Vitae et sententiae eorum qui in philosophia probati fuerunt.

Accession number: 
PML 309
Author: 
Diogenes Laertius.
Published: 
Venice : Nicolaus Jenson, 14 August 1475.
Description: 
[187] leaves ; 29 x 20.5 cm. (fol.)
Credit Line: 
Purchased with the Bennett collection, 1902.
Notes: 

Title from incipit (leaf [1]/4r): LAETRII DIOGENIS VITAE ET SENTENTIAE EORUM QUI IN PHILOSOPHIA PROBATI FUERUNT.
Colophon (leaf [23]/5v): IMpressum Venetiis per Nicolaum Jenson gallicum. Anno domini .M.CCCC.LXXV. die xiiii. augusti.
Printed in types 1*:111R and 10:115Gr.
Collation: [1¹⁰(+1*: etia[m] amor) 2¹⁰ 3-22⁸ 23⁶]: 187 leaves, leaf [23]/6 blank.
Paper format: Chancery folio
Translated by Ambrosius Traversarius. Edited by Benedictus Brognolus.
PML copy leaf dimensions: 27.8 x 19.2 cm.

Binding: 
19th-century blind- and gilt-tooled black, straight-grained morocco over paper boards (29 x 20.5 cm.), sewn on 4 supports by R. Storr of Grantham. Plain paper pastedowns and fly leaves; decorative endbands; gilt edges.
Variant Title: 

Vitae et sententiae philosophorum

Inscriptions/Markings: 

Hand decoration: Italian illuminated and historiated initial with foliate border with birds, busts, and jewels (leaf [1]/4r), alternating red and blue minor initials. Annotations: Contemporary marginal notations in Greek and Latin, mainly at beginning and end, with very irregular manicule, and foliation.

Provenance: 
Hieronymi Gigli, of Lucca, inscription: "Liber Hieronymi Gigli P. Lucensis habitus A Fr[ater] Guglielmo Sardinio filio natius 1477," both names abraded and replaced but in the 15th century (leaf [1]/3v); unidentified inscription, partially legible under UV: "olim Georgi A[???] liber" (leaves [1]/2r and [23]/5v); unidentified inscriptioin, illegible under UV (leaf [1]/1v); John Hayford Thorold (1773-1831), monogram booklabel and Syston Park armorial bookplate; his sale, Sotheby's, 12 Dec. 1884, lot 697; Bernard Quaritch, Monuments of the Early Printers, 1888, no. 36574; Richard Bennett (1849-1930), armorial bookplate (rear pastedown) and bibliographical notes: No. 150, 8/5/96 and price code: wl/wl/- +com (front fly leaf verso); Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), purchased with the Bennett collection, 1902.
Classification: 
Department: