Bod-Inc: V-026
Valla, Laurentius
Elegantiae linguae latinae, et al.
Analysis of Content
[a1v] Valla, Laurentius: ‘Epistola' [addressed to] Johannes Tortellius. Incipit: ‘Libros de linguae latinae elegantia . . .’ Laurentius Valla, Opera (Basel: Henricus Petrus, 1540), 1-2; Laurentii Vallensis De linguae latinae elegantia: ad Ioannem Tortellium Aretinum per me M. Nicolaum Ienson Venetiis opus feliciter impressum est. 1471, ed. S. Lopez Moreda, 2 vols, Grammatica Humanistica, 3 (Caceres, 1999).
[a3r] Valla, Laurentius: Elegantiae linguae latinae. [Preface to book I.] Laurentius Valla, Opera, 3-5; ed. Lopez Moreda. This and the following five prefaces are edited in Prosatori latini del quattorcento, ed. E. Garin (Milan, 1952), 594-630. A new edition of preface 1 only in M. Regoliosi, Nel cantiere del Valla. Elaborazione e montaggio delle “Elegantiae”, Humanistica, 13 (Rome, 1993), 120-5.
[a5r] Valla, Laurentius: Elegantiae linguae latinae. Laurentius Valla, Opera, 5-235, repr. in Laurentius Valla, Opera omnia 1, with introduction by E. Garin, Monumenta politica et philosophica rariora, 1,5 (Turin, 1962); J. Ijsewijn and G. Tournoy, ‘Un primo censimento dei manoscritti e delle edizioni a stampa degli “Elegantiarum linguae latinae libri sex” di Lorenzo Valla', Humanistica Lovaniensia, 18 (1969), 24-42, at 31 [group B]; see also S. Gavinelli, ‘Le “Elegantiae” di Lorenzo Valla: fonti grammaticali latine e stratificazione compositiva', Italia medioevale e umanistica, 31 (1988), 205-57; M. Regoliosi, Nel cantiere del Valla. Elaborazione e montaggio delle “Elegantie”, Humanistica, 13 (Rome, 1993).
[s6r] Valla, Laurentius: De reciprocatione ‘sui' et ‘suus' [dedicated to] Johannes Tortellius. ‘De ego mei tui et sui'. Laurentius Valla, De reciprocatione ‘sui et suus’, ed. Elisabet Sandström, Studia Graeca et Latina Gothoburgensia, 63 (Gothenburg, 1998), 4-74; see pp. lxxxiv–lxxxvi on this edition.
[t6v] [Colophon.]
[*1r] [Alphabetical list of contents.]
Imprint
Imprint: Venice: Nicolaus Jenson, [before July] 1471. 4°.
Remarks: The book was on sale in Germany by 6 July 1471; see M. Cortesi, ‘Incunaboli veneziani in Germania nel 1471', in Vestigia. Studi in onore di Giuseppe Billanovich, ed. R. Avesani and others, 2 vols, Storia e Letteratura, 162-3 (Rome, 1984), I 219.
Collation
Collation: [a–f12.10.10 g12 h14 i k10 l12 m8 n6 o–s10 t *8].
References
ISTC: iv00051000
Hain: HCR 15802;
Goff: Goff V‑51;
BMC: BMC V 171;
Proctor: Pr 4071;
Others: CIBN V‑37; Oates 1628; Rhodes 1790; Sheppard 3253. Microfiche: Unit 8: Printing in Italy Before 1472: Part II, PI 94.
LCN: 14801948
Copies
Copy number: V-026(1)
Wanting the blank leaf [t8]. Gathering [*], containing the list of contents, is bound at the beginning.
Binding: Late eighteenth-century gold-tooled (fillets only) red morocco; bound for the Bodleian Library, presumably by either Walther or Kalthoeber; the gold stamp of the Bodleian Library on both covers; gilt-edged leaves; marbled pastedowns; green silk bookmark.
Size: 342 × 218 × 45 mm.
Size of leaf: 335 × 198 mm.
Frequent marginal notes in a contemporary Italian humanist hand in faded brown ink, consisting of extraction of key words, numbering of the paragraphs in roman numerals, summarizing the contents, extracting names of authors, noting when the author disagrees with Priscian: ‘Contra Priscianum'. Probably the same hand foliated the rectos and versos: 1-165 [q10], after which no more notes occur. Contemporary signatures partially visible.
On [a3r] a Venetian three-quarter white vine-stem border on a blue, red, and green ground with groups of three white dots, incorporating a six-line epigraphic initial ‘C' painted in gold, with, in the lower margin, a wreath, not filled; see Pächt and Alexander II, 110 no. pr. 63. Principal initials are supplied in gold within a square red, green, or blue ground with groups of white or yellow dots; other initials are supplied in red or blue.
Provenance: Maffeo Pinelli (1735-1785)(?); Morelli (1787), III no. 7455(?); sale (1789), lot 12360. Purchased for £27. 10. 0; see Books Purchased (1789), 6; same price in annotated Pinelli catalogue.
SHELFMARK: Auct. L 2.1.
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