfkofer, Bavarian noble family (late fifteenth century); coat of arms. Edward, Lord Harley, later 2nd Earl of Oxford (1689-1741); acquired from Nathaniel Noel shortly before 17 Apr. 1722; see Humfrey Wanley, The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. C. E. Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (Oxford, 1966), I 138; bought by Thomas Osborne; see Catalogus Bibliothecae Harleianae, I no. 5414. Acquired by the Bodleian Library by 1795; see Notitia (1795), 38.
SHELFMARK: Auct. L 1.1.
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