A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany Volume III Part 15

OVIDII FASTI. _Printed by Azoguidi._ 1471. Folio. This is the whole of what they possess of this wonderfully rare EDIT. PRIN. of Ovid, printed at Bologna by the above printer:--and of this small portion the first leaf is wanting.

----, OPERA OMNIA, _Printed by Sweynheym and Pannartz_. 1471. Folio. 2 vols. This is a clean, large copy; supplied from two old libraries. The volumes are equally large, but the first is in the finer condition.

----, EPISTOLae et FASTI. I know nothing of the printer of this edition, nor can I safely guess where it was printed. The Epistles begin on the recto of _aa ii_ to _gg v_; the Fasti on A i to VV ix, including some few other opuscula; of which my memorandum is misplaced. At the end, we read the word FINIS.

PLINIUS SENIOR. _Printed by I. de Spira_. 1469. Folio. Editio Princeps. We have here the identical copy--printed UPON VELLUM--of which I remember to have heard it said, that the Abbe Strattman, when he was at the head of this library, declared, that whenever the French should approach Vienna, he would march off with _this_ book under _one_ arm, and with the FIRST Psalter under the other! This was heroically said; but whether such declaration was ever _acted_ upon, is a point upon which the bibliographical annals of that period are profoundly silent. To revert to this membranaceous treasure. It is in one volume, beautifully white and clean; but ("horresco referens;") it has been cruelly deprived of its legitimate dimensions. In other words, it is a palpably cropt copy. The very first glance of the illumination at the first page confirms this. In other respects, also, it can bear no comparison with the VELLUM copy in the Royal Library at Paris.[123] Yet is it a book ... for which I know more than _one_ Roxburgher who would promptly put pen to paper and draw a check for 300 guineas--to become its possessor.

PLINIUS SENIOR. _Printed by Jenson._ 1472. Folio. Another early Pliny--UPON VELLUM: very fine, undoubtedly; but somewhat cropt, as the encroachment upon the arms, at the bottom of the first illuminated page, evidently proves. The initial letters are coloured in that sober style of decoration, which we frequently observe in the illuminated volumes of Sweynheym and Pannartz; but they generally appear to have received some injury. Upon the whole, I doubt if this copy be so fine as the similar copies, upon vellum, in the libraries of the Duke of Devons.h.i.+re and the late Sir M. M. Sykes.

This book is bound in the highly ornamented style of French binding of the XVIIth century; and it measures almost sixteen inches one eighth, by ten inches five eighths.

PLINIUS. Italice. _Printed by Jenson._ 1476. Folio. A fine, large, pure, crackling copy; in yellow morocco binding. It was Prince Eugene's copy; but is yet inferior, in magnitude, to the copy at Paris.[124]

SILIUS ITALICUS. _Printed by Laver._ 1471. Folio. The largest, soundest, and cleanest copy of this very rare impression, which I remember to have seen:--with the exception, perhaps, of that in the Bodleian Library.

SUETONIUS. _Printed by S. and Pannartz._ 1470. Folio. Second Edition. A fine, sound copy, yet somewhat cropt. The first page of the text has the usual border printed ornament of the time of printing the book. This was Prince Eugene's copy.

SUIDAS, Gr. 1499. Folio. 2 vols. This editio princeps of Suidas is always, when in tolerable condition, a wonderfully striking book: a masterpiece of solid, laborious, and beautiful Greek printing. But the copy under consideration--which is in its pristine boards, covered with black leather--was LAMBECIUS'S OWN COPY, and has his autograph. It is, moreover, one of the largest, fairest, and most genuine copies ever opened.

TACITUS. _Printed by I. de Spira._ Folio. Edit. Prin. This is the whitest and soundest copy, of this not very uncommon book, which I have seen. It has however lost something of its proper dimensions by the cropping of the binder.

TERENTIUS. _Printed by Mentelin, without date._ Folio. Editio Princeps. Of exceedingly great rarity. The present copy, which is in boards--but which richly deserves a russia or morocco binding--is a very good, sound, and desirable copy.

VALERIUS MAXIMUS. _Printed by Schoeffher._ 1472. Fol. UPON VELLUM; a charming, sound copy. This book is not very uncommon upon vellum.

VIRGILIUS. _Printed by Mentelin._ _Without date._ Folio. Perhaps the rarest of all the early Mentelin cla.s.sics; and probably the second edition of the author. The present is a beautiful, white, sound copy, and yet probably somewhat cropt. It is in red morocco binding. Next to the very extraordinary copy of this edition, in the possession of Mr. George Hibbert, I should say that _this_ was the finest I had ever seen.

---- _Printed by V. de Spira._ 1470. Folio. It is difficult to find a thoroughly beautiful copy of this very rare book. The present is tolerably fair and rather large, but I suspect washed. The beginning is brown, and the end very brown.

---- _Printed by the Same._ 1471. Folio. This copy is perhaps the most beautiful in the world of the edition in question. It has the old ms.

signatures in the corner, which proves how important the preservation of these _witnesses_ is to the confirmation of the size and genuineness of a copy of an old book. No wonder the French got possession of this matchless volume on their memorable visit to Vienna in 1805 or 1809. It was bound in France, in red morocco, and is honestly bound. This is, in short, a perfect book.

