Bod-Inc: T-087
Theophrastus
De historia et causis plantarum (trans. Theodorus Gaza; ed. Georgius Merula).
Analysis of Content
A2r [Gaza], Theodorus: [Letter addressed to] Nicolaus V, Pont. Max. C. B. Schmitt, ‘Theophrastus', in CTC II 239-322, at 266-7.
A2v [Gaza], Theodorus: ‘Praefatio'. ed. Schmitt, CTC II 267-8.
A4v Theophrastus: De historia et causis plantarum. ‘De historia plantarum'. Translated from the Greek by Theodorus Gaza. Edited by Georgius Merula, as it is stated in his letter to Sanutus. Incipit: ‘[P]lantarum differentias reliqumque(!) naturam ex partibus affectionibus generationibus uitaque petere oportet . . .’ Explicit: herbas magna ex parte uocare herbaris solent Theophrastus, Opera, ed. F. Wimmer (Paris, 1866), 1-163; see also Schmitt, CTC II 266-8.
K6v Merula Alexandrinus, Georgius: [Letter addressed to] Dominicus Sanutus. Incipit: ‘Theophrasti libros de plantarum historia earumque causis . . .’ See V. Fera, ‘Tra Poliziano e Beroaldo: l'ultimo scritto filologico di Giorgio Merula', Studi umanistici, 2 (1991), 7-41, at 21-2.
L1r [Merula Alexandrinus, Georgius: Table of contents.]
a1r Theophrastus: De historia et causis plantarum. ‘De causis plantarum'. Translated from the Greek by Theodorus Gaza. Edited by Georgius Merula, as stated in his letter to Sanutus. Incipit: ‘[P]lantarum complures esse generationes . . .’ Explicit: per se explanari dignius est Theophrastus, Opera, ed. Wimmer, 165-319.
Imprint
Imprint: Treviso: Bartholomaeus Confalonerius, 20 Feb. 1483. Folio.
Collation
Collation: A–H8 I–L6 a8 b6 c–h8 i k6.
References
ISTC: it00155000
Hain: HC *15491;
Goff: Goff T‑155;
BMC: BMC VI 894;
Proctor: Pr 6489;
Others: BSB‑Ink T‑156; CIBN T‑108; Rhodes, Treviso, no. 78; Sheppard 5528-9. Microfiche: Unit 26: Philosophy: Ancient, PH 56.
LCN: 14099129, 14101030
Copies
Copy number: T-087(1)
The last line of text on k4r (`magis aliis grate redolent . . .') is repeated as the first line on the verso, where the last line (`Sed mirabilius quod de myrti egyptiis fertur . . .') is omitted.
Binding: Nineteenth/twentieth-century half parchment over marbled pasteboards, with red-edged leaves.
Size: 314 × 220 × 28 mm.
Size of leaf: 311 × 202 mm.
A few pointing hands.
Provenance: Ingram Bywater (1840-1914); Elenchus, no. 3350. Bequeathed in 1914.
SHELFMARK: Byw. G 3.14.
Copy number: T-087(2)
In this copy the text of k4r is correctly printed.
Binding: Nineteenth-century(?) blind-tooled calf, with the gold stamp of the Bodleian Library on both covers. ‘Theofrastvs. De plantis' along the fore-edge. ‘Teodorvs grecvs' is written upside down along the lower edge.
Size: 316 × 216 × 29 mm.
Size of leaf: 309 × 201 mm.
‘271' in brown ink in the upper right-hand corner of A1r. Extensive marginal notes, mainly extracting key words, but also providing headings and corrections and variants to the text, in Maffei's humanist hand, in brown ink, up to signature C3v. A few more notes in Maffei's hand in the rest of the book, in red ink.
On A2r an initial ‘Q' is supplied in gold on a square ground made of white vine-stem borders on a blue, red, and green surrounding. On A1v a classical human profile in green ink, below the letters ‘MAF', also in green.
Provenance: Mario Maffei (1463-1537); inscription on A1r and k6v: ‘Marii Maffei Volaterrani'; arms painted within a wreath on A2r: azure, a demi-stag salient or; see Ginanni, L'arte del blasone, no. 503. Maffei family; inscription on A2r: ‘De fig(lio)li et eredi di M. Mario Maffei'. Date of acquisition unknown; books with neighbouring shelfmarks were mostly acquired in the 1820s and 1830s.
Former Bodleian shelfmark: Auct. P 1.7.
SHELFMARK: Auct. O 3.26.
Go to top of page