---- _Printed by Jenson._ 1475. Folio. A very fine, crackling copy, in the old wooden binding; but the beginning and end are somewhat stained.

MISCELLANEOUS LATIN.[125]

aeNEAS SYLVIUS DE DUOBUS AMANTIBUS. Without date. Quarto. This is the only copy which I have seen, of probably what may be considered the FIRST EDITION of this interesting work. It has twenty-three lines in a full page, and is printed in the large and early roman type of _Gering_, _Crantz_, and _Friburger_. Caesar and Stoll doubtless reprinted this edition. In the whole, there are forty-four leaves. The present is a fair sound copy.

ALEXANDER GALLUS: vulg DE VILLA DEI: DOCTRINALE. _Without date._ Folio.

There are few books which I had so much wished to see as the present. The bibliographers of the old school had a great notion of the typographical antiquity of this _work_ if not of _this edition_ of it: but I have very little hesitation, in the first place, of attributing it to the press of _Vindelin de Spira_--and, in the second place, of a.s.signing no higher antiquity to it than that of the year 1471. It is however a book of some intrinsic curiosity, and of unquestionably great rarity. I saw it here for the first time. The present copy is a decidedly much-cropt folio; but in most excellent condition.

AQUINAS THOMAS. SECUNDA SECONDae. _Printed by Schoeffher._ 1467. Folio. A fine, large copy, printed UPON VELLUM: the vellum is rather too yellow; but this is a magnificent book, and exceedingly rare in such a state. It is bound in red morocco.

---- OPUS QUARTISCRIPTUM. _Printed by Schoeffher._ 1469. Folio. We have here another magnificent specimen of the early Mentz press, struck off UPON VELLUM, and executed in the smallest gothic type of the printer. This is a gloriously genuine copy; having the old pieces of vellum pasted to the edges of the leaves, by way of facilitating the references to the body of the text. There is a duplicate copy of this edition, upon paper, wanting some of the earlier leaves, and which had formerly belonged to Prince Eugene. It is, in other respects, fair and desirable.

---- IN EVANG. MATTH. ET MARC. _Printed by Sweynheym and Pannartz._ 1470.

Folio. A fine, large, white, and crackling copy; but somewhat cut; and not quite free from the usual foxy tint of the books executed by these earliest Roman printers.

BARTHOLUS. LECTURA. _Printed by V. de Spira._.1471, Folio. One of the finest specimens imaginable of the press of V. de Spira. It is a thick folio, executed in double columns. The first page of this copy is elegantly illuminated with portraits, &c.; but the arms at bottom prove that some portion of the margin has been cut away--even of this magnificent copy. At the end--just before the date, and the four colophonic verses of the printer--we read: "_Finis primi ptis lecture dni Bartoli super ffto nouo_."

BELLOVACENSIS (P.) SPECULUM HISTORIALE, Folio. The four volumes in ONE!--of eight inches in thickness, including the binding. The present copy of this extraordinary performance of Peter de Beauvais is as pure and white as possible. The type is a doubtful gothic letter: doubtful, as to the a.s.signing to it its proper printer.

CATHOLICON. 1460. Folio. 2 vols. A tolerably fair good copy; in red morocco binding.

---- 1469. _Printed by Gunther Zeiner._ 2 vols. Folio. This copy is UPON VELLUM, of a fair and sound quality. I suspect that it has been somewhat diminished in size, and may not be larger than the similar copy at Gottwic Monastery. In calf binding.

DURANDUS. RAT. DIV. OFFIC. _Printed by Fust and Schoeffher._ 1459. Folio.

This book, which is always UPON VELLUM, was the Duke de La Valliere's copy.

It is the thinnest I ever saw, but it is quite perfect. The condition is throughout sound, and the margins appear to retain all their pristine amplitude. It is bound in morocco.

FICHETI RHETORICA. _Printed by Gering_, &c. Quarto. This copy is UPON VELLUM, not indifferently illuminated: but it has been cruelly cropt.

LUDOLPHUS. DE TERRA SANCTA and ITINERE IHEROSO-LOMITANO. _Without date or place._ Folio. I never saw this book, nor this work, before. The text describes a journey to Jerusalem, undertaken by Ludolphus, between the years 1336 and 1350. This preface is very interesting; but I have neither time nor s.p.a.ce for extracts. At the end: "_Finit feliciter libellus de itinere ad terram sanctam, &_." This impression is printed in long lines, and contains thirty-six leaves.[126]

MAMMOTRECTUS. _Printed by Schoeffher._ 1470. Folio. Here are two copies; of which one is UPON VELLUM--but the paper copy is not only a larger, but in every respect a fairer and more desirable, book. The vellum copy has quite a foggy aspect.

NONIUS MARCELLUS. _Without name of printer or place._ 1471. Folio. This is the first edition of the work with a date, but the printer is unknown. It is executed in a superior style of typographical elegance; and the present is as fine and white a copy of it as can possibly be possessed. I think it even larger than the Gottwic copy.

PETRARCHA. HISTORIA GRISELDIS. _Printed by G. Zeiner._ 1473. Folio. Whether _this_ edition of the HISTORY OF PATIENT GRISEL, or that printed by Zel, without date, be the earliest, I cannot pretend to say. This edition is printed in the roman type, and perhaps is among the very earliest specimens of the printer so executed. It is however a thin, round, and scraggy type.

The book is doubtless of extreme rarity. This copy was formerly Prince Eugene's, and is bound in red morocco.

PHALARIDIS EPISTOLae. Lat. 1471. Quarto. This is the first time (if I remember rightly) that the present edition has come under my notice. It is doubtless of excessive rarity. The type is a remarkably delicate, round, widely spread and roman letter. At the end is the colophon, in capital letters.

PHALARIDIS EPISTOLae. _Printed by Ulric Han._ _Without date._ Folio. This is among the rarest editions of the Latin version of the Epistles of Phalaris.

It is executed in the second, or ordinary roman type of Ulric Han. In the whole there are thirty leaves; and I know not why this impression may not be considered as the first, or at least the second, of the version in question.

POGGII FACETIae. _Without name of Printer, Place, or Date._ Folio. It is for the first time that I examine the present edition, which I should not hesitate to p.r.o.nounce the FIRST of the work in question. The types are those which were used in the _Eusebian Monastery_ at Rome. A full page has twenty-three lines. This is a sound, clean copy; in calf binding.

PRISCIa.n.u.s. _Printed by V. de Spira._ 1470. Folio. Editio princeps. A beautiful, large, white, and crackling copy, in the original wooden binding. Is one word further necessary to say that a finer copy, upon paper, cannot exist?

PRISCIa.n.u.s. _Printed by Ulric Han._ Folio. With the metrical version of _Dionysius de Situ Orbis_ at the end. This is a very rare book. The fount of Greek letters clearly denotes it to come from a press at Rome, and that press was a.s.suredly Ulric Han's. This appears to have been Gaignat's copy, and is sound and desirable, but not so fine as the copy of this edition in the library of Gottwic Monastery.

PTOLEMaeUS. Lat. _Printed at Bologna._ 1462. Folio. There can be no doubt of this date being falsely put for 1472 or even 1482. But this is a rare book to possess, with all the copper plates, which this copy has--and it is moreover a fine copy.

PTOLEMaeUS. _Printed by Buckinck._ 1478. Folio. Another fine and perfect copy of a volume of considerable rarity, and interest to the curious in the history of early engraving.

TURRECREMATA I. de. MEDITATIONES. _Printed by Ulric Han._ 1467. Folio. This wonderfully rare volume is justly shewn among the "great guns" of the Imperial Library. It was deposited here by the late Mr. Edwards; and is considered by some to be the _first book printed at Rome_, and is filled with strange wood-cuts.[127] The text is uniformly in the large gothic character of Ulric Han. The French were too sensible of the rarity and value of this precious book, to suffer it to remain upon the shelves of the Imperial library after their first triumphant visit to Vienna; and accordingly it was carried off, among other book trophies, to Paris--from whence it seems, naturally as it were, to have taken up its present position. This is a very fine copy; bound in blue morocco, with the cuts uncoloured. It measures thirteen inches and a quarter, by very nearly nine and a quarter: being, what may be fairly called, almost its pristine dimensions. Whenever you visit this library, ask to see, among the very first books deserving of minute inspection, this copy of the Meditations of John de Turrecremata: but, remember--_a yet finer_ copy is within three stones-throw of Buckingham Palace!

VALTURIUS DE RE MILITARI. 1472. Folio. Edit. Prin. A fine, clean copy; in red morocco binding. Formerly, in the collection of Prince Eugene. Such a hero, however, should have possessed it UPON VELLUM!--although, of the two copies of this kind which I have seen, neither gave me the notion of a very fine book.

BOOKS IN THE ITALIAN LANGUAGE.

_Bella (La) Mono._ _Without name of Printer._ 1474. Quarto. This is the first time of my inspecting the present volume; of which the printer is not known--but, in all probability, the book was printed _at Venice_. It is executed in a round, tall, roman letter. This is a cropt and soiled, but upon the whole, a desirable copy: it is bound in red morocco, and was formerly Prince Eugene's.

_Berlinghieri._ _Geografia._ _Without Place or Date._ Folio. Prima Edizione. It does the heart good to gaze upon such a copy of so estimable and magnificent a production as the present. This book belonged to Prince Eugene, and is bound in red morocco. It is quite perfect--with all the copper-plate maps.

_Boccaccio._ _Il Decamerone._ _Printed by Zarotus._ 1476. Folio. This is an exceedingly rare edition of the Decameron. It is executed in the small and elegantly formed gothic type of the printer, with which the Latin aesop, of the same date, in 4to, was printed. Notwithstanding this copy is of a very brown hue, and most cruelly cut down--as the illuminated first page but too decisively proves--it is yet a sound and desirable book